Baby's First Check Up at the Doctor - Nepali Style!

So as you already know, we are PREGNANT!! We prepared this blog in advance together so you can hear one of the greatest stories of our pregnancy overseas: going to a hospital in Nepal. Kindra was having some lasting diarrhea, which apparently is not a good sign if you’re pregnant. So wanting to take the best care of our baby as possible, but being in Pokhara, Nepal, we nervously looked up the best hospital for foreigners and made our way there via scooter.

We pulled up to Manipal Teaching Hospital, and it was unlike anything we could imagine…..inside was more like a theme park than a hospital. There were lines everywhere with people, and the paint was peeling off the walls. After wading through the chaos, we discovered you had to pay for all the services you wanted before you received them, and finding our way to a crowded billing window we waited in line to pay the measly $30 for an ultrasound and several lab tests. But this line, we found, was more like waiting in line in Turkey, because people were pushing and crowding and often cutting in line. Fortunately for us, Kindra and I are good foot taller than the average Nepali, and quite a bit bigger too. So it was fairly easy to block the pesky line cutters. 

We ended up staying there most of the day, hopping from one place to another to another, the whole time dealing with pushy miniature Nepali people.  After a urine test, blood test, and stool test (providing the stool sample was easily one of the most interesting experiences of Kindra’s life :), we finally got what we were ultimately looking for: the ultrasound. 

We waiting for the attendants to call our name for the ultrasound, and then entered the small, people packed sardine like room, and went behind the curtain that provides a slim layer of privacy from the waiting crowds.  The whole process of the ultrasound lasted about five minutes, and it was a far cry from the glamorous, American experience one would expect for the same procedure in America.  The on duty technician had a crowd of people vocally waiting for their turn while he was giving me (Kindra) the ultrasound.  So, it was more of the get in, get out mentality.  Nonetheless, it was an unforgettable and wonderful experience.  We got to hear the heartbeat and watch our baby move!  I unexpectedly even had a single tear roll down my face when the technician finally turned the screen towards me, and I saw our baby for the first time. 

So, despite the frequent power cuts, which thankfully were supported by back up generators, and the suspicious looking hospital cafeteria, we received pictures of our little one and a bigger picture and understanding of how blessed we are, and how much we have as Americans and as individuals.  Next to the billing section, there was a box labeled: donations for poor patients.  We saw many people fully camped out in the hospital, and overall it was a very humbling and heart string pulling experience.  I (Austin) almost ran into a stretcher carrying a teenage boy outside the ultrasound room, and his sickly condition still stands with me today.  His stretcher was sitting almost carelessly in the hall room, with no privacy; his foot was bandaged and bloody, as was his face.  A mostly full catheter bag dangled from his legs; it all was such a sight of woundedness, on display for anyone walking by.  My thoughts in that moment and in the coming moments afterwards were: how can I help?  I wanted desperately a way, a way to heal him, or encourage him or help him.  Nothing tangible came to mind, but the experience still sticks with me.  Just as we are blessed to carry a life with us now, a child on the way, so it is an even further blessing to give life to those already living who need it the most.  Nepal is a poor, yet beautiful country, with poor and beautiful people, who could use a hand from those of us who can.  I will remember this.

So, one hospital adventure ends, and what an experience it was!