A glimpse into the life of Beth McHoul and the Heartline Maternity Center....
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Quality Maternal Care Matters....
Maternal Health Matters....
Home Alone...
I should have known.  John scheduled a two-day trip to the States to meet our new grandson Zachary and to hang out with the other growing by the minute grandchildren.  I'm sort of famous for things going wrong when John is gone so he doesn't leave often.  Troy and Tara were fully committed to make sure I, the vehicles, the house and the dogs were all alive and functional when John got back.  Troy is an awesome stand in leader.
Then Isaac Livesay got bit by a bat.  Vaccine could not be found in Haiti so Tara had to fly Isaac out to Florida to have him vaccinated.  We talked before she left and I said "Not to worry, no ladies are due right now, I'll be fine".  
  
I drove John to the airport Monday morning, returned home, jumped on the treadmill and not three steps later my cell phone rang.  A new lady in our program was at the maternity center bleeding.  I jumped off the treadmill and into the car.  Sure enough this sweet and very poor lady was miscarrying.  Her husband was with her, they were newly married and really wanted a baby.  Sad stuff the day after Mother's Day.
  
A safe place matters....
Just as I was finishing up with her another of our ladies came in walking bent over with premature contractions.  Doubled over she seemed near ready to deliver.  I quickly called our nurse Wini to come help me.  After all our checks we realized she was not really in labor at all but was definitely having contractions due to dehydration.  We put her on some fluids and had her rest a few hours in our birth bed that wouldn't be used for birth today.  She wasn't eating or drinking.  Why not?  She lost the water bottle that we gave her and a clean water source is neither free nor convenient.  Eating - well, she hasn't felt much like eating.  Her body rebelled and put her into premature labor demanding food and water.   Marie France has a hard life and things like enough food and water just aren't guaranteed. We offer both those things daily but getting to us is a chore.  She used to have a job to feed herself and her children but her employer raped her and here she is pregnant with her former employer's child and no job and no money. Drinking water is the least of her problems.
  
Feeding moms matters....   
Tuesday morning and I leave for the maternity center. The road is blocked so I go the back way.  A giant pile of rocks meets me half way so I twist and turn through our neighborhood and somehow come out a mile or two away.  I finally find a road I know and eventually make it to program.   I walk in expecting a normal program day.  One of our soon to be graduates is telling Agathe a story and she has tears dripping down her sweet face.  Come to find out her house and neighbors were robbed and her husband was shot in the chest and in the back as he tried to run.  He is now at Doctors Without Borders Hospital.  This husband and dad who worked each day to care for his little family is now fighting for his life.  His wife has good reason to cry.  Our shoulders slump and we cry with her.   
  
Relationships matter....   
As the child development program starts one of our pregnant moms arrives with a worried look.  She hasn't felt her baby move since yesterday and she is concerned.  I grab the Doppler and quickly pray I will hear a reassuring baby heartbeat.  I do.  Loud and strong!  Crisis averted - we smile, I complete her prenatal and send her on her way.   As program ends she is back, this time her skirt is soaking wet.  Her bag of waters has broken.  This is not good news for a mom who is only 31 weeks along and measuring really small.  Not good news at all.
  
The Heartline Ambulance Matters....
This is beyond our skill level and we start to look for back up.  The first hospital states if she doesn't have high blood pressure along with the broken waters they won't take her.  For the first time in my midwifery career I am hoping for a high bp.  Nope, perfect.   We crank up our ambulance and prepare for hospital number two.  While waiting for family to arrive and all the wheels to be set in motion dear little Guernise lays on our birth bed weeping.  For the second time today our bed is used but not for its intended purpose.  At one point I enter the room and there is Cherline, our loving housekeeper (and so much more) holding Guernise in her arms praying and crying.   Women with women.  Praying for one another in those grief filled and frightening times of life.
The second hospital takes her and we are relieved.  
  
The New Maternity Center Operating Room Matters...
I saw a lot of sadness packed into the last two days.  I also saw women who know how to pray for each other, women who know how to comfort each other and women who love each other.  Our maternity center sees a lot of joy, we have a lot of fun and witness the miracle of birth over and over.  Sometimes it is required of us to dip our cups into a well of sorrow and grieve with people in loss.  And this we willingly do because the word midwife means to be "with women" and Christian means to be "like Christ".
  
  
Beth McHoul
Follow Beth and John's Blog HERE
  
This little pre-mature guy and His mom matter....
The update: This little guy is not ready to be home, but not small enough to be hospitalized. We are going to be helping mom with feeding, pumping, a bilirubin blanket, and all sorts of things. Please be praying for life and growth and strength for this little guy and his momma, Guernise.
  

Giving to the Maternity Center Matters....

 

THE NEW Maternity Center Matters....

THIS IS NOT A SINGLE STORY...

MORE FROM THE LIFE OF BETH ....

 

I listened to a speaker recently who spoke on the dangers of a single story. I am referring to the unfairness of knowing one thing about a culture, a country, a situation, a person and then making assumptions.  For many people the only thing they know about Haiti is poverty.  That's it.  Poverty compounded by a catastrophic earthquake.  Poverty compounded by political troubles, poverty compounded by cholera and so on.

The heartbeat of our maternity center is our relationship with our women.  That is why it works.  Over the year and a half women spend in our program we get to know them.  They begin to trust us, accept what we teach and then see the fruit of it.   A healthy pregnancy, a safe birth, a healthy, good sized baby, a breast fed fast growing, chubby baby are things they can expect when they are part of our program.  We have exceptions but they are few.

Haitian women love their babies and have dreams for their children just like moms everywhere.  They value education.  They want to make right choices and do so when new ideas are presented in an atmosphere of trust and relationship.   Haitian moms love and care for their babies while dealing with hardships most of us can't imagine.  We have a mom who is nursing her second set of twin girls.  She is tired, she is weak and yet she keeps going.  She shows up every Tuesday for class with both girls.  She delivered them via cesarean section and I noticed she didn't seem to be rebounding.  She hedged questions on how much she was eating, she made excuses, she didn't want me to figure out that she wasn't eating much.  Too many other mouths to feed.  Yet, she is breastfeeding her girls because we taught her to do so.  Because of time spent together, because our staff has relationship we were able to get to the bottom of this and help with food.  She is a woman of dignity who cares for her family at a cost to herself.

 

Our moms come to love each other and they form community while going through our program.  They visit each other in our postpartum wing after they give birth.  We hear them laughing and joking while they visit.

 

Haitian culture is rich in so many aspects.  We notice when we drive our moms home after they deliver that the neighbors come running and cheer the mom and the newborn.  These are folks that live in tiny cement houses without plumbing or often electricity.  Yet they have community, they have friendship, they have joy.

 

Haiti is not the single story of poverty.  It is so much more.  Yes, people are often poor.  They often struggle.  They survive in terrible circumstances.  But as we care for mothers through their pregnancy, birth, postpartum and well baby months we grow to know mothers.  Mothers with dreams, struggles, hopes, grief and joy.  Mothers like mothers everywhere.  Mothers who want the best for their children, mothers who sacrifice for their children.

 

...  I want to honor the women who attend our program week after week and practice what they learn.  I want to honor the women who teach what they learn to their neighbors and other mothers.  I want to honor the women, who against all odds, will be agents of change in this country.  In so very many ways they are rich indeed!

Beth McHoul

 

 

 

  

Thank You for praying and 

 making Maternal Health in Haiti Matter

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