Diquini III

Had an awesome day at Diquini (pronounced de ken ny). Arrived to find my 3 lovely American midwives away on a day at the beach, and the maternity unit staffed by 2 young American OBs (one African American, the other Haitian American). We had a very eventful day together that included a vaginal breech with infant resuscitation, a first time mom with a postpartum hemorrhage, and a preeclamptic mom with out of control blood pressures who needed an emergency cesarean (at 31 weeks!) None of the other hospitals or even the Red Cross tent hospital would take her because you really need a NICU for any hope for a 31 week baby. Diquini doesn't even have an incubator. But since skyrocketing blood pressure can lead to seizures and death for the mother they elected to go ahead. I helped take mom to the ER and then had to leave for the day. I'll never know how things turned out, but I can guess...
My time at Diquini was my absolute favorite. I loved going to that hospital. Because I had been there two other days, and had helped one of the midwives organize all the supplies, I could really help the OBs find what they needed. I knew immediately if they asked for something, if we had it or not (mostly not). They wanted to medicate the laboring mothers, but I told them there were none of those medications, everyone delivered naturally. They were astonished. They then let me take the lead in laboring the moms and managing the flow of patients. It was fantastic. We really worked as a team, and they were very humble in the face of such a drastically different work environment. I told them I had homebirths and was comfortable managing natural labors and they seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. I got to say goodbye to my beloved midwives, I ran into them returning from the beach. I so appreciated my experience with them and the OBs, and my time at Diquini. I hope to someday return to Diquini.