Mary Immaculate Mapuordit Hospital is situated 75 km south west of Rumbek, capital of former Lakes State in the Republic of South Sudan. It has the size and services of a County Hospital, having grown to its present 113 bed status over the years since foundation in 2002. Mrs Atemo Robina, a midwife in the hospital, shares with us her story.
I am a midwife working in maternity ward at Mary Immaculate Hospital Diocese of Rumbek, with three years’ experience as a midwife. The face or presence of God in our daily work is the true definition of the phrase: “we treat and God heals.”
Surely, it is not easy for a mother to face pregnancy and delivery because of the vast number of complications before, during and after childbirth. As midwife, handling mothers who are already experiencing excruciating pains, I make sure I give my best together with the team to ensure we are welcoming, gentle enough, empathic, timely and up to date. A smile is also important together with a deep trust in the Lord who can offer healing.
The weekly programs for outreach antenatal care services in the nearby villages are demanding. We visit the cattle camps, through risky and unsafe roads combined with negative attitudes from the community towards hospital deliveries. But God is faithful and protects us.
A clear example of God’s assistance is the case of a lady who came to the hospital with a serious post-partum complication. She had a serious haemorrhage, but all relatives declined to donate blood to her. God saw us through, and the mother and baby are alive today.
The routine health talks at the ward, together with the staff has helped us reduce the rate of sepsis by improving the hygiene and care of the umbilical cord stump. This always brings much complication which need more intervention and most of the times, positive results are achieved for the Glory of God’s name.
A clear and lively example is a lady, pregnant with twins, who came in as a referral from the Primary Health Care Centre after 15 hours of labour and foetal distress. She was assessed and diagnosed with obstructed labour, with giant genital warts which are a symptom of HIV. An emergency caesarean section was done by the operation theatre team.
I received the babies with very poor vital score for the first twin and the second was unfortunately stillborn. I led the team and we managed to resuscitate the baby with prolonged manual ventilation, suction, stimulation and oxygen therapy for over 2 hours, praying to God for a positive result, which surely came as a testimony for all of us and for the family.
