After getting the update on Nora, Melanie and I went back to the delivery room to find a mom struggling to deliver her baby. This was her 6th child and she had been pushing for two hours with no success. Clearly something was wrong. The doctor told her the baby was “getting tired”, though they had no real way to monitor the baby’s well-being in that little clinic. He announced that he was leaving to prepare the OR for a c-section. However, the mom and her husband seemed unwilling to sign the necessary paperwork for surgery. The atmosphere was tense and we were so concerned about this mom and her baby. Melanie and I just stood by watching it all not knowing what in the world to do. We looked at each other and knew we needed to pray. We stood there in that tiny, unairconditioned delivery room in a remote village in Africa and called out to the only One who could intervene. We prayed aloud and simultaneously calling out to God to save this baby and mom.
After several minutes the OR nurse entered intending to get the father to sign the paperwork for a c-section. She looked at the mom and decided “we can get this baby out”. So she literally climbed on top of this mother and began pressing down hard on her abdomen. We had been told by the doctors that the nurses and midwives will do this but that many moms and babies have died because the uterus ruptures under such force. The midwife was yelling at the mom but the mom was losing strength. Needless to say, our fears increased with every passing moment. Finally, the midwife looked in our direction and said “come help me”. I’m sure we must’ve turned to look behind us. Who? Us? Well there was no one else there and, frankly, I was happy to have an assignment if it meant helping in this emergency. The midwife asked Melanie to hold one of the mom’s legs and asked me to help her sit up. So I did. I reached my arm around this mom’s waist, letting her lean back on my chest and shoulder, my arm against her bare, sweat-soaked back. And we ALL pushed. Finally, after many minutes, a little head emerged. Soon we could see the problem. The baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around its shoulder and chest. Thankfully, it wasn’t around the baby’s neck. The nurse pulled the cord over the baby’s head and the baby boy was finally born. WOW. Boy did we cheer and cry. I’m certain I worked harder to bring that baby into the world than I did with my own children!
Our celebration was short-lived when we realized this baby was not breathing. He was gray and lifeless. His little head was horribly misshapen from being in the birth canal for so long. Again we prayed fervently, begging God to breathe life into the baby. Finally, after what seemed like many minutes, the baby boy began to cry. More cheers. More tears. The nurse and midwife thanked us over and over again for our prayers. I will always believe that God allowed us to witness a miracle that day. He displayed His power over life and I pray He received all the glory!
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