Hospitals

As I stated in an earlier blog I could write a book about the hospitals and poor medical care that is received in one.  I think I forget that we are living in a third world country and I should appreciate the fact that they have hospitals at all.  What is frustrating is that fact that I could care for the babies in a more sanitary environment at the nursery than what they are exposed to at the hospitals but I really have no choice but to take them.  If they die at the hospital no one questions it and I am realizing that I have to use what is available and not bring questions about the nursery and our care.  It really is more tragic than frustrating.  Every babies life is important to me and it is difficult to just let them die because of poor care. 

I mentioned in my last blog that our other little twin, Dorine wasn’t doing so well and that day she did die.  We continue to see and experience the devastation of AIDS as never before. 

We still have one more baby, Eva, at the hospital.  She is there due to being under weight and continues to have bouts of diarrhea which make it difficult for her to gain weight.  I was told that she is on a program for malnourished infants and not to give her any of our food such as formula or cereal that the hospital would provide this special food that would help her gain weight.  On Friday the hospital called me and asked if I could bring some phala (Malawi’s cereal for children) as they didn’t have any and didn’t expect to have any until Monday.  The lady also mentioned that I needed to cook it as their stove didn’t work.  My first reaction was to say that I could just bring her home and feed her but not wanting to make any more enemies at the hospital I brought the phala and will try and bring her home on Monday.

Today, Saturday, I was told that Eva can’t keep the phala down so I smuggled some cereal made for younger babies into the hospital and am having my caregiver feed her that.  Phala is a mixture of soy flour, ground nut flour and maize (corn) flour.  In Malawi it is THE cereal for babies and especially malnourished babies because of its high protein content.  No one seems to understand that corn is very difficult for babies to digest and shouldn’t be introduced to a baby’s diet until they are over 1 year (according to the American Pediatric Association).  I continue to see the babies in our nursery struggle with digesting it.  I would rather not use it at all but regular cereal for babies is very expensive here so we feed the babies with digestion problems the baby cereal and the others get phala.

Please continue to pray for wisdom and patience for me as I deal with the hospital and their care or lack of care for our babies. Lisa