Today I saw my first manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) performed. It was hard to watch but gently performed. Dennis was instructing me how to use it, since, it will be my responsibility to do it in the future. I’m not looking forward to it.
For those who don’t know, an MVA is used when a woman has an incomplete abortion (aka: miscarriage). It is different from a D&C (Dilitation and Curettage) which is performed (at least in the states) under anestesia.
As its name describes, it uses a vacuum seal to draw the products of conception from the uterus through a thin tube inserted via the cervix.
I’m happy to learn this new skill and to provide such a needed service to these women... but I’m also sad. I never suspected that my work here would involve so many miscarriages.
In the Philippines, we NEVER saw or dealt with miscarriages. Once in awhile we had a patient that had a miscarriage, but the minute it occurred we transferred care to the hospital. But here, WE are the hospital.
Having this skill saves our women lives as well as the cost of going to Wau. It costs (I’m told) as much to have a D&C as it does a C-section. We of course, provide it for free.
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are you sure they're miscarriages? i'm just curious because i'm doing research on them and find that MVAs are often used to "complete abortions" esp. in cases where women took something like cytotec and they're having an abortion but it didn't complete properly.
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