The Stork Came Twice!

The stork made two deliveries yesterday. This beautiful newborn boy came in at 9 days old. His admission weight was 5lb 4oz. This is normal by Haitian standards. Many Mothers in this country are malnourished and so it is not unusual for infants to be born with low birth weights. Our new little man won't be underweight for long though - I take great satisfaction in fattening up skinny babies and so do the nannies!

I had the great honour of naming this little fellow. I wanted to chose a name that would work in both English and Kreyol. After consulting with the Haitian staff, I selected a good biblical name that seems to suit him well.

The second baby was referred to GLA by an orphanage in Port-au Prince. This infant is a month old and weighs 3lb 6oz. On the advice of medical staff at a hospital in the city, the baby's Mum had fed her formula milk to try to get her weight up. The baby developed diarrhoea and vomiting, probably because her family did not have access to safe drinking water to prepare the formula.

The baby's Mother is staying at GLA with her daughter. The baby was emaciated and severely dehydrated when she came in. Under the guidance of our orphanage Director, I successfully sited an IV line. We are working on increasing the Mother's milk supply and re-establishing breast feeding. Please pray that this will be successful. Breast feeding will increase the baby's chance of survival when she returns home.