life & death

in a strange sequence of events, my friend Jeniffer's life has been turned upside down. Her younger sister, Catherine, succumbed to aids-related complications & passed away on Tuesday morning, may her soul rest in peace. I'm sorry that Catherine didn't have enough time to be able to confront her illness, as people on anti-retro-viral (ARV) therapy can live happily for many years after diagnosis. As I told her niece Terry, Jeniffer's daughter, Catherine is no longer suffering, but is in heaven with Terry's new baby brother, who is about to be born....

And born he was! on Wed March 28th, around 630pm. Jeniffer is fiercely independent, and is entering into single-parenthood for the second time, with 11 years in between Terry and new Matthias Leo. So independent that she got dropped off at the hospital, checked herself in at 6cm dilated, and proceeded to labour alone... till I showed up! I thought that everyone should at least have someone with her when labouring! I got there around 1:30pm, and she was in pre-hard-labour, easily sitting, chatting, and laughing with me. But they had just given her "the drip," so by 3pm, she was in heavy labour. By that time she was grateful to have someone around, as she was really feeling it.

They hooked her up to a fetal monitor, and I could see the heartbeat and contractions, very cool! I filled her in on the readings, and massaged her back, told her to breathe, relax, drink water, etc. Not bad for a first time mid-wife!! But by 5pm, the baby's head still wasn't engaged, and also he was a bit post-mature (she was 2 weeks overdue). The doctor said the uterus was contracting too much, and the baby wasn't progressing, so he asked Jeniffer's consent for a c-section. He had previously told her it would be a possibility, so she was prepared, and practically jumped at the chance! Just as she was being prepped for theatre, her sister, brother, and cousins showed up. Jeniffer had refused to let me update them, though I sneaked in a couple of messages to her home phone, but now they were anxious. We sent her off to the OR, and waited.... Matthias showed up around 7pm, and Jeniffer followed from the recovery room around an hour later. She was lucid & happy, and we left her to rest.