Once upon a Wednesday

Davidson was born at the hospital last Sunday weighing a whopping 8lbs 12oz(we're used to 2lb preemies). His mother was in a coma and a pastor we know called and asked us to help care for him. He arrived Tuesday and had not had anything to eat at that point. His mother woke from her coma that same morning and left the hospital yesterday, leaving her son in our care until further arrangements are made.

AND THEN WEDNESDAY HIT US

This little girl was born with a not fully developed 6th finger on each hand. Melinda removed one near the time of the hurricane, and they came back to ask to have the one on the opposite hand removed as well. Everything went well and she has been back to ensure that there are no issues with infections. This is the 5th baby that we've seen with extra fingers and toes in the last few months.



Later that day the area mayor came in the door with a baby that had been born at 11am that morning. He had not cried, and was in respiratory distress. Melinda had just gone up to town on some business and so Lori and I started oxygen on him and suctioning the liquid he had inhaled during birth. We called Melinda and let her know that we had a bad baby and she came home within a few minutes. In the meantime he stoppped breathing a number of times and we were kept busy watching him. He spent the night vomiting and being suctioned for the fluid in his system. Around 4pm the next day he vomited a large amount of fluid and after that started doing much better. He was taken off oxygen and slept well through the night. We were happy to be able to send him home this morning. We found out that we had taken care of this baby's(Woodson) older sister in 2003 when she had had a bad experience with a cellulitis from a shot she had received by a nurse at the hospital.

That same afternoon we had a man bring his sister and her newborn baby(5days old) to us. The brother told us the story of his sister. She became blind from glaucoma thirteen years ago when she was 17. One day all the family but her went to the fields to work, and she was home alone in the house. Several men entered her home, locked her in and raped her. 9 months later this beautiful baby was born. Adlens is a very sweet baby but she is unable to care for him, though she loves him and wants to keep him. We have agreed to keep him until he can walk and she is able to care for him. She was so excited to her that her baby had a white grandma! Many of us had tears in our eyes as we listened to her sad story and we are so thankful we are here to help her.

Adlens and his white grandma

So, in a 24 hour period we went from no tiny babies to three little tiny boys.

All in a day's work.