Thyroidectomy, Cholestasis, Kidney Stones & Babies…

You may be thinking that Glory Reborn is a small maternity clinic, halfway across the world, in a crowded neighborhood offering labor and delivery services to hundreds of women. While this is true allow me to share that our heart and services go far beyond labor and delivery and even pregnancy. We believe that when a pregnant woman comes to Glory Reborn it is our opportunity to not just support them through pregnancy but to support her entire physical wellbeing. Carmen came to the clinic for her pregnancy care. Throughout her check ups we began to notice that her thyroid was enlarging. We sent her for further screening and discovered she would need a biopsy after the delivery of her baby. She had a wonderful delivery and her baby is doing well. At six weeks post delivery Glory Reborn sponsored Carmen’s thyroid biopsy. When the results came back it was determined that she would need to have her thyroid removed in order to prevent future risk to her health, major risk as the biopsy showed suspicious thyroid cancer cells. Carmen is a mother of four children and still under 30 years old. She would not have been able to afford any of the required screening procedures if it were not for the support that each of you give to Glory Reborn monthly. If she had never had these tests done she would not have discovered that her thyroid was causing serious harm to body and would need to removed before more harm was caused. We are in the business of life saving…sometimes that looks like giving a woman and her baby a safe delivery place with proper equipment and sometimes it goes far beyond pregnancy and saves lives by looking into their entire physical wellbeing beyond just pregnancy. One of Glory Reborn’s values is As Jesus valued the life of the poor, so we also value each life. Not by the standards of this world, but believing all are chosen, qualified & entitled to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. We uphold the dignity, respect, & love that Jesus showed us & extend the same to our coworkers, patients, & any life that we connect with

Knowing that Carmen’s life is so valuable to her family, to us and to Jesus we knew that we could not leave her in this situation knowing that she had no means to support the life saving surgery she needs. Complete women’s care. This is what we are all about. Not just an in and out prenatal visits or a number in a delivery room but providing for women physically, spiritually and emotionally. For most of the women we see, pregnancy may be the only time in their life that they seek medical attention. This is an opportunity to not just give prenatal care but to give complete care that will save a life. The same is true of Mel. Mel was pregnant with her first baby and through the course of her prenatal care we began to talk more and more. She started sharing about little things in her life and eventually all these “little things” started to add up in my mind. These were little signs and symptoms of something else. Gallbladder problems! Glory Reborn has helped Mel get the necessary work up for her gallbladder and will assisting with her further care once she delivers her baby boy. Mel was fired from working in the supermarket because she was pregnant. It is not uncommon to fire a female employee when she becomes pregnant to avoid paying maternity leave pay. Her partner washes cars for a living and although they are trying to make ends meet their budget would never allow them to have the ultrasounds and blood work necessary just to find out what was wrong with her gallbladder much less the treatment after delivery. That’s where Glory Reborn can help,will help, as we partner with local doctors who are willing to extend free services. Which leads us to Violet. Violet also came to Glory Reborn pregnant with her seventh baby. She was missing several teeth and always looked as though she was exhausted and sad at 40 years old. We began to notice a patten that every few weeks she was having back pain and bladder infections. After running many tests to rule out premature labor the conclusion was to check her kidney’s. Sure enough she had kidney stones in both kidneys! Violet cried and cried upon hearing the news. She could not feed herself or her six children and her husband was a simple tricycle driver. The tricycle is a manual bicycle with a seat attached on the side that holds 2-3 people. At most he makes $1.50 a day to feed his family. Kidney stones in pregnancy meant many more expenses that would sacrifice feeding her children. She was in pain with kidney stones, seven months pregnant and overwhelmed by life. Glory Reborn supported Violet’s medicine throughout the remainder of her pregnancy. On one of my night shifts Violet delivered a beautiful, healthy baby. It was such a special moment having gone through this journey with Violet first with all the bladder infections then with the kidney stones to get to help deliver her healthy baby was a priceless moment of rejoicing. We have continued to sponsor Violet’s medicine through our social work program and in a few weeks she will be having her kidney stones removed! We are praying it will be as smooth and easy as her delivery was.

In the end, for Carmen, Mel and Violet and for the many more to come it’s about dignity, it’s about respect and it’s about love….for those who are in hopeless situations during pregnancy and far beyond. How can we deny them a life of quality, health and dignity simply because of the situation of poverty they are in? It hits me so drastically some day that I could have been born in the dumpsite of Cebu, would that have made me any less

deserving of the care that I grew up knowing. Basic care, when you are sick you can see a doctor and receive help. Glory Reborn hopes to stand in the gap for these women and extend our arms to embrace the sick, the hungry, the hurting and the broken, moms and babies we love them all!Complete women’s care….not just prenatal care or labor and delivery care but a chance to have a full check up. For someone to listen to the whole story and offer hope that their physical life can be improved. We count ourselves so blessed to be a part of the bridge that is forming by finding doctors willing to give free care at a private hospital to the poorest of our city. It’s been a journey that has taken us many years of wonderful connections and it’s amazing to see God bring these connections together to help women who are in need beyond the service we can give in our clinic facility. Would you pray with us that we would be able to expand our facility this year to accommodate complete women’s care? Thank you for partnering with Glory Reborn in extending dignity, respect, and love to the women of Cebu not just in pregnancy but in total wellbeing.