Well, fast food had a new meaning this morning…as we were driving to the clinic, there was a boda boda (motorcycle) driving next to us.  We were horrified to see a pig strapped to the back of it. When the pig blinked and went to the bathroom, we were even more horrified to realize it was still alive. I’m not sure where this little piggy was going, but we screamed all the way home.

Luckily our day got better when we arrived at the clinic. Casey and I went on rounds, and we were happy to see that many of the patients that we were following last week had improved over the weekend. The young girl with Neisseria meningitidis meningitis was doing a lot better and was ready to go home, and the pregnant woman with PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes) had delivered a healthy baby. Makenzie and Kassi went to the lab, and they were able to see the different lab tests that are performed and view slides of malaria, tuberculosis, and meningitis under the microscope. After rounds, the physician said he was going to the theater (operating room) to perform a C-section, and Makenzie and I were so excited to go and observe. Armed with a face mask, surgical cap, and the infamous crocs (that you heard about in Casey’s post), we were ready for the theater. Everyone inside was wearing rain boots, and I felt like their surgical assistant when the surgeon and nurses told me to tie the backs of their gowns. Then the patient received an epidural, and the C-section began. I couldn’t believe how fast the procedure was.  Before I knew it, the surgeon cut into a green sac and pulled out a baby covered in green slime. (Since Makenzie saw C-sections before, she reassured me that this wasn’t how the amniotic fluid normally looked.) The umbilical cord was cut while the baby was still held upside down, then the nurses rushed to clean the baby up. We were panicking because the baby was very pale and not making any noise. After at least 2 minutes, we finally heard the first cry. It was a boy! Born at 11:15am, weighing 6.6 pounds. We saw the baby and knew the gender even before the mother did. The surgeon asked the mother what gender she thought the baby was, based on the sound of its cry. The mother guessed a boy, and he said she had to wait and see. The baby was dressed in a blue and yellow onesie covered in daisies, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.