A Midwife for C-Sections? by Sarah O

Marie Carmel in labor, sweet husband washing her feet

Okay..I know it is kind of odd for a midwife who loves birth the good old-fashioned way, but this is exactly what I am doing...running to raise money for c-sections.

When I was in Haiti right after the earthquake, I formed a relationship with a wonderful midwife there. Here is the good news! Beth McHoul has lived in Haiti for 20 years and has developed a passion for providing women with safe birth. Because of this, she has enrolled in a midwifery program and started a birth center. While we were there I attended a lovely birth with her and was drawn into her care of these women. However, we had one patient, Marie Carmel, who ended up needing to be transferred to a free hospital in the area after laboring for hours and not having any change. When the baby started having some difficulty, we decided to take her in. This is a hard decision when you know the kind of care you will be taking a patient into.



Marie Carmel, still laboring (with O)

So...here is the bad news - the free hospitals in Haiti are places NO woman should ever go. Blood and amniotic fluid on the ground, dirty stretchers to lay on, disrespectful (bordering on abusive) doctors and nurses (who spoke Spanish...not the language that the patients speak), and not a single BP cuff to be found...let alone a doppler. We had to leave this beautiful woman, who had worked with us so well in labor, to a staff who said "maybe we'll do a c-section, if we can't get the baby out with IM pitocin". This broke my heart. Thankfully this story ends well, because we returned back to this hospital a few hours later, picked her up and found a temporary earthquake field hospital who had a surgeon who listened to midwives and did surgery quickly. Marie Carmel has a sweet baby girl.


She is here

Here is more GOOD news - there are good hospitals in Haiti that these women can go to. But...they need to pay about $1000 for the c-section. The birth center just does not have the money to provide this. So, I, and a number of my friends, are running the LA Rock 'n' Roll half-marathon on October 24th in an attempt to raise money for c-sections when they are necessary. Our goal is $20,000 for 20 women - this should last about 2 years for this birth center,if not more.

We will keep writing updates and you can donate securely here. The ministry that runs the birth center is called Heartline and they area non-profit, so any donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you for supporting me in my love of the people of Haiti.

Sarah Obermeyer


The sweet Carmel Family

“We do not have to be saviors of our world. We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change the world one heart at a time.” -Jacque Vanier