Lab Deliver ing the or of Love o L f Jesus one bab ove y at a t im

Children of Simone Pele, inner city Port au Prince, watching us do prenatals .

AUG 2011 VOLUME 47

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Watamu beaches on the Kenyan coast.

Kenyan Retreat

Once again my R&R came in the lump sum of one month off. By the time it came due, I was more than ready. But the days leading up to it were so hectic I didnt have time to prepare, and I found myself in the awkward position of having my bags Matt 11:28 packed but nowhere to go. I never quite know how to spend my R&R. I want to rest. Lets face it, I need to rest. But staying in Africa for a month anywhere is super expensive. Do I leave the continent? Do I just rent a place and stare at a wall? I never quite know. Fortunately I have dear friends in Kenya and they took me in, prayed for me, and basically let me decompress. It was good. --So very good. And after much debate I finally decided to fly to the Kenyan coast for a holiday. Many friends were recommending a all-inclusive resort there. And for a week I slept late, read in the shade, and worked on my tan. -- Divine! Now Im back in Sudan settling into to a new groove and hopefully serving these women better than ever. Love,

Come to me... I will give you rest.

Prayer requests!
The are new evangelistic policies in place at the clinic and we are seeing many hundreds commit their lives to Jesus... but there is little we can do in terms of discipleship and follow-up. Please pray for us to find ways to teach them well. The Ambulance is in route to Sudan right now! Pray for safe roads and protection from bandits. Seriously. Pray Im able to shine Jesus to this community in actions and words! Im still praying about what God would have for me next. Do I stay on in this ministry? Do I move on? I dont know. Pray for wisdom and vision.

Stephanie

My blog is updated regularly... Check it out and enjoy!

www.midwife4Jesus.blogspot.com

Malaria-labor
With the rain come the mosquitoes. With the mosquitoes come the joint pain, headaches, nausea, fevers and chills locally referred to as malaria. I love the rain but hate the malaria! And yet we see so much of it, I can now diagnosis it in my sleep! But many times patients have such mild symptoms that its hard to tell if they are really sick. Nevertheless when night falls, the fevers spike and those in pain are carried in writhing or semiconscious by their family. The trouble is sometimes those patients are pregnant. And more often than not they are insisting its labor. Sometimes we are both right as Malaria will kick-start labor with its fevers and infection. This is particularly dangerous when the women are preterm. This week we had one such labor come in. Early Tuesday morning she arrived convinced it was time. But her body was only 1 cm dilated and her contractions were irregular. I thought she was in early labor since she reported no other symptoms of malaria, so I sent her home to labor. When she didnt return that night I figured she delivered at home. But I was wrong.

Instead she returned the following morning --tired and vomiting. Vomiting can be a sign of transition (the period of time shortly before a woman needs to push) but when I did another exam, she was only 3 cm. Immediately I suspected malaria but she denied all symptoms of it, insisting it was just labor. But my gut said something was off so I admitted her for observation. Sure enough 2 hours later her fever started with a vengeance and I started her on IV medicine. She delivered a preterm baby boy later that night. Originally, he was floppy and lethargic but within a few minutes he recovered nicely. Had they chosen to deliver at home, I dont think her boy would have lived. It was a challenging birth for me personally as it reflected many of the social barriers common to this region. Her labor was burdened with superstitions (refusing to eat for several days so she was exhausted, pushing before fully dilated, wanting the witchdoctor to perform an untying ceremony, etc.) But we pushed past them and God helped her deliver. Please pray for the other new moms out there that are suffering from malaria but thinking its labor. Pray they come to get help early enough to make a difference. Thanks!

Births Galore!
Last month we had a record number of births at the clinic and this month is proving to be the same. A year ago this month only 5 woman delivered at the clinic, and all of them were major emergencies. Now because we are teaching them to come early for care and plan on a clinic birth, weve had very few complications and no emergencies! Whoohoo! Thats positive change!

Mailing Address:
Po Box 4513, 00100 Nairobi GPO Kenya AFRICA (Do NOT send packages to this address, email me for details) Stephanie@indeedandtruth.org

Support Address:
In Deed and Truth Ministries Po Box 51253, Colorado Springs, CO 80949 (Write my name in Memo Line) Call 760/ 707-7367 or donate online at: www.indeedandtruth.org