At 3:30 a.m.

At 3:30 a.m. got a call that a woman in the community who had given birth to twins had lost a lot of blood and needed to be taken to hospital. The babies were 2.4 kg and 2.6 kg and wrapped in a capulana and towel each. Two teeny tiny, perfectly formed little girls. When we pulled into Vanduzi Hospital Maternity ward, they took the twins into the birthing room, where the only scale is, to weigh them. It was a busy night for the one nurse on duty and the small birthing room was packed. One mom was on all 4's on one stretcher, laboring I imagine. Another woman was lying on the only other stretcher. And a third woman was lying on the floor (on a mat, I presume) and had just given birth. The twins were placed in a large, square receiving bassinette along with the other newborn, and carefully unwrapped and placed on the scale one at a time and then in turn, wrapped up again. I couldn't help thinking about stories of inadvertent baby-swaps. I saw no I.D. bracelets on moms or babies last night, but this nurse seemed pretty on top of things and kindly handed the correct infants back to us to take in to their mom.

I was thankful it was still dark when we arrived back home again at about 5 a.m.. I was all too happy to crawl back into bed and steal a few more winks before the sun and busy day ahead leapt up to greet me.