It's A Boy

Hello, Kristen Monz here! I spent my final week at Lewanika General Hospital on the labour and delivery ward. I was looking forward to this placement the most, and was thrilled with how it went. On our first day on the small ward there was 12 Zambian nursing students there with us and although there were deliveries. I only got to watch from a doorway. I felt a little discouraged as I definitely was hoping for a more interactive week. By our second day there there were less students which meant more room for us! During the first delivery of our shift I observed and then asked if I could assist with delivering the placenta. The nurses had been a little quiet and I didn't want to be too pushy, but the nurse I was with seemed shocked and got a big smile on her face and said "you want to?!" Yes I sure did! For the next delivery she asked if any of us would like to conduct the delivery! Everyone else was hesitating, so I said I would love to if she helped! We were all ready to go when we realized that our patient went from 10cm dilated to 4cm. Sadly we brought her back to the ward and I began waiting for another! After waiting a couple hours with 10 minutes left in our shift they brought another woman into the labour room and left us with her to go finish her admission. Within minutes we noticed that she was crowning and Lexi ran for help, I jumped in and began doing what I was taught. Next thing we knew the head was on it's way out and Lexi was still tracking down a midwife, Cierra ran to help speed up the process. Now it was just me and the labouring mother to be. I began delivering the head and noticed the umbilical cord was wrapped around the infants neck. As soon as I got hold of the cord, in came Cierra, Lexi and the midwife. I began to unwrap the cord from around the infants neck and out came the rest of his body! It's a boy! We congratulated the mother on the delivery of her beautiful baby boy and then Lexi, Cierra and the midwife congratulated me! As excited as I was that I was able to be apart of such an amazing moment, I did have to consider what would have happened if we weren't in the room. Would the mother have delivered alone? There are no call bells or emergency buttons anywhere within the hospital like we have back home. Does this happen a lot? Also, what if it was a complicated delivery, would I have had to leave the labouring mother to seek out help? I am forever grateful that none of this happened, but these questions remain. Now our week is over and we have just completed our final day of clinical practice. I've been so consumed with sadness with leaving Mongu, I didn't even realize that leaving Mongu means we are leaving behind our titles as student nurses. We are officially new graduate nurses, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than heading to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls! Our first five weeks here have flown by and I am so happy that I decided to challenge myself with this practicum. I have learned more than I could have imagined and have fallen in love with the beautiful town of Mongu. From our morning rides to LGH with Santos and his minibus to sundowners on the mesmerizing flood plains, I will miss it all! 
Kristen Monz

Santos' minivan

A proud me after conducting my first delivery