Thanks to Caesar and Johnny!

As you can see on the pictures, Muriel might have added up a little bit to our Nyungwe Forest experience -makes it sound more like an adventure of course! So to all you worried souls, we managed just fine in the middle of the forest, and believe me, no wild boars entering our tent!
Unfortunately there was one loss... my walking shoes, after all these years of faithful service, did not survive the Red Trail... May they rest in peace.

So back in Butare, Tuesday was surgery day for me (Muriel and I take it in turns). And luckely we had a good team, with Dr Eric to provide us with good anaestethic services. And after a tuba ligature (sterilisation) and excision of a cyste, a woman was brought in for a Cezarian section. This was her 7th pregnancy ('wow!', you might think, but this is not unusual here). And in these women, that we call 'grande multipare', it happens that the cervix (the part between the uterus and the vagina, 'the door' where the baby goes through) doesn't dilate appropriately for the child to pass, but it becomes really thick and swollen and dilatation stops ('dystocie du col' in French) so that normal delivery becomes practically impossible since the chances of rupture of the cervix -with all complications- is real.
So a cezarian section was to be performed (for those who are wondering, the child itself was doing fine, according to it's heart rate).
And after assisting in quite some... Dr. Johnny this time handed me the 'bistouri' -the knife- and under his guidance I actually performed my first Cezarian section!!
It was a amazing: opening the abdomen layer per layer, then the uterus, clear amniotic fluids, a lot of effort (the baby was already very low in the birth channel, and when it's your first time, it seems impossible to do it -but Dr Johnny just said 'Do it!') to take the babies head -carefully, yet firmly- and bring it out, immediately a healthy baby's cry, front shoulder, other shoulder, clamping and cutting the umbilical cord and a healthy, 3.5kg, Rwandese baby girl was born...
Then manually taking out the placenta and then a lot of stitching -teamwork with Dr. Johnny- (also the cervix through vaginal access, as it was ruptured on the two sides eventually), and that was it (completely soaked as I was because of the hot temperature in the operation room and the effort! :-))

Mama and baby are in good health, and I'm still enjoying this unique opportunity!

In this Memorial week (more writings on that subject will follow), little Rwandese kids open their eyes and see Rwanda for the first time. May it be a peaceful Rwanda with a bright future...