pandara

I'm back from Hait.
I am changed forever!!

I saw so much beauty and so much sadness all meshed together.

The reality was so different than my day to day here in the US.

I attended several births. All of the babies I caugh survived. But all of the births were not often beautiful.
I attended one birth with a beautiful Haitian mama. The birth went perfectly. It was gentle and sweet. The mama and I connected very nicely. She trusted me. The hard part about her birth was that there was a baby that had died earlier in the morning lying on the table next to us and a mother giving birth to another dear sweet dead baby behind me. The emotions of death were so heavy in the room. There was a grandpa weeping for his daughter and her dead baby. I was crying as I caught the sweet alive baby. I couldn't protect this mama from the reality of which is Haiti with the highest infant and matermal mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere. Many babies lived and many babies died while I was there. It was extreme for us. It was so extreme that we rented a house and are starting a birth center there.

Haiti I will return. Haiti I will help to train your midwives in safety and compassion. Haiti I will do all that I can to save the lives of mamas and babies in your country. Haiti sweet Haiti how is it that you are so robbed of life. How is it that you are so hungry for food and health in the midst of such beauty. Haiti your people are the most beautiful people I have ever met in my life. Haiti you have made it into my life forever.

There is so much more to tell. It will take me time to process it all. All I can really say is that I feel in love with Haiti and the people. My heart is so full.

xo