Perfect and Just in ALL His ways.....

This week I have been spending a lot of time on the 'Toto' ward (Pediatric ward). I have been trying to help feed an abandoned premature baby (we called her Hannah) at the hospital. She was born at 32 weeks and was now almost a month old, but only weighed about 2.2lbs. There was no one to feed her because the mothers do that, not the nurses. I tried to come to the hospital as much as I could, but she was still being underfed. She got sick earlier this week with diarrhea and dehydration so they put an NG tube down so we could feed her. She needed IV fluids but they rarely give them cause there is no one to monitor it. 

Unfortunately this morning when I went to feed her she wasn't breathing and there was no pulse. She must have died several hours earlier. It was so sad. I just don't understand what happened, but we had tried everything we could. She was just too weak and needed more intensive care. I have absolutely no expertise in pediatrics, let alone neonates. Yet the doctors would often ask me what I thought they should do. 

One day I found another neonate dead in the bed beside the baby I was caring for. No one knew who she was or where she came from! I guess she was abandoned. Then another day I looked over and saw that one of the babies was completely 'blue' in the face...she wasn't breathing! Thankfully she had a pulse though. The other nurse with me was like, "now what do we do?" I said go get me a bag mask so I can give this baby some oxygen! Thankfully the baby began breathing on her own after giving her some 'breaths'. I never thought my first 'Code' experience would be in Africa! And let me tell you nothing in nursing school prepared me for nursing here!

I could tell you so many stories, but all I can say is we are so unbelievably blessed in America. It's so sad to see a baby die that in America probably would have made it with proper treatment. The other nurse who was helping me care for the baby this week was a Muslim. I tried to tell her that we have to trust God in these situations, but I thought how can someone like her really rest assured knowing God is in control when they don't know the one, true God? Seriously if I didn't really believe that God is sovereign and in control of all things just stepping foot in the hospital here would be too depressing. It's still hard to see little babies or even adults with HIV/AIDS suffering from lack of proper medical care, but I can have peace knowing that God is in total control. A Ugandan friend gave me a Christmas card today with this verse which I found very comforting...."The Lord is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all His ways." Deut. 32:4  That is why we can Trust our Lord!