The Seal of Liberia

This is the seal of Liberia, and some friends bought this beautiful version of it to take home with us to remember this nation by! I really do think it's a beautiful seal and motto--and while there have been those in Liberia's history who oppressed others and did not live up to this motto, there have been many over the history of the nation who have indeed loved one another and sought only freedom and growth for their fellow creatures. As we are getting ready to leave for a while, this seal is one of the things that will be a catalyst to bring to mind all that I love about Liberia!

On Call at ELWA....

This past weekend, I (Rick) was on call at the hospital... my last weekend before we leave for the US. And tomorrow I'm on again, just for 24 hours. But last weekend was really over the top. I had a c-section on Friday night, another on Saturday morning, and one on Saturday night. Then they called me on Sunday morning a little after 6:00 to go see a patient who had been in labor all night. She was having her 2nd baby--the first had been born by cesarean at ELWA in 2005 because she couldn't progress in labor. The lady had come a remarkable way toward delivery--she was fully dilated, but feeling exhausted and said she was unable to push. When I got there she was telling me that she couldn't deliver and that we should just take her straight to the operating room. This patient was a relative to one of our midwives, who was there coaching her. This midwife had gotten discouraged too and decided it was time to operate--she'd already placed a catheter and started the pre-op IV fluids. I asked them to let us try the vacuum extracter (a rubber suction cup) to see if it could help her. We got her over to the delivery room, and then I took a moment to pray with her, just asking for God's wisdom (for us) and strength (for the patient). With some encouragement, she was able to get some good pushing going, and after more coaching, she really got the hang of it, and within a short time she had a beautiful baby! That was terrific, and really made my entire weekend. (She said to me later that she really didn't feel there was any hope until we had our little prayer together... amazing how bringing God into the situation can change things!) Then to top it off I had one more C-section sunday evening... all that OB on top of the normal routine rounds on 35 to 45 patients each day, emergency room consults and a few emergency ultrasounds. Wow! I was really worn out when that weekend was over! Thank God that only happens once a month.... phew!

Meanwhile, back at home, Deb is working hard to get things sold or given out, so our house can be empty when we go. And I've been trying to get my work situation wrapped up. Just 2 weeks to go.... With love, from Rick (for all of us)