Preemie

I'd mentioned earlier that I'd become attached to a beautiful little girl born premature at 35 weeks.  Of all of the experiences I had in Ethiopia this one was actually the most emotional.  Since the hospital does not have an incubator (they used hot water bottles to keep her warm) or an oxygen tank (very costly), and because the hospital generator kept quitting, the baby had to be revived two times.  She was being fed breast milk by hand through a tube from her nose to her stomach.  Both times I was in the room - sobbing and praying my heart out that she would survive.  (Joyce, the nurse practitioner who was working on her said that when the babies die the staff put them in a box and lay then at the foot of the mothers' bed.  The family then takes them home to bury them.)  I am very happy to say that the last time I saw her she was with her mother and nursing well!  Through an interpreter I told her mother how I had told her daughter not to give up, keep fighting, and grow strong to to great things in this world.  Her mothers' reaction is in the last photo.  Things we take for granted here in the US are simply not always available in third world countries.  The hospital could certainly use at least one incubator with a backup generator.  I'm going to be fundraising in order to send one to this hospital.  If you're interested in supporting this project please let me know.  Just make a comment to this post.  Anyway, here are some pictures of "My Little Preemie and Her Mother".