{rice, beans & love}

I’m not sure where to start with this blog, but I have some very sad news to share with everyone today.

Momma Noel, as many of you know, started labor Saturday night around 9 p.m. We spent the whole night at the hospital, walking and expecting the baby to come. After a sleepless night, the doctor checked her at 6 a.m. and said the baby was not making any progress and sent us home. I was able to catch up on sleep Sunday morning, and made my way to Tytoo around 4 p.m. to continue being her labor coach.

Around 7:30 Frank determined her to fully dilated and we decided to make the trip back to the hospital and this time I was not going to leave until that baby was born!

Around 9:30 p.m. last night, I screamed right alongside Momma Desir and held her hand as she gave birth to a baby boy. I’ve never intimately been apart of someone giving birth in this way, and as the baby came out I thought I was going to faint but my eyes locked with mother’s eyes and I knew we would get through.

When the baby arrived, I expected high-pitched crying, tears and joy. Instead, there wasn’t any sound. I immediately started panicking and when I got my first look I knew there was something severely wrong. This little baby boy, who I had already fallen in love with, had a very disformed head, a strange looking lump in his chest, and showed no reflexes.  They say he had swallowed waste while in the stomach. After 10 minutes, and still no cry, I knew this little life was in trouble.

After approximately 30 minutes, the baby, a family cousin and myself left in an ambulance, headed to Port-au-Prince to Petit Ferire, a children’s hospital. Upon arrival, the baby was pronounced dead. Frank and the mother were close behind and we quickly realized the mother was still losing a lot of blood, so our focus changed from the baby to the mother. The ambulance team was still with us, so we then took another trip to in the ambulance to another hospital in Port-au-Prince with the mother, since the first hospital was full.

I watched the doctors put her on an ivy and changed her out of her blood-soaked clothes. After she was settled in, Frank and I headed home.

This surely isn’t the story I want to be telling, today it seems more like a really bad dream. Not only did I see a baby be born for the first time, I also saw a life pass away before my eyes for the first time.

As I prayed for him to just start crying and prayed as we traveled in the ambulance, I was reminded that God is the creator of life. He can make, give and take away life as He pleases. We may not understand, nor will we ever be able to be grateful enough for the life He has given us. I’m remembering that He is a good God, a faithful One and He brings comfort and peace that trespasses all understanding.

Even though this was a very traumatic and sad event, I still see a light for the future. There is still hope for the family as their new house will be finished in the week to come and school will start in two weeks. They still have a chance at a new beginning, we will just be missing a special life as they start it.

As for Momma Noel, she is still in the hospital and I expect for her to come home either today or tomorrow. Pray for her to have comfort and a quick recovery.

Thank you for all the prayers and keeping myself, the mother and her family in your prayers.