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The Mothers that Thunder: Maternal Health in rural Zambia

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

This makes everything worth while. A healthy new born baby girl, never to be taken for granted.
The previous day I had come to work to find that premature twin girls had been delivered two hours before, and now both were in respiratory distress and were failing to thrive. There are no isolets at the clinic, not even proper heating apparatuses to support neonates. For the next two hours I acted as the vital signs monitor, and held them in my arms. As they continued to deteriorate, Sal and I performed CPR and tried to help them get a chance at life. The first twin passed in my arms, 6 hours old, the second that night. No matter the circumstance, any nurse would feel extreme grief and guilt because they could not save a child.
And then to have, the very next day, to witness this beautiful baby girl be born... I still get shivers looking at this photo

ZAMBIA | Monday, 7 November 2011 | Views [1032]

This makes everything worth while. A healthy new born baby girl, never to be taken for granted. The previous day I had come to work to find that premature twin girls had been delivered two hours before, and now both were in respiratory distress and were failing to thrive. There are no isolets at the clinic, not even proper heating apparatuses to support neonates. For the next two hours I acted as the vital signs monitor, and held them in my arms. As they continued to deteriorate, Sal and I performed CPR and tried to help them get a chance at life. The first twin passed in my arms, 6 hours old, the second that night. No matter the circumstance, any nurse would feel extreme grief and guilt because they could not save a child. And then to have, the very next day, to witness this beautiful baby girl be born... I still get shivers looking at this photo


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