Newborns at Hospital Eskwela

August 10

Today was another full day spent in the city. Moises needed to have the rest of his stitches removed, and we were also going to distribute baby clothes, diapers, blankets and such to the new borns and their mothers at the public hospital. Gracie wanted us to be ready to leave by 6 am (no later than 6:30) which meant getting up at 5, so we started our day pretty early. We made it to the hospital at around 8:30 and took care of Moises’ stitches first. He’s pretty well known by the doctors and nurses there because of his time there during his surgery to remove the tumor. Considering the conditions and limited resources at this hospital, it’s a miracle that he survived and that he has had such a good recovery. He’s our miracle baby.

Once that was all taken care of, we headed up to the ward with our boxes of goodie bags from the mommy’s and their babies. The first room we entered had a mother who had just lost her baby. Gracie asked Evelin to try and talk to her and maybe comfort her and encourage her a bit. After we had distributed the bags to the other mothers in the room, we all prayed for her, then proceeded to the next room. For every room that we entered, Gracie took note of each of the mothers’ names, where they were from and how old they were. It was striking to see how there were quite a few girls who were only about 16 or 17, even a 14 year-old! There were also a number of women who had been abandoned by the baby’s father. The conditions of the ward were also quite sad, and I could say the same for the delivery room and all the restrictions and limitations.

When a woman is in labor, she is suited up for the birthing and placed in a room where there are chairs lined up against the wall and she waits for her turn. I didn’t get to see the actual delivery room, but Jen did and she said that it was a big room with about 7 or 8 tables lined up side by side. Once in the delivery room, no parent, spouse, friend or relative is allowed to accompany the mother. After she has given birth and is placed in the ward, her relatives or friends can only come to see her during visitation hour which is from 2-3 in the afternoon. Until then, these mothers have absolutely nothing for themselves or their new born babies. No clothes, no toiletries, no diapers, no nothing. Some if not all of the mothers had their babies wrapped in sheets that were pulled of their bed. Some of the babies were even covered in their own mess because they didn’t have any diapers. That being their condition, these mothers were very blessed and grateful for the goodie bags. We were also very blessed by that experience. It was heart breaking to see how hard it is for them, but I am very thankful that God provided the means and opportunity to help them.