Tessa 6/20

I was woken up to the sound of knocking  on the steps at around 3am. I called out in Russian and when that didn’t work I realized where I was and had to wake up and see what was happening. It was Wareka, Georgina was in labor and things weren’t going right. Could they take my fuel and stretcher?

I slipped on my shoes and got the fuel canister from below the house. Just a few litres left, but should be enough to get to Upiara - at least most of the way. I followed Wareka to Georgina’s house and dropped the fuel, then headed straight off to aid post to get the stretcher, in case the transport had to be fast. Two women followed me and lucky because my headlamp died on the way. When we reached the aid post, we found Matthew there who came to help but didn’t know what the stretcher looked like. We grabbed the stretcher and some gauze then rushed back across the village in the fading solar light. 

When we arrived at Georgina’s there were plenty of women gathered. About fifteen feet behind the house, she was giving birth. A friend was holding her from behind and she was sitting over a palm container. Some women were holding a sheet up for modesty and others were praying. A small fire was close by. I said hello to the mama and asked if I could take a look. She was pushing and the baby was almost coming out but a hard clear shell was in the way - the water hadn’t broke. I told them I would go get the midwife book, message my sister, and come back.

I ran home to get gloves, sterile scissors, and message Tessa for advice. By the time I got back to her house, her water had broke and the baby girl was quickly born! The placenta came out shortly after which I was worried about given my second to last birth experience, and I got the baby skin to skin for warmth, which I was worried about given my most recent newborn experience. I sent Tessa lots of messages. 

While ladies were fussing over umbilical cord though, I noticed that there was more tissue that had come out besides the normal baby and placenta. I looked it up in the book - prolapsed uterus. This really freaked me out, but the book said to her the mom on her back with her hips and knees raised. We tried that and everything went back in. I got some sterile gloves and did some feeling around to make sure it was just her vagina and not her uterus and everything seemed okay. Baby girl was already breastfeeding! She seemed strong and hungry. Messages from Tessa assured me that everything was normal and okay. 

After this, some ladies washed the baby which made her so so cold, but we got her back naked on her mom and eating. Soon someone brought mama some sago and water. When she was feeling ready to wash, she let me take the baby and I put her on my chest near the fire, my white breasts entertaining the crowd of women who needed something else to talk about now. I sang her Sierra’s song and everyone laughed when she started looking for breast milk. Finally her mama came to the fire to warm up and eat some bananas. She took her baby girl back and everything finally seemed okay. I asked if she needed anything else and then said good night. Then she asked me if I would give the baby a name and asked for my sister. I gave her Tessa’s name and I’m happy now that all the Kates in Limol now have a Tessa just like I do.

Now I’m home and the roosters are crowing but I feel like I really learned a lot tonight. Maybe not about language but about life.

Kate