Obadiah and terminated pregnancies...

Yesterday in labour a little girl was born at 20 wks. She was a terminated pregnancy and although the nurse and doctors pronounced her dead and unable to be revived she was indeed alive breathing and having a stable heart beat. Her pulse was 76bpm, but life was still present nonetheless. The pregnancy was terminated due to signs of pre-eclampsia, but I don't think that was the real reason. Anyways, when I arrived in the labour room yesterday morning I asked of her case and was informed of the situation. She had been prepped for termination in the labour room which is routine and then usually the women are taken to another ward and the rest of the procedure is carried out there. It wasn't until Rachel our staff started to firmly tell the sea of nursing students that were there with us to part and move out of the way that I knew what was happening. The baby had delivered on its own and the nursing students were just standing not really knowing what to do or how to respond. I left the woman I was monitoring and quickly followed after Rach to assist her. She tore the membranes open and baby Alice Mariah took her first breath. We instantly started praying over her and expressing how beautiful and perfect she was. She was created in the image of God. After she was separated from her mum, I took her to the baby room weighed her (450g) and then immediately put her under oxygen. The staff constantly were expressing to us why bother fighting for the life, because she wasn't going to survive anyways. We (Lindsay and I) expressed to the nursing students that no matter what they are taught one of the most important things to remember is to value life and to give the best care to each and every patient, even when others say its a waste of time or there is no use. One of the nurses came in and asked, "Is she dead? Why are you giving oxygen? She wont live." I responded, "Yes maybe so, but she is alive now." She turned out the door and was laughing. I heard her talking to the other nurses in the hall in Hindi and laughing. I got pretty furious and although I should have remained where I was I went out after her asking why she was laughing. A dying baby is nothing to laugh about and I thought they should try to remember why they got into the profession they are in in the first place. The nurse was shocked, probably because I was out of line and addressing someone who was of higher authority than me, but she quickly tried to cover her actions and apologized saying she wasn't laughing at us. Anyways, I returned and Lindsay and I continued to express that the baby was alive and needed to be transferred. About a half an hour later she was tranferred to NICU. She wasn't expected to live more than a couple hours, but Lindsay and I walked away from the situation satisfied with how we handled the situation. We did the best we could for her and gave her the love and care she deserved. It hopefully showed the staff of the hospital a higher standard of care that each and everyone of their patients deserves no matter what the prognosis. While caring for her and giving her oxygen she grasped my finger. It was so precious I had Lindsay take a picture of her little hand. We took footprints to remember her as well. They are so tiny, but so perfect.
Today, I did a delivery that was a case of IUD, but within the woman's chart was a signed consent form of pregnancy termination. The baby had supposedly died on the 11th and in order to induce labour the form had to be signed. Anyways, the baby came breech at 26 weeks with hydrocephalus. It was a hard delivery, but I got through it. I have an incredible team and the women on my school who were with me today in the labour room were incredibly supportive and encouraging. The head was difficult to deliver so two doctors had to assist me in the delivery. He finally came, but before he delivered I got the name Obadiah, which means God's worker. He weighed 1.25kgs and delivered at 11am. Precious in the site of Jesus. To be sensitive towards that infant and his family I did not take a photograph with him, but I did take footprints and hand prints from him so that I had something to remember him by. They are pretty beautiful.