Thankful

Tonight, I caught part of a show on public television about cesarian sections in Africa.  They showed  one area of Mozambique that has one OB Doctor for 175,000 people.  They perform 3-5 c-sections a day.  They have to worry about power going out and have a generator as a back-up that needs to be fixed every day.  A new generator would cost a whopping $1000.  They do planned c-sections in the morning, when the power is more stable, but still have emergency c-sections to deal with.  Women generally need their spouses permission to get sterilized, even if having more children would put their lives at risk.  The WHO Director stated that they need 1,000,000 additional Doctors in Sub-Saharan Africa to have adequate medical coverage.

While watching this show, I got teary, knowing that if I had given birth to Sydney in Africa, she wouldn't have made it.  Heck, even 15 years ago in the states, she would have only had a 50% of survival.  I am so thankful, so thankful, so thankful that everything turned out alright for us and so sad for those across the world that don't have the benefit of modern medicine.