I was thinking that this might be the first week that we could blog and say we had a ‘normal’ week. That we worked and lived as if life is normal here in Kampala, but alas more excitement has ensued. Monday was a normal day – Matt went to work as did I. Tuesday Matt came to work at the babies home. They were having big donors through later in the week so wanted to get some general maintenance and painting done before they arrived. Matt came in a painted and puttered – fixing many small things that will make life a lot more easy at the home. Wednesday we both arrived at the babies home to find out that the donors that were suppose to come on Friday, were instead coming later that day. So I spent the majority of the day painting with Matt. If was nice to be able to work together. The donors arrived and were lovely businessmen from BC’s lower mainland - so I had a nice chat with them. Other exciting news…because of these four men visiting – we finally got a toilet seat for our toilet at the babies home – hip hip horray!!!
Thursday morning I woke up not feeling too well. I was to work the 11-7 shift. Before work Gloria (a co-volunteer with us who has been staying at the same guest house as us) and I headed down to check out a program called Living Hope Watoto. This program takes in women who have been widowed, abused etc and have HIV and brings them in for 12 months, teaches them skills such as jewelry making and sewing and gets them started on ARV medication. After 12 months, the ladies are healthy, have skills and ready to re-enter the world again – it is a GREAT program.
Anyway – following our visit to these ladies we were off to work. At around 3ish we received two new babies at the home. One is a beautiful baby girl who had been abandoned. She is currently HIV positive, she is fairly healthy all things considered. She does have a burn though covering the area of her diaper…don’t know how that happens…she is in good hands now!
The other little girl has been named Meg. She is a miracle! She is 720 grams. Probably less as she was weighed with a cord clamp, IV and NG tube in. We received her at a week old. She is breathing on her own and is currently remarkably stable. We tried to do a gestational assessment on her. She is all over the charts – it is hard to do a proper assessment after she has been alive for a week. I think however that she is older than she should be for her VERY small size. So we are not sure how old she is…we do know that she is small, she is breathing on her own and she is stable. Right now she needs prayer that she would begin tolerating her feeds. She is currently being fed every two hours. She has an IV running, but it is hard to keep IV’s in her – they keep blowing on us. Specialty formula is hard to come by here so I’m hoping that she has a strong, tough stomach!
So to add to this exciting week and the arrival of Meg, for some reason this was the week that my body decided to take a turn for the worse. Thursday, once Meg was settled in it was decided that I would go home for a couple of hours to rest and then come back to stay the night with her. I went home at about 5pm and then headed back in at around 9pm. My WONDERFUL husband came in with me to keep me company through the night (he said if something happened he wanted to be there) – isn’t he the best?! So I got little Meg organized, she settled in so nicely and we had a great night. I felt terrible Friday morning after working nights, but thought it was just lack of sleep. I headed home and slept from 8:30 – 6 when Matt came home from work. I woke up and felt TERRIBLE, my throat was on fire and now there were splashes of white patches all over the back on my throat. The babies home called and asked if I could come in for another night shift – I told them I couldn’t, as I believe I had strep throat – which indeed I did. I went in briefly that evening for about an hour to restart the IV and by the time I came home I was done. I started my antibiotics and went back to bed by 8:30 that night. I slept until 8 the next morning. My fever had broken by the time I woke up but the throat worse then ever! After more resting yesterday and a couple more doses of antibiotics I was feeling a bit better by last night. This morning I have just spent resting again. I am feeling much better!!! I just am weak and tiered after having not really eating for a few days. Thanks for your prayers from home – I am so thankful for them and thankful for a VERY amazing husband that takes such good care of me!
Matt went and got his first Ugandan haircut yesterday. It cost him 5 US dollars and they did a great job. Shaved and trimmed his head and beard! He also found a local video store that rents movies for 1 US dollar – the movies are burnt and recorded in the theatre – you hear the audience laughing in them – but it was still a treat!
We have heard that Canada, at least, has been unseasonable warm – how nice! We have been sent pictures of fall at home – it is such a beautiful time of year – enjoy it for us! Blessings to you all!!!
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