Today Priscilla and I again woke up at 4:50am so that I could run before the streets got busy and before it got super sunny and hot out. When finished we got ready and headed to the hospital. When we arrived we went to our morning meeting/morning report, and then followed Dr. Wegner around on rounds. There is one baby who is very sick, his belly is so big and taut like a balloon, the baby is only 2 weeks old, he is super tiny! The baby is in the ER right now so Priscilla and I have been taking care of him for the past couple of days and he hasn’t gotten any better. Dr. Wegner thinks that the baby’s kidneys are failing, or something is causing them to be super swelled with fluid causing the baby’s entire abdomen to have unnecessary fluid as well. Also in the ER today is a man whose testicle became twisted and then all the tissue died because there was no blood flow. Dr. Wegner decided that it would unfortunately need to be removed, or in his words “lopped off!” So I put in his IV, my second IV of all time, and it went very smoothly! Poor guy, he was so bummed. After giving him his IV, Priscilla and I helped in placing a catheter in the tiny baby I talked about before. This hospital doesn’t even have catheters for a baby that small so we were told to use an NG tube (stomach tube), which was almost too big for such an itty-bitty penis haha. I felt so bad for the baby, there is no way that felt good! It is sad because in Congo, the families don’t usually name the babies for a few months because there is always a good chance it might die. So literally every baby that comes in to the hospital is just referred to as “bebe.”

The rest of the afternoon Priscilla and I helped place more IVs, take vitals, and give meds. It was really boring today and yesterday in the ER; we only have 3 patients. It was funny though, I had to give a 2 year old a shot in the leg, and when I gave it to him he didn’t make a sound, not one! He just watched me do it and seemed even somewhat entertained. It was so strange! I’m guessing that might be a sign that he is sicker than we think…

One of many funny things that happened today was that we were asked to take pictures with the patients; the patients wanted us to! They basically asked if we would pretend to be doing something to them even if we weren’t so that they could have their picture taken by one of the Congolese nurses, Augustine, who has his own little picture printing business on the side. It was hilarious and we looked so stupid but it was fun.

After our day at the hospital we returned to the Mission, which is where most of the long-term missionaries live. We spent the evening at the Harvey’s telling stories, eating candy, and braiding Katie’s hair before she and Hannah leave on Saturday (they are both pre-med interns). Katie, Hannah, Priscilla, and I all made dinner together and then watched Taken, the movie with Liam Neeson. It was much scarier to watch than usual because there were very few lights on in the Harvey’s house as to conserve energy. Now I am headed to bed so that I can wake up far too early to run, goodnight friends!