and he shall be called, "Google."

This is the story of a little boy named, "Google."

Last Wednesday started out normal enough. Drag myself out of bed, blindly prepare my first cup of coffee, start to feel halfway human and get ready for Wednesday morning prenatals. It was normal until about break-time at 10am. We've had a slew of tricky deliveries and preemies and had just prayed for all these circumstances and kiddos during our Tuesday prayer time. One of the midwives mentioned that it happened again this morning...a thick meconium stained baby that had to be resuscitated for a good while. He was a week overdue and looked to be malnourished, barely five pounds. He was stabilized and resting with his mom. The midwife asked if I would assess him. Would I? Hmmm...let me think about that. ;)

Mavis lovingly pokes the cute cheek of Google

I grabbed our infant stethoscope and headed back to our overflow room where four moms and babies were recovering. Daisy and her little boy were on the only bed. I noticed this little guy seemed lethargic and had slow reflexes. His heart and respiratory rates were normal and his lungs were clear but I couldn't tell if he was super sleepy (normal at 3 hours of life) or if it was something ominous. I helped Daisy get situated to feed him so I could assess the process. It was mostly a failure as he was too sleepy. I admonished that when they were discharged to not pass go, do not collect P200, but go straight to the pediatrician for further assessment.

As I finished up prenatals, I got to think and feel more unsettled about this newborn. I went back in and took his temp, which had dropped to the danger zone (cue theme song). I got him bundled up skin to skin with his mama to raise his temp and contacted a pediatrician friend and asked if I could bring him by for assessment. At 1:30, I loaded Daisy, her neighbor who had come to help and be her companion (it's a cultural thing), and the baby into my car and off we went. Dra Glo was concerned enough to give us a prescription for some antibiotic injections and an order for a CBC. We picked up the meds and went back to Shalom. I administered the first dose and gave orders for strict breastfeeding and antibiotic compliance. The midwives were going to bathe the little tyke and send them to the lab, then home.

Daisy, Google, and me...before the injection.

Next morning I showed up at 0700 to give the next round of meds and found out the mom's blood pressure had spiked just before discharge and she'd been sent off to the hospital...baby went home with dad. At 8:45am Dad and baby showed up. Mom was doing ok but baby was supposedly not allowed to stay with mom (!!!!). I pleaded with the dad to try to take the baby to the mom so he could get the important antibodies and immune protection from his mom's breastmilk and he promised to try. Baby boy looked 100% better. Praise God! Strong reflexes and good temp. The dad later texted that baby was with mom in the hospital and the nurses there would continue the injections. yay!

Yesterday, Daisy and her baby came back. Daisy was fine, blood pressure normal, and baby looked great. (Though he's not a fan of the injections...don't blame him!) He was 100% exclusively breastfeeding! yay!

 Saw them again this morning. Praise God he keeps getting stronger and stronger! Oh, and his name? Kenneth, but dad has nicknamed him, "Google." No joke.

10:45 pm update - got a text from Daisy. The neighbor nurse who was supposed to give him his pm injection got extended at work and can't give him his injection. After calling her, we decided to meet at the town square. I mixed the med, assessed Google, and gave him his pm injection in the backseat of my SUV using the dome light and a flashlight. A day in the life of a missionary nurse. :)