Updates: Triplets, Clubbing, Car Accident...

Car Accident:
Kuac, the boy run over by a truck, had to wait almost 24 hours in Wau before he got surgery. But he eventually got it. Thank you so much for praying!

His family is running out of money, though. Please pray they obtain the funds needed to get the rest of the surgery he might need. The man who hit him will be held liable, of course. It’s just an issue of liquid cash. The hospital charges for each item used (i.e. gauze, gloves, IV fluids). They have to pay up front.

Clubbing:
Baby Tong, the boy born with severe clubbing, is doing well. His parents brought him in for a check-up today. He’s breastfeeding well, and his joints are more limber.

After several recommendations, I researched Arthrogryposis, a rare congenital condition that displays these symptoms. No one is sure how this condition develops. Nevertheless, I believe he has it.

If he has it, there is a 50/50 risk he’ll die within the first year of life (assuming he has one type of the condition). But it’s equally possible he’ll live a long, albeit disabled, life. There is no way of knowing for sure how severe it will turn out to be.

Please pray for his family to know how to care for him properly and that he’d one day have use of his hands and feet. If you are interested in learning more about this condition, I recommend this website. 

Triplets:
The triplets are alive! Can I get a hallelujah?

Yar, their mother, came in because Ngor has a cold and needed medicine. I took the opportunity to check them all out. Each has gained weight since I saw them last, but they are not growing as would be expected for their ages.

Yar told me they eat only twice a day. She gives them cow's milk, even though she still has breast milk. Once again, I did a long teaching on what should be done to help them gain weight. But I don’t think she listened. She’s hard to read. I’m not sure what to think.

Anyway... please keep praying for them. Their names are Ngor, Chan and Adit. Thanks.

Preterm:
Since I haven’t seen our preterm baby for a check-up this week, I’m starting to think she may have died. She was just so small.

However, I reserve the right to be wrong. Perhaps she’s doing so well that her mom doesn’t think it’s necessary to come back for a check-up. Perhaps.

Pray as the Lord leads. Thanks.

Triplet update:

Our triplets are in trouble. (Previous updates and stories.)

They have lost some serious weight and are already starting to waste. Yar, their mother, is worried but conflicted. She insists there is no milk --which doesn’t seem to be the case.

I admitted them this morning, and she’s been breastfeeding them hourly (at my insistence) and supplementing with formula. I’ve asked her to let them stay for a few days and see if we can get them back on track. She’s agreed but... seems irritated at all the trouble.

Her husband told me that his cows where taken in a recent cattle raid and they are in a bind financially. He was suppose to go to the village this afternoon in an attempt to find money, but didn’t. He went home and did nothing.

Earlier this afternoon, I also told Yar to let her babies stay in the clinic and go home to make herself food. She refused even though she lives a stone’s throw away, then repeatedly insisted I feed her instead. I then suggested the grandmother (who’s done nothing but hang out all day) should go make food. But no. Apparently, granny doesn’t know how.

Huh? I laughed out loud when it was translated. She doesn’t know how?

Seriously, there is NO way that’s possible. She’s probably been making porridge for over 40 years! The fact is she won’t.

The grandmother won’t cook porridge. The mother won’t breastfeed her babies. The father won’t go to the village and sell his cow for formula... and as a result, everyone is starving.

Can I just say this now... I’m confused. Apparently, I’ve met the one family in Sudan dead-set on starving themselves.

But what I really suspect is that they are looking for an easy-out. I cannot be sure, but I think they are waiting for me to swoop in and save the day.

Behind all their excuses, I really hear the saying: “Let’s just look pathetic, make her feel sad, then she’ll give it to us for free. Let’s show her three wasted tiny skeletons and see if she’ll let them die.” 

Bitter?

Yes... that was me sounding a bit bitter. I get that way when faced with half-starved babies.

In case any of you are wondering, this is NOT normal Dinka behavior. Our staff is equally baffled... and disgusted. More than one has insisted that this couple has the means and the connections to find help. They are just giving up and want their babies to die. That way they won’t have to think about it anymore.

So there you have it. I’m not sure what to think. I might just run off with her children in the night.

Don’t think I won’t...

No seriously. Pray.

Post Script: Not thirty minutes after writing this, I went to check on them again and they were gone. They absconded in the night... and the rain. I doubt I’ll see them again.

I’m baffled... as are the rest of the patients and staff.

I’m not sure how to pray. Do I pray their deaths are not drawn out and painful? Do I pray for their parents to regain hope and kick it into gear? I don’t know.

Pray as the Lord leads. Thanks.

Triplet Update:

Yar brought her babies in today for a check-up. They are all still alive!    
    --Can I get a hallelujah!

The boys --Madit and Ngor-- are thriving but little Adwel is still having trouble. She isn’t nursing as much and still has a weaker suck. Lethargic and sleepy, she had trouble swallowing the expressed milk we gave her by syringe.

Although tired and a bit sleep deprived herself, Yar is doing well. I asked her again today if she thought her babies were going to live. She smiled and said that she did.
    --That’s progress!

She also informed me that her family threw them a traditional triplet blessing yesterday to celebrate their birth. I asked her what they did to celebrate and she said everyone showed up with food for a feast. After eating their fill, the remaining food was then scattered around the property as a way of warding off evil spirits and bringing blessings.

She also explained that if they live to be one year old, they’ll slaughter a cow and throw an even bigger shin-dig!

I’m looking forward to that day!

Please pray for them all. They are (understandably) tired. And especially pray that Adwel gains weight this week. Thanks!

Twins... but Three!

Madit... Ngor... and lil' Adwel!

Monday was another day of madness at the clinic. Thirty-eight woman lined up like eggs in a carton awaited me, pink prenatal book in hand. 

I gulped and smiled quickly in their direction as I entered the clinic, lifting both hands in greeting as I walked. Some laughed and greeted me in return.

Turning to my translator in mock disbelief I asked how many there were.
“There is many many. I think 38 but others still coming,” he said not hiding the strain in his voice.
“Sounds great,” I volleyed back at him trying to lift his spirits, “Let’s get started.”
                --Thirty-eight? How will I get through so many? 

After teaching them briefly on the importance of coming regularly and delivering at the clinic, I warned them of the evils of malaria. Thirty-eight shiny black faces watched me politely do my schpeal, getting up every now and again to stretch or spit.
               --Do they believe me, Lord?

Afterward, I called in patient after patient, measured bellies, palpated parts, and counted out the steady rhythm of electronic heartbeats.

Sometime midmorning the steady flow of preggos was interrupted by my translator:
 “Excuse mad’am Akuac (my Dinka name) there is a woman outside. She is come for her babies to be check.”
“Did she deliver with us?” I quarried. I tend to only do baby checks if they deliver at the clinic.
“No. She is deliver at home,” he said hesitantly while trying to meet my eyes and adding, “She deliver twins ... but three!” The excitement in his voice bordered on awe.
“Twins but three?” I asked, “Do you mean triplets?”
He nodded.
“Bring me her book.”

He filtered through the masses to get her book while I watched on tip-toes from my screened off window. I couldn’t get a good look because of the throng.

I quickly finished with the lady on my prenatal bed, prayed for her, then sent her on her way.
           --Triplets? Really, Lord? Triplets... and I missed it?

My translator returned with her book and I laughed as I quickly flipped through it.

I had seen her just once. During that prenatal I’d guessed her to be breech with polyhydramnios (aka: an overabundance of amniotic fluid). I also assumed she was term since her fundal height was 37 cm. (For those who don’t know, a fundal height is the size of a woman’s belly in centimeters which helps determine gestational age, etc.)

Not once did I suspect twins... let alone triplets! Ha ha!

Then it was my turn to wade through the crowds.

Three men sat in a row each holding a baby wrapped in various scraps of cloth; they smiled proudly as I lifted the make-shift blankets to glimpse their tiny cargo.

Preterm but apparently strong, I smiled in relief and asked if they had breastfed yet. I was informed that two had sucked just once but the smallest one wouldn’t.

I did a slow survey of the crowd of expectant faces and instantly recognized their mother. Tired and squatting low, she had a belly-band cinching her waist --a dead give-away. (Cultural note: woman wear strips of cloth around their bellies postpartum to help control bleeding.)

“Three?” I asked her with a smile.
She just nodded slowly in response.
“Why didn’t you come to let me help you?”
“I didn’t know I was in labor,” She explained, “I had no pain.”
“Really? No pain?” I asked in surprise. “That’s great!”

The rest of the morning we monitored the babies and got them stable. But other than a weak suck, they were doing well. When I got around to doing a Ballard’s score (aka: a way to determine a preterm baby’s gestational age) they fell into the 33 weeks range. That’s roughly 2 months early.

Their mother, Yar, is young, and this is only her second pregnancy. She’s just barely 20-years-old and now has 4 kids! Pray for her! Pray that she’ll fight to keep these babies well fed and that her milk will gush in!

Also pray for these little ones --they are two boys and a girl.
Boy #1: weighs 1.4 kg (3 lbs) who they’ve named Madit. He’s the oldest.
Boy #2: weighs 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) who was born second and is named Ngor.
Girl #3: weighs just 1 kg (2.2 lbs) who is the cutest thing ever! She’s named after her grandmother, Adwel.

Please pray that they’ll thrive despite having the cards stacked against them. We know a God who is able to do this and oh so much more! I so desire for them to live!

They are my first triplets; but I especially like them because we share the same birthday! Yep. It was my birthday yesterday. And for it, God sent me twins... but three!

He he he.... best birthday present ever!

Oh... and I did eventually get to the rest of my prenatals. But some of them had to wait, literally all day. I finished seeing them at 6 pm. Yikes!

What a day!