Mother Meghann

There are two words that people have constantly used to describe me since pre-school aged, adorable, blond, ringlet-headed Meghann was toddling around.  They are...mother and leader.  "Mother Meghann" and "you're certainly a leader" are things I've heard more times than I would dare to count.  I think we all have our pre-teen moments when we don't want to be anything someone else thinks we should be...and I had my fair share.  But in each stage of my life...no matter how hard I have tried not to be...I have consistently been a mother to those around me and a leader in the midst of whatever group I'm a part of.  Now, am I saying I have accepted these parts of who I am wholeheartedly...no...but I am saying I am aware of them and that despite my best efforts I cannot stifle them.

Anyway, this post is entitled Mother Meghann because in the last few days alone I have had two VERY motherly experiences in the midst of working with the babies I love as Mana Meghann (or Miss Meghann as I'm called here) or Nurse Meghann.  Sunday morning my dear sweet Cleita was quite sick...fevers, refusing to eat, vomiting...just a sad puppy all around.  Well the tias (the Mozambican woman who take care of our children/my heroes) dressed her in her adorable church dress just to have her vomit up what breakfast they had forced her to eat.  Then after putting her in a new church dress and handing her to me to check her out she proceeded to vomit again all over this one.  I decided that was it...there was no need to try dress number three.  Instead she spent church time with me (no clothes required)...I had medications to prepare, bottles to fill, and other work that had to get done while the kids enjoyed dancing at church!  So Cleita took a nice long nap in the Baby House...and then ended up at my house while I ate breakfast.
All was going well!  She drank some water, was sitting quietly (all the babies are a bit shell-shocked in new locations), and quite content.  She pretended to eat the bread I handed her and actually LOVED my plum that I shared with her.  She happily toddled back to the Baby House when I said it was time for snack with everyone else.  Upon arrival she was handed a snack (much like Cheetos)...and as I went to take her tempurature...that was the end of everything I had just gotten inside of her...so much for her liking plums?!  Anyway, the point is not that moms deal with vomit.  The point is that being able to take her to my house and love on her the way a mom would is exactly what I live for here!

Fast forward 2 days...and imagine the entire Baby House in their swim suits ready for their first trip to the beach.  The last time they went was almost 5 years ago...so none of the babies who live there now have every been to the beach.  There was EXTREME excitement (insert MAJOR understatement here).  Then I get the call that Alberto has a fever.  Poor little boy had to stay back for the afternoon with Nurse Meghann.  When I got to him he was standing in Tracey's yard balling...he couldn't understand why he didn't feel well and he had been left there while everyone else boarded the bus and took off on an adventure.  Anyway after treating his fever and determining what was really going on I decided a movie with Mother Meghann was the perfect idea.  I mean who wouldn't want to watch Finding Nemo???  It took awhile but I finally got him to take a little nap...what I didn't consider was the bed wetting issue...oops!!!  A load of laundry later no one would know that my little friend wet our couch.  But I do have to admit I felt a lot like Mother Meghann as he slowly climbed into my lap to snuggle in to watch the movie and then woke up distraught not sure where he was and upset because he was quite wet.
These are the moments I live for here.  Everyone asks me if I like being a nurse...most days I do.  But, other days I wish I had the time to actually mother each one.  When you have close to 50 (well 37 in the Baby House, 8 in the Bercario, and 9 in Tracey's dorm...that makes 54 in total) little ones who constantly need your attention it is hard and most days I end up using my nursing skills to prioritize who really needs me instead of getting to hand feed a sick baby her snack or curl up and watch a movie with a sad little boy.  But, nonetheless I'll always be Mother Meghann in the midst!

A Day of Consults

So sometimes my day are filled with things to do here on the base...be that assessing babies, helping out Aurora (our Mozambican nurse in the baby house), meetings, play time, admin work...but other days I am needed to help bring kids to medical consults off the base.  Yesterday was one of those days.  We left the center at 7am...now if you know me, you know I'd much rather sleep until 9 or 10 and work into the night than get up and be out by 7...but I made it.  

My job was to bring Gloria (the newest, tiniest member of our family) to her malnutrition consult at the hospital.  I dropped a bunch of other kids off for other things first and then headed to the hospital.  We only really have one car seat for the babies...so this is how I traveled with Gloria...

Made me laugh the whole time and realize just how much we compromise living here...never in a million years would I put a 3.5kg (7.7 pound) baby in a big car seat in the States...but all was fine!

After Gloria's consult I went back to pick up all the other guys.  Not everyone was finished yet so I ended up in the car attempting to entertain several boys...look at their gorgeous faces...full of mischief!

Too keep them entertained I even let Shelton feed Gloria...so stinkin' cute!  He loved it and found it really funny that she could drink her milk so fast...a lesson in family life while sitting in a car waiting on other kids to finish their medical consults...that's my life I guess...attempting to teach these kids things their parents would in every spare moment I have with them!

Bringing in Year 24!

February 9th was my birthday!  I was SO blessed by everyone here who helped make the day special.  We started off the celebration by sneaking away for a night away.  It was a joint celebration for Rebecca (another nurse, on the right of this photo) and I who's birthdays are only a few days apart!  5 of us spent a night out at Catembe...which is the BEACH!  It was glorious fun!  Lots of laughs, play time, and sun (a bit too much for me) were enjoyed by all!

Then for my actual birthday Sam, Heather, and I spent a day in the city!  We had latte's at our favorite American cafe...where we got to spend some time with Laura (another missionary we dearly love)!  Then we took a walk on the beach...and even had Thai for lunch!  I've always wanted to buy flowers on the street...I look at them each time we're in the city but always decide they would be too expensive and never even ask the price.  Well...this time I was given gorgeous flowers that I was SUPER excited about!  After all of that it was time to head back to the center for home group (our weekly worship meeting with our missionary family)!  It was a wonderful way to round out a fabulous day!  And we even had Clemson orange cup cakes to celebrate with everyone!!!!  I enjoyed it all!  Thank you to everyone who made my day VERY special!  I love you all!!

Twins!

If you remember back several months, we got a set of twins into the Bercario (nursery) named Amelia and Maria.  Well they have since grown big and are gaining strength each day.  They have been chubby from the beginning...good eaters I like to say!

Anyway, our nurse in the Baby House, Aurora, thinks Sam (another missionary) and I look alike.  She therefore refers to us as Amelia and Maria.  Sam and I think it's partly because she can never remember Sam's name...which since she doesn't work with her does make some sense...but all in all it's quite comical.  Every time we are together and we see Aurora we laugh to ourselves as she walks up and proceeds to say..."Hello Amelia" (to me) and "Hello Maria" (to Sam)!  So the other day we took the opportunity to take a photo with our twins!  Makes me laugh...I mean, don't you think we look alike??  We're obviously quadruplets!

"Say a little pray for you..."

Ok...I actually should say, "Say a little pray for us..." but that's just not how the song goes!  Let me explain.  Meet the newest member of our family!  She arrived into the bercario (nursery) at about 5 o'clock last night.  I scrambled to make decisions about her care, while Rebecca (another amazing nurse!) helped me out with all the other things I needed to be doing at the time!  Why did a scramble you might be thinking?  Well, because she weighs 3.5kg (7.7 pounds) and according to all her paperwork is a little over 10 months old!  Take a look...and please be praying for her health and wisdom for us to know how to treat this little peanut!

My Newest Love...

 Just take a look at Igor, my newest love!  We got to spend a little one on one time together today and I cherished it!

Movies!

The week I returned to Moz I got invited to go on an outing with Laura's dorm of boys...who are between 5 and 9.  There are about 30 of them, so my corralling skills were requested!  We all piled in the big bus and went to the city.  The plan was to take them all to see a movie and Tracey's dorm of kids (there are 7 of them in all) would meet us there!  And guess what movie was playing...Toy Story 3 of course!  It was quite the adventure for me as well as all the kidos!  They were SO well behaved.  I was absolutely amazed and had a blast!

"Vamos para a Piscina!"

 This is a shout we hear often..."Let's go to the pool!!!"  And several times in the past weeks I have gotten to spend a few hours playing in the cool water with adorable children.  Most of them can't swim, but they love the water just the same!

Bem-vindo Pequeninos

Welcome Little Ones is the title of this post.  I've been back in Moz a little over 3 weeks now, and I have many many little ones to introduce you to!  The Baby House is FULL again with 37 little critters.  And that is even after 5 of our oldest kids moved out to Tracey's dorm (a transition house for them for a year before they move to the bigger dorms).  And another little boy, Antonio, has moved over to Vella's house (again a smaller environment that we hope will be great for his development as well)!  Plus, while I was home one of the little girls in the Baby House, Mae, went home to live with her mother and brothers!  But, after saying goodbye to 7 we have said hello to 6...bringing us back to 37!
So, welcome little ones I say!

Horacio (moved up from the Bercario)!

Marcelino!

 Benjamin!

 Moises!

 Ronaldo!

 Rafael (the little guy)!

And in the midst of all the goodbyes and hellos in the Baby House, we have also welcomed 4 tots into the Bercario.  Bringing them up to a total of 8...a full house!

Alda (sister of Moises)!

 Igor!

 Cacilda!

 Sheila (who finally reached 3kg last week)!

We certainly have our hands full.  Some days it has overwhelmed me how many babies we are caring for.  Other days I thank God that each one of them gets to experience His love and care through us and the amazing Mozambican tias we work with and am reminded that they are each in His hands...not mine!  They each have a very different, unique, and complicated story as to why they are here.  My prayer and hope is that by miracles each of them becomes healthy, strong, independent, and one day can return to the community with their family if they have one.  Please keep each of these little treasures in your prayers along with our missionary and Mozambican staff as we do our best to care for them!