This post should have been before Sam's last post, but we both wanted to write it together so we do it right. We spent our first day on SCBU yesterday. There were babies needing blood transfusions due to rhesus status, those with infections such as meningitis, those who had been born premature due to their mothers PIH or Pre-Eclampsia, twins, low birth weight, and even sadly those who had been abandoned. The abandoned babies are very loved though, Sam and I fight over who gets to cuddle them first everyday and dont worry James and Ashley, we aren't allowed to bring them home :(.
We spent our first day observing the staff bath, feed and care for the babies, only 2nurses and 2 HCA's for over 25 babies!! The nurse had explained that two babies had sadly passed away in the night, one due to hypothermia from a homebirth and second from a hospital birth that choked on its milk. Although their equipment here is old and not as up to date as ours in the UK, it is better than we expected.
Two babies were on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) and one was not doing very well, although the doctors and nurses attempted to resuscitate this baby, he sadly passed away in front of our eyes. I was not as strong as Sam and had to leave the room, neither of us have ever witnessed a Neonatal Death and were not quite sure how to react or what to say. When we asked the nurse if she was ok, she replied, "When I first started here I used to cry all the time, I even asked to be switched to a different ward, but the longer I have been here, the more I know I need to be strong for these babies and their mothers." The young doctor had also told us that she too used to cry, cry and cry, but now she was just "emotionless." Sam and I felt completely lost at the end of that shift. We both reflected on how lucky we are in the UK, and although we knew neonatal mortality rate is high in Nepal, we both weren't really ready to witness it.
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