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| a storm of first time moms and little ones born this summer |
To each of you - Thank-you for following along, praying, giving, and encouraging this year.
Your love is not measured in the statistics below, but we believe we have the top 10% of the world's kindest people standing with us.
We are anxious to share with you what we learned when we pulled out all of the files and compiled some of the data.
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Total of 104 women began the Prenatal Program in this calendar-year.
(60% of whom are still pregnant now and due to deliver in 2016)
Total of 96 finished the Prenatal program, and advanced to Early Childhood Development Program (and many later graduated when their baby reached six months of age) (this total includes both women that gave birth, miscarried, or left the program for various reasons shared below)
Total Babies Born to women receiving care here - 81
Total Births at the Maternity Center 62
Total Miscarriage - 5
Total number that lost their spot due to poor attendance - 4
Total Risked Out to higher level care - 3
Total moved away - 3
Total IUFD - 1 (intrauterine fetal death - this loss was late third trimester)
Total Preemies born - 6
(26-29 weeks is what we consider age of viability in Haiti these babies were all 26 to 35 weeks) (4 lived - 2 died)
.025% Neonatal Mortality Rate (this stat = died in first 28 days of life)
0% Maternal Mortality Rate
.025% Infant Mortality Rate
(this stat = died in the first year of life and includes the neonatal stage, to our knowledge zero babies died after the six month mark, which is when we no longer see them regularly)
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1,156 Prenatal Visits (average of 12 visits per woman) (we did not add up the prenatal visits of the 50 women that are currently pregnant - this number is those that have delivered this year)
509 Postpartum Visits
(average of 6 visits per woman - PostPartum Care is hugely important)
1,700 women receive birth control here - this means about 70-80 women come every Friday (mainly for Depo Provera)
70% of women that delivered at Heartline in 2015 are in the Family Planning Program (meaning they chose one of the two forms of free birth control offered)
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C/S rate 13% (The World Health Organization states that a 15% rate is to be expected)
Pre-E rate 26% (Pre-E is the number one complication for Haitian women)
We managed 57% of the Pre-E Deliveries (did not transport)
Total Transports 19
Transport rate 23%
Transport REASONS were:
6 of 19 transports were for "failure to progress"
(which usually also means maternal fatigue)
1 of 19 for polyhydramnios
1 of 19 for post dates concerns
3 for non-reassuring fetal heart tones in labor
2 for PPROM
(Premature rupture of membranes (PROM) is a rupture (breaking open) of the membranes (amniotic sac) before labor begins. If PROM occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy, it is called preterm premature rupture of membranes)
3 for Pre-Ecclampsia
3 for other reasons
(6 of the above transports assigned a reason OTHER than Pre-E but ALSO had Pre-E but that was not the transport reason)
Other Interesting Facts:
- We FREQUENTLY asked for you to pray on social media sites, you showed up! Thank you!
- 1 baby born in the ambulance this year
- 43 Girls - 38 Boys
- 44% of the women served were G1s
- The youngest was 15 - The oldest was 40
- Babies come in bursts it seems - four in 48 hours in April and November and while we "plan" (it is silly, really) 6-8 babies a month, one month we had twelve!
- 2015 none of the women we cared for were carrying twins, but now we have two women carrying twins that are due in 2016
- Ultrasound training and much greater capacity to use U/S was a success of this year
- Our BirthControl Program went digital (the rest of the medical records will too in 2016)
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| Madame John sending a young mom off with her vote of confidence |
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| KJ checking out the due date list with three curious Mommas |
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| Great Grandpa of 93 meets his new family member |
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| A Grandma praying and giving thanks in the PostPartum room while her daughter showers |
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| late 2015 MC Staff- in September we had to let a long time friend & staff member, Agathe, go onto new things |
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| a little one that was born far too early, special keepsake photos were taken for Mom |
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We are able to spend 7 to 9 months of a woman's pregnancy getting to know her story, her needs, her unique situation. Prenatal care is rare for Haitian women, we are thankful to offer the same quality prenatal care in Haiti that our friends and relatives in North America are receiving. By the time a woman delivers her baby with us we know the details of her biggest challenges in life, and we know how to support her in a personal way as she delivers a new life into what oftentimes amounts to hardship and difficulty.
During labor and delivery a woman is able to do the miraculous work of bringing her baby into the world in a calm environment where people offer nurture, gentleness, kindness, and love. If you have visited a Haitian hospital or walked through a crowded neighborhood in Port au Prince, you understand the vast difference our birth-center environment offers a woman.
After delivery we are able to walk with her as she does the work of bonding. In cultures of poverty this doesn't come as naturally as it does for those of us living with material blessings galore. We love, encourage, and stand with the new mother while she begins to nurse her baby and bond to him or her in the process. We encourage mothers that God has given them the skills and heart they need to love, serve, and raise their children.
We offer education and ongoing support for the first six months of her baby's life. We teach about child-spacing and safe and effective methods of birth-control, in order to empower each woman to take the lead in their own health and future.
We are human and we make mistakes, we are not perfect, but we try hard to get it right when we're walking along side our Haitian friends. We work diligently to withhold any judgment and simply offer a place of safety and love and grace to a woman that is coming to us from a life of difficulties we will never fully understand.
It's awesome and we are so grateful to have never lost a mother in our delivery room - but we are even more proud to share that the women that enter our doors feel valued and honored and loved --- and that is the reason we respectfully ask you to consider supporting Heartline Ministries and Maternity Center when you give this season.
Thank-you!
To donate on line:
https://heartlineministries.org/getinvolved/donationspage.php
To donate by mail:
Heartline Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization,
PO Box 898, Sunnyside WA 98944.
(Tax Identification Number 91-2072330)
If you have questions about Heartline that you would like to ask before giving, please contact us at livesayfamily@gmail.com - we will do our best to answer with a few days.
