Seberang Jaya Government Hospital, Penang

 I've passed the half-way point of my 6 week stay here in Penang.  And the many tasks I've been asked to do seem to continue to loom in front of me no matter how many things I accomplish.  Yesterday,

standing room only @ my SJH lecture

21 February, was my big debut as lactation lecturer at the district government teaching hospital located on the mainland about 15 km (actually, I have no idea how far it is from me!) from our office.  Seberang Jaya handles 7000+ deliveries every year - almost double what INOVA Fair Oaks hospital handles back home in northern Virginia where I work.  We (Pei Ching, nutritionist from the WABA secretariat, and I) were invited to observe the labor and delivery staff's newly established practice of placing newborns skin-to-skin on their mother's chests within minutes of c/section deliveries.  So Mr Suresh picked me up at my flat at 6:55 am so that I could catch a ride across the bridge to the hospital with one of the OBs, and PeiChing (who lives on the mainland) met me at the OR at 8am.  We were able to observe 2 deliveries and accompanying 'skin-to-skin' experiences - both times the infant was delivered, wiped dry and placed skin-to-skin high up on the mom's chest (above the sterile field barrier) for several minutes before mother discomfort (not infant) caused the infant to be moved to the infant warming table on other side of the OR room, weighed, and given its routine immunizations and vit K shot.  Placing babies skin-to-skin within minutes of birth is one of WHO's recommendations to improve 6 month exclusive breastfeeding rates and decrease infant mortalityrates.  We also were privileged to see one of the mothers reunited with her newborn in the recovery room, approx 30 minutes following the delivery - the baby was placed at her mom's breasts and nursed well for more than 30 minutes.

my lecture - note the IT person(the sole male)

My lecture was scheduled for an hour during the regular monthly meeting time whent all of the OB and pediatric staff gather for policy updates and continuing education events.  My presentation included 3 brief breastfeeding videos embedded into my powerpoint.  Getting the downloaded videos to play for the lecture required the assistance of the hospital's IT person - the guy ended up staying and running my entire presentation for me - so he got to hear a whole lot more stuff about breasts than he ever imagined possible!  And, of course, he had to deal with me - a lecturer who can't stand still or stay in front of a microphone!  At one point I accidentally stepped directly on top of the on/off button of the power strip for the entire presentation - shutting everything off and necessitating a 're-boot'.  "Sorry, Sir.  It was an accident."...
The lecture room was packed - standing room only.  I think there were 60-75 people there.  Although I tried my best to engage them, I couldn't get the participants to offer much information or to ask questions.  But after the lecture, SCN (special care nursery) staff came up and requested that I return in a few days and teach them and mothers of premie patients how to implement Kangaroo Care ( placing stable premature infants skin-to-skin on their mom's chest for several hours every day to enhance their growth and health).  I'm not sure that I can squeeze another such program into my schedule, but I plan to at least send some helpful articles and handouts to them on the topic.