Tessa's message

Sorry that it has taken me so long to add a bit in English to this blog, Alice is a speedy typer and I’m battling against a French keyboard so forgive me! So all is good out here-we’re having a brilliant time. There is no shortage of things for us to do which is fantastic. We have spent most of our clinical time shadowing Dr Jeremy (a retired British obstetrician) and Dr Wasihun (an Ethiopian obstetrician) which has been great as there is no problem with communication, we can ask lots of questions and were getting the opportunity to be “hands on” (palpating, scanning etc.) in interesting cases that we have not seen in the UK.  We’re planning to go to the rural antenatal clinics when the opportunity arises, we’re involved in the clinics here and also helping at the college so we’ll be busy. We are yet to see a normal delivery but we have been with labourers, so obviously we are aiming for that too! The c- sections that we have seen are surprisingly like those at the RIE, with obvious exceptions (the NN ressussitaire for example is powered by a foot pump). Those looking after the women certainly care about them a great deal, consent is obtained and despite the lack of privacy (there are 2 rooms; one for delivery and the other for labourers which each have 2 beds right next to each other) women are given dignity and respect which is a relief for both of us.