Emergency Room

The other night we had to take on of our babies, Sphiwe, to the hospital. Kaitlin and Gloria took here in to the emergency room at 3:30. At 7:30 Gordon and I went to relieve Kaitlin and Gloria so that they could leave. In that time all that had happened was an x-ray and an I.V. It was so sad to see this tiny little one year old on a giant adult sized gurney in the emergency room. We have to take her to the Provincial Hospital which is basically a government funded hospital. The care there is pretty appalling. If we hadn’t been there with here, I’m certain that the nurses would have left her alone on that gurney and she would have ended up on the floor. At 9:30 that night she was finally admitted to the hospital. She is still there as she recovers. The nurses won’t feed, change, or bathe her, so we have to send people to the hospital several times a day to take care of her. The kids are not allowed to wear clothes in the baby ward because they will most likely be stolen by workers or mothers visiting other babies. As we sat there in the emergency room with little Sphiwe on oxygen, fighting to breathe, with an i.v. needle in her head, my heart broke for her. This tiny little baby is one year old, but looks like 6 months. She did nothing to deserve this. She is bearing the burden of someone else’s mistakes. Pray for this precious little girl.