Immaculee and baby again
on Geri Skeen (Rwanda), 06/May/2011 10:38, 34 days ago
Went to visit Immaculee and baby Nice again. Immaculee had been wrong about the weight gain at two days. But now at six days she weighs 1.25kg, which is above her 1.2kg birth weight. Immaculee is breast feeding every two hours. The doctors are pleased with her progress. There was a nurse in the premature baby room this time, assisting feeding of one of the five babies there.  She said it was fine to come in and even to take flash photos.  (Immaculee was keen that I take some more.)  Here the nurse has just lifted down the side of the incubator and is holding up Nice so I can take a better picture:Here she is again.  She looked so peaceful and perfect:Immaculee is now in a three-bedded room across the corridor from the premature baby room.  The reason there are three beds in it is that it would be impossible to fit a fourth in.  The beds are somewhat narrower than a normal single bed - the type I remember from my first year at university where they thought if they made the beds narrow enough, it would discourage you bringing anyone back for the night.  Anyway, in the hospital, two women sleep in each bed:  the mother of the baby plus the person caring for the mother of the baby.  So it is Immaculee's mother who shares the bed with her. Health insurance is a legal obligation in Rwanda.  The current rate is£1 per person per year.  With health insurance, you only pay 20p to have your baby in the Centre de Sante.  This too is a legal requirement - you are not allowed to have a baby at home because of the lack of midwives or doctors if anything goes wrong.  Next month, health insurance is being increased to between£3 and £7 per person per year, depending on income.  I do not yet understand how subsistence farming families with many children will find that amount of money.