Sunday morning (31/12/2017) at around 8 am in the morning, a small, tiny baby was brought from the clinic, next door. The mother had given birth unexpectedly, after only 6 months of pregnancy. The baby was in urgent need of oxygen and an incubator. Because they already had another baby on their oxygen machine and because of our incubator, they came to us. It was a little baby boy, his weight was only 850 grams!!! So tiny and so small..... We dressed him into warm clothes and blankets and put him on the oxygen.
We got help from Doctor Engulu and his nurse, later the baby was given a cannula and medication. Mary (on the background), Immaculate and I cared for him. We kept the room warm and the baby was laid in the incubator.
It was intensive, medication on certain hours, every two hours a couple of ml. formula. The mother was discharged from the clinic and came to see him and she held him for a little while. She gave him the name: Godwin. I was touched, when heard her story. She had given birth to 13 children, there were 4 sets of twins among those 13 children. And 7 children had died, all were born premature, like Godwin and passed away. She was so happy that her child was in Amecet, she thought that now everything would be okay. I felt bad, because this baby was at high risk and the chance that Godwin would live was very small.... I tried to talk with her, that we would do all we could, but that Godwin had still a long way to go.... She went home, full of hope...
Yesterday, Tuesday, Godwin was struggling, his saturation (oxygen in his blood) went down several times and his heartbeat went down as well. Every time it came back up, but after 4 pm, it didn't came back up anymore, slowly it went down and down. I had called the family, the auntie came with the father. We talked and I explained that Godwin was dying. They went back home and I promised to call them whenever it was necessary. Mary was on night duty, she was prepared and knew that it might happen during the night. She was with him when he died at 9.25 pm....
Little Godwin, only 32 cm long, you were a beautiful little boy, with such cute black (not yet curly) hair. Your ears were a bit funny, not yet normally formed. But I loved your 10 little fingers, with those tiny little nails, those 10 cute toes, which we put in those big socks, because even our smallest socks were too big for them. I found clothes in size 44, but they were so big on you.... I miss your little cry, your alert black eyes, it almost looked, if you observed us. We cared for you and loved you, but this world was too big and cold for you. We know you are with The Father now, that is a better world for you!!
R.I.P. GODWIN
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