Over 2 weeks ago, our little Greeley got really sick. She had a slight fever and we thought it was her six month teething time. Then, her fever worsened and we thought it was the flu as it was going around with a high fever. The doctor's office here confirmed that and said to wait ten 10 days. After, several more days of a fever of 103 to 104 for several more days we felt like Greeley was getting worse. And it seemed strange that no one else in our family was getting this supposed flu. So we went to another doctor here. Upon seeing how lethargic she was, she sent us straight to the public hospital here.
What an adventure! To be honest we had heard lots of horror stories about the public hospital. And after being there 7 days - we are so thankful for them. Yes, there were trying times. 16 babies in beds with their moms in chairs next to them. All in one room, so every cry is heard by all - all. night. long. The cleaning crew comes and has everybody up and out to mop at 5:30 a.m. One fan is shared in the open air hospital by 8 families. Only cold showers with one stall, the whole pediatrics shared. Each patient provides their own toilet paper, water, etc. This was especially hard to remember to bring each time you went to the bathroom.
Since Greeley's only nourishment is breastfeeding and she refuses a bottle and the fact that we lived an hour from the hospital, we knew I would be the only caregiver to stay with Gre. If you would have told me I would average 1-3 hours a night before all this I would have said there was no way I could manage, I love my sleep. But, with God's help and Brice's constant encouragement while keeping the other 4 at home, we made it through. Moment by moment.
God sure knew exactly what he was doing. Both sets of our parents had expired passports, so neither were able to come at the hospital or with the kids at home. So it forced us to rely on our family here. So many friends, teammates, students, and our church here loved on us. Our pastors wife brought breakfast and lunch each day, since food was not provided there. Teammates helped watch kids while Brice came to see me and fed them. They and students came and kept me company, letting me get a break to go to the bathroom and leave Greeley to shower down the hall.
Each day the intern doctor assigned to us, would say - you are getting out today. I would get so excited and then when the doctor came around a few hours later, she would say we are still running tests and in a baby this young the only medicine we have here to treat her has to be through an IV here. So - you will be here for 7 - 10 days. It was a roller coaster of praying Greeley would be okay and they could discover the problem, hopeful to get out, praying to function with little sleep, and realizing we were in for awhile.
After a few days, we (Greeley and I) decided to walk around and meet everyone there. We were the only foreigners there which sometimes is challenging. In fact, our cleaning lady kept muttering about things as a mother I did wrong. So, I told Brice that day - Brice, if I am here for awhile, gonna need you to pray about this situation. She just doesn't like me and I am so tired and don't want to cry each time she says something. So we prayed. And...God answered huge!
A lady from church came to visit and while there, she saw the cleaning lady and....introduced me to her friend of 18 years. Each day they rode the bus to and from work together. After that the cleaning lady (Nana) never said another cross word. She told me she was now Greeley and I's Nana and loved holding Greeley when I needed a break. In fact, we look forward to having her over soon for dinner and seeing her at church now too.
Then, since visiting hours are just 4 hours a day and kids 12 and under are not allowed in, it was really hard to see my own kids. So, two of the girls sick in the hospital adopted Greeley and loved her so much. They pretty much camped out in her bed with us for the stay. They kept me from getting lonely and provided so many smiles. We even got invited to their upcoming birthday party next month.
So, after we found out Greeley had a bad UTI and kidney infection and that she was in the clear, we were able to see how God had in a different way that we would have ever thought provided so many new friendships here for us in this country we love.
Thanks for praying for us and with us!
