Magdalene's story

Today I asked the Mother of young Eber if she would be willing to share her story with me.  I told her that her story would be shared with many in North America and asked if that would be okay....she immediately began to let her story unfold and not long into her story, her tears began to flow.

Her name is Magdalene Pierre and she is the mother of 5 children, ranging in age from 18 down to 5 days old.  Her family roots are in Jacmel, although up until January 12th, her home was in "City Militaire", an area within Port Au Prince.

On January 12th, her husband was working as a carpenter, making furniture for a local telephone company, named Teleco.  She would have been around 8 months pregnant the day of the quake.  Her husband was killed in the quake and they were never able to bury him.  It is likely that he was among the thousands that were buried in the mass graves outside the city. 

Her home was destroyed and somehow, with her children, they built a temporary shelter that they have been living in...no tent, no walls.  Most likely, their home is simply a bed sheet or tarp stretched between a few poles scrounched together...these are the shelters that thousands are living beneath.  She told us, through tears, that they are sleeping on the hard ground...that is all that they have.  She does not know how her children remaining in the tent village are.  She does not know how they are getting food.  In a country where extended family care for one another, she is alone, with only one Aunt.  Her husband, she says, had no family.  She has no one to bring her food at the hosptial, which is expected, and so she does not eat more than once a day...breakfast provided by the hospital.

Her story with Eber started when her labour began.  She went to one hospital and they started her on Pitocin, a drug to move labour along.  For whatever reason, she ended up going to a second hospital where they also started her on Pitocin.  It was at this hospital that Eber was born.  Magdalene talks of how after the quake, she hasn't been able to eat well and said that when it came time to push the baby out, she did not have the strength .  She describes how the baby was in the passage for a long time and how his head was delivered but she simply could not push the rest of his body forth.  When Eber was born, he did not cry.  His mother watched them slap his feet and stimulate him, yet still he did not cry.  Then...he began to convulse.  The reality is, her baby was deprived of oxygen at birth and that is why he does not cry.  That is why he can not suck at her breast to receive his nourishment.  That is why he came to Hopital Espoir.

There is a hope that Magdalene and Eber can be transferred to yet a different hosptial where they can investigate Eber's neurological issues further with some sort of "scan" (I assume a CT).  Today, we discovered that Magdalene herself is ill.  She pulled Karen aside when we came to check on Eber and told her she did not feel well.  During assessment we found she had symptoms of high blood pressure and sure enough, her blood pressure was 178/102.  Dr. Dolores began to order some medication and IV fluids but the reality was that Magdalene could not afford to purchase these.  We did not have the right to just give it to her as we are under the auspice of the hospital we are helping out in.  Truth be told...we slipped her some cash...twice we did this. I asked Karen, "was that the right thing to do?" simply because there are SO many people in the same situation.  Karen replied, "well, it wasn't the wrong thing to do".  A wise answer.

The more Magdalene shared her story, the more her tears fell.  She told us that she believed that if we had not been there, she may have died.  In many ways, she was right and it felt tremendously rewarding to know that we made a difference in her life and in Eber's, especially as we taught her how to feed her breast milk to him through a small cup...it's something that she can do to care for her son.

This broken mother came to the end of her story and she looked at me and said, "If I could find you, I would give him to you."  This was spoken from a mother who adores her baby boy...who loves him so deeply, yet she is willing to give him up for him to live a "better life".  I broke.  I tried so hard not too, but I did and my tears mixed together with Magdalene's.  I took her hand and as we came together in this communion, we just cried.  There were no more words to speak...just the salt of tears to be tasted.

I asked Magdalene what she wanted North American mothers to know.  Her answer: that she is alone and that she needs help.

I don't know what else to say.  This is Magdalene's story and I hope with all that is within  me that I have represented her well.  She is brave, she is strong, she is full of love...she is a woman to be admired. How will her story continue?  I do not know...and that is hardest part.