On
Tuesday I was on the labor and delivery unit at Makassed with Lindsay Hawkins.
There was only 1 gal that was going to be coming in for a C-section later that
day, so mostly we visited with the people working. At first the nurses and
nursing students took us around to the different rooms of the Post-Partum unit
and told of each delivery. There was one woman that my heart just went out to.
She was admitted because of an ectopic pregnancy. They had given her medication
to abort the baby but it hadn't worked for some reason. This lady was in immense
pain! Can you imagine being 11 weeks along and having the baby in a place where
babies really shouldn't be, not fun! It
was really hard to see her crying and in pain knowing they really couldn't do
anything for her emotionally. I have
grown to love the people here so much! The one set of nursing students we met
and talked with were from Gaza and had traveled at least 4 hours to get through
customs each shift at the hospital. Their school was currently under strike for
the tuition being raised, so they were worried they would have to quit nursing
school and start over with clinical hours the following semester.
Interesting enough they were both born in
the U.S. and spoke very good English, but had returned to Gaza around age 10.
They talked to us about nurses training and answered our questions about their
culture. It was fun because the one girl was engaged and had been for 6 months
and still wasn't getting married until August. Can you imagine that long of an
engagement! Definitely not your typical Mormon speed track! Anyways this may
sound funny but the one (Esthma) proceeded to tell us she was engaged to her
first cousin. She quickly followed this by saying "I know you don't do
this in America, but it is our culture." I loved that she was willing to
share and help us learn even if she knew we wouldn't agree. Another nurse we
talked to was named Olah (like hi in Spanish!). She was the sweetest lady ever!
She kept following us into rooms saying ask me any questions you would like. So
on our down time we went to visit. As we talked about the unit and her career,
she said Labor and Delivery was the happiest nursing place. She had worked
there 17 years and didn't want to change anything! She loved seeing the new
babies born and the pregnant mothers.
It was also cool to see how open about God
Olah was. We didn't talk about religion
or certain beliefs but she just kept talking about God and how he doesn't
punish people with sickness. Something that she said that I think we all need
to remember is "Illness/death doesn't know male from female, rice from
poor, or child from adult" She talked about how we need to give thanks to
God for everything, especially our health and our families health. She was so
thankful for life and to still be living and 8 months pregnant herself! I
learned a lot about how to appreciate life and love what you've been blessed
with. I also realized we don't need to preach, teach, and proselyte everywhere
we go. We can show we are converted to God by inviting Him into our conversations
and by openly being thankful to God for our blessings. I hope I can someday
make this big of an impact on the lives of others!
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