The almost son

Yesterday, I almost brought a son home! His name is Hammadou. He was born premature weighing about 2 lbs. Yesterday, Aleta and I met him and his mother. He is now 1 month old and still weighs around 2 lbs.- just skin and bone. The mother has limited milk supply which means she has to supplement with formula. This is an extremely difficult task. First, she has to buy it. A can is about $5. While that seems like nothing to us- that is 2 1/2 days wage (that is if you have a good paying job). The mother will have to find a store that sells it which might be difficult since they are nomadic and away from their village now. When she wants to make it, she has to build a fire and then boil water- yes, even in the middle of the night. Then she has to mix the formula to feed and afterwards wash the only bottle she has. Perhaps it is the difficulty of the process that has led to her only feeding the baby once a day, or maybe it was lack of knowledge since she speaks Fufulde and the nursing staff does not or maybe the lack of feedings is due to the fact that the Fulani are resigned to fate- whatever God wills will be done so there is no point worrying about it, after all she has already lost 2 babies.
Aleta and I went into full nurse educator mode! We stressed how important it was for her to feed him every 2 hours and to try to nurse as well. We got discouraged when we thought she had gone to prepare a bottle only to find her washing clothes instead. I was determined to help this baby- even if that meant taking him home with me, and in fact the baby's great aunt asked us to take him and care for him. At one point I was alone with him, trying to warm him under lamps. I sang "He has the whole world in His hands" to him. And He does- the little bitty babies as well. We prayed over him and his mother and then we gave more education and more support to his mother. Aleta went and checked on them last night and the mom was nursing Hammadou and she had also fed him 3 other times!
This morning we went to see mom and baby and to bring some warm clothes for him. One of my concerns was if he was urinating enough- if he was then he was getting enough food. To my delight, he was soaking wet when we arrived and his mom was making a bottle for him! While he has a lot of weight to put on still, I believe he and his mom are moving in the right direction. Please keep baby Hammadou and his mother in your prayers!