Babies!

I'm splitting the ministry that I've been working in so far into three different posts, by the groups of kids involved.

The first day we were here, I went to work at the baby hospital.  First of all, the hospital was very different from my concept of a hospital.  As we walked up the steps, the building looked dirty...mud everywhere around the entrance, etc.  Inside, the first thing you notice is the overwhelming smell of smoke.  (Smoking in the hospital is still allowed.) Secondly, the stray dogs that roam all of Bucharest were also present in the building, laying in stairwells and hallways outside of the main patient halls.

We walked upstairs to the infant wing with gifts for the nurses on duty (some of them don't like outsiders coming in to help with the babies, so the gifts are almost like a peace offering/bribe) and as we walked into the infant hallway, the overall datedness of the interior of the hospital was crazy.  Think 1950's paint, floor tile, and ceilings. Our group of 5 was split between three rooms with about 6-8 babies in each. They ranged from ages of 1-6 months.  Corny, the Romanian we traveled and worked with, told us that the babies become 'very very happy' when they see the Americans coming.  You see, the nurses don't really play with the babies, they interact, literally at arms length, to do the basic things like feeding and changing.  (They also occasionally come in to 'flip' the babies over from tummy to back...think the robotic motions of a pro-pancake flipper and you'll get the idea of their interactions.)

So, for about 5 hours, we fed, changed, and held these dear little ones.  Some had siblings in the cribs next to them; two pairs of twins were in the room I worked in.  Most had nametags with their first and last names, some babies had no names at all.  To deal with this situation, the nurses use numbers to identify the babies for feedings, etc.  My favorite was #9, a baby with no first name but the last name of Florea.  He was much smaller than the other babies in the room, and Corny told me that he had had some sort of problem with his legs awhile ago which had required surgery.  A little IV end was still in his little hand, covered with a sock so he wouldn't mess with it.  One thing we noticed fairly quickly was how these babies craved attention.  When we walked in, they were all pretty quiet, but after we had begun to hold them and then set one down to pick up another, the first started to whimper to be held again.  Florea basically shook until you picked him up again.  It was a long, challenging, but wonderful day. Through it all, God impressed upon me the wonderful love that He has for these little ones that not even the nurses seem to feel for.  He has called them each by name, even if they don't have one legally.