Happy Fathers Day to Me

That's right, its Bolivian Fathers Day!!!!  So in honor of Fathers Day, we went to the maternity hospital downtown to distribute the toques that were generously donated by Bernice and a couple other knitters out there.  This particular hospital is dedicated to just delivering and taking care of babies.  Corrina knows one of the doctors there and he was able to get us in.  Doesn't sound like a bit trick to get in does it?? 

Wrong.  First of all, nobody under 12 is allowed in the hospital, even if they are with dad coming to see their new brother or sister.  That means that dad goes in and leaves the 5 year old in charge of the 2 year old outside the hospital door while he goes in to see mom.  The second catch is that you have to provide a piece of ID to the guard at the front door in order to get past the front gate.  Nobody can just wander into the hospital like in Canada.  As a matter of fact, the guard at the front, wouldn't let us in until we gave her a toque for her 6 month old niece.  How's that for security??

Once in, we started slapping toques on heads immediately as there were people everywhere because it was discharge time.  We chatted with a few of the new parents on the way out thanks to Corrina and Heidi translating for us, and some were better off than others.  One couple from the country had no clothes for their baby as of yet, other than the blanket they received from the hospital, so they were very appreciative of the toque.

We had about 130 toques and thought we were in good shape, until the doctor took us to the area for pre-mature babies and explained that there are 40 babies born a day in the hospital, and 70% are premature due to poor pre-natal care and that most mothers continue to be on their feet all day through their pregnancy.  They also deliver most babies by caesarian section because it is faster and the doctor can move on to the next baby quicker.

The hall outside the pre-mature area was lined with incubators, and in the ward, were 27 babies either in the incubators or being fed.  We put toques on the ones that were out and gave the rest of the toques to the nurses to distribute.  Everyone was very thankful for them.

Unlike all of my kids when they were babies, every last baby had a full head of hair.

The other thing I learned about Bolivian hospitals is that they have a really good cafeteria in the hospital that cooks actual meals from scratch for a very good price.  We stopped for a drink in the cafeteria on the way out of the hospital, and the people next to us were having lunch.  Each meal looked and smelled fantastic.I have had 3 kids of my own, and never once during the three visits to the hospital, did i have a meal that I would class as good.

We will soon be heading out for Fathers Day supper with Ken and the boys because it is after all Fathers Day, and I am a father, and Ken is like a father and besides is Renalo's birthday.