I’ve spent the last week or so starting to digest the experience we had in Nepal. I probably won’t do an earthquake reflection, as Rachelle already so eloquently captured much of what we were all feeling. That said, I can’t say that experience hasn’t changed me, or framed my experience in Nepal – because it would be impossible for it not to. However, today I’d like to focus on the parts of this experience that really delighted me and made me recognize the value of our education here in Canada, and the good work we can do elsewhere in the world.

Our first experience of birth in Nepal was attendance at the birth centre in Kathmandu – in a teaching hospital. We were told at the time of how wonderful that experience was, though our presence felt a bit intrusive to us, in our jet-lagged state. We learned later that this experience really was absolutely wonderful, especially when compared with our later observations in Pokhara. Fortunate for us, we moved on to Baglung, arriving 15 minutes before the earthquake struck, taking us farther away from the epicentre and to a hospital that welcomed us with open arms. Though we all felt a bit dopey after the earthquake, as the aftershocks carried on, we were invited at every opportunity to provide care for women at the Baglung hospital, and had a wonderful time working with the Nepali nurses and doctor in providing care.

We began attending births on the Monday following the earthquake, which happened around noon on Saturday. The Baglung hospital was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel, a walk which occurred along a dirt road, with vibrant shops of all kinds lining the street as the bottom floor of low-rise buildings. At the hospital, the staff had moved all maternity patients down to the first floor, and deliveries were taking place in the minor procedure room located down the hall from where the women were labouring or recovering postpartum. Women would come into the hospital, some from quite far away by Jeep, or by foot, and would be assessed and laboured in or around their bed in the open ward. Then, as their moaning grew stronger and they started to act pushy, they would be brought into the minor procedure room, assessed for dilation and usually proceeded to push their babies out. Our first catch went to Emma, who headed in with Cathy on that Monday afternoon. The next day we went in together and Emma got her second catch in the minor procedure room, while I was able to help with the somersault maneuver for a baby born with the cord around its neck. That turned out to be good timing, as we were able to teach the somersault maneuver two days later at one of our continuing education workshops. I was lucky because this baby came out fast and furious, in the hallway between the labour/postpartum beds and the minor procedure room. Attending births helped to take our minds off the aftershocks and allowed us to experience and participate in birth in Nepal.

The following day, Rachelle got her first catch and we taught our first continuing education workshop. As it turns out, teaching the workshops was a real blessing. We were able to watch all of the nurses and the head doctor light up as they watched various global health videos in Nepali on the eight danger signs of the newborn baby, immediate care after birth and care of the mother during labour. We then got to work demonstrating various skills like three different ways to deliver a baby with a cord around its neck (which included the somersault maneuver), neonatal resuscitation (according to the Helping Babies Breathe protocol) and delayed cord clamping. We learned how to simplify our language and speak more slowly so we could be understood. We also learned how to connect with the nurses and doctor attending, by smiling, encouraging, giving the thumbs up and laughing together.

These are the parts of Baglung that in the last week I have imprinted into my mind. Though our time there was short, we so enjoyed working to take our minds off of the reality of what happened on arrival. To reframe things in my mind, I’ve spent time thinking about the wonderful connections we made there and the real potential for students to be welcomed back there next year. All of Cathy’s hard work paid off in getting us to this wonderful place where we could start to feel confident in our own skills, and work in teaching others by example and through more formal channels. I feel so fortunate to have been able to participate in the daily operations of the Baglung hospital and to have gained the trust of the nurses, doctor and most importantly the Nepali women, who were so strong and so much more supported here than what we witnessed elsewhere.