Baby Deborah Part 2
And God will meet all your needs according to His glorious
riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever.Philippians 4:19-20
As Bert, Debbie, and I entered the OB ward, we saw a pregnant woman lying on
a stretcher in the corner. She was sweating profusely and looked truly near
death. I walked over and checked her pulse which was very weak and thready. I
asked Michael, the medical assistant, what was going on. She had been in labor
for three days with ruptured membranes, her baby was in the breech presentation,
and they had been unable to deliver the baby. The midwife had tried everything
that she knew to do but nothing was successful. After three days of labor and
ruptured membranes, both mother and baby were getting toxic, septic, and rapidly
approaching death. They had no way to transfer her to any other facility and at
this point they were waiting for her and her child to die! The husband had
accepted the reality of her impending death and returned to their village to
care for the other children. We looked at each other, knowing that God had
called us here to intervene. We had not intended to do any surgery and did not
bring much in the way of surgical supplies. We surveyed what we had and came up
with several vials of medicine for anesthesia but we found little else. We
searched the supplies available through the clinic and the hospital and were
able to find basic scalpels, sutures, alcohol and a few plastic drapes. There
were a few very old and rusty surgical instruments. Steve and Iris Matussak, a
new missionary family, had just moved into the village two weeks before we
arrived. Iris was a trained midwife and had a box of OB equipment! Even more
incredible was the fact that Iris had been given this box by Dr. Hopper from
Princeton, West Virginia, just 30 miles from my home in Pearisburg, VA. Now we
had enough supplies and instruments to attempt a cesarean section. God will
provide. No major surgery had ever been done in this village before.
Mike McMahon
"Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into Heaven."
- Henry Ward Beecher
Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank you for always being with us. Thank you for your
promise that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Thank you for always
providing for our needs especially at times when circumstances are difficult. In
Jesus' name, amen.