Working in the maternity

June 22^nd

I went to the maternity to work this morning – it was nice to feel helpful even if it does get a little dull by the 20^th woman. We did have one women come in and midway through her exam Belem announced that she had a broken foot! Smart, actually, since pregnant women get free medications due to a program with Terre des Hommes, an NGO. Also amazing, the birth early this morning of a baby boy, in perfect health, missing a left calf and foot. It looks like a healed amputation below the knee, just a small spur of bone covered in smooth skin indicating where the rest of his leg would have developed. The body is fascinating! My nurses were talking to the mother, an 18-year old first time mother, telling her the baby would adapt well since he was born this way, but I couldn't really get a read on how she felt about the whole thing, maybe just stunned.

So we worked until a bit past noon, I came home and made lunch and read, and around 3pm opened up my gate to watch people passing by and started studying my GRE book. Juliette came by to sit and chat, and ended up napping for a few hours while I studied. She passed her exam! I'm so proud of her for wanting to continue on to 6eme next year, and I'm just hoping that Rosalie and her husband can come up with the money for her to continue her studies at the CEG.