ZAMBIA 2014 - DAYS 15 & 16 - Heading Home....

Day 15 &16: this morning was when we were about to begin our 2 day journey home. The team met for our last breakfast together at the hotel. A few of us took a ride in a golf cart in search of some giraffe that stay on property. The adventure was successful as we saw 3 up close and personal.
Then it was back to the hotel lobby ton check out and head to airport. We all said "so long" to our new friend, Dr. Marc from Canada.
Although we only just met him 2 short weeks ago it's seems we've all been friends for far longer. We also said so long to Leonard and Rose. Leonard is so instrumental in making our trips go so smoothly! Then is was off to the airport. Little did the team know what God has still planned for us!!! 

Our bags were WAY over weight because we had to take a puddle jumper to connect to our international flight. The staff showed us much grace and didn't charge us anything overage. Then we found out this flight was delayed and we would be cutting it super close to catch our Next flight.... We actually made the next connection... Barely!!! Then the real excitement begins!!!

Our flight left Lusaka Zambia and had a  one hour layover I'm Zimbabwe to let passengers off but most remained. As we were waiting for the plane to take off an announcement came over the PA.... Is there a doctor on board a passenger is having complications .... Dr Andy stepped up to the call.... Then they announced its a mom in labor...... Linda and I looked and each other and said guess the trips not over yet!!!


We went back to assess the situation. Dr Andy graciously stepped aside and we found a mom In preterm labor 24 weeks into her pregnancy. The combination of dehydration and pressure changes caused her to go into preterm labor . We asked to crew to call for an ambulance , 10
Min later they told us the clinic was closed and no one was coming. Linda and I asked for the planes emergency medical kit and Betsy stepped up to run IV fluids and Linda and I gloved up and started an IV while The moms contractions were coming every 1 min 15 seconds.

Still no ambulance or anyone responding . It was at this time I decided to walk swiftly to the cockpit to speak with the captain. Let just say he moved quickly as a feisty American woman was approaching being a fierce advocate for this young Indian woman in preterm labor.
I asked him point blank if he was prepared to have 2 fatalities at 30000 feet on his plane ???!! Or was he gonna make a Phone call and get an ambulance crew to get her off the plane and into a clinic. The call was made and guess what?!.... An ambulance arrive in 20 min. Betsy kept the crew working efficiently and managed crowd control with all the passengers wanting to get this on film! Crazy!!!!!! We then fashioned an arm board from a tissue box and tape to keep mom from bending her arm with the IV in it. The ambulance came and I helped them lift mom from the plane seats she was lying on to the stretcher that barely squeeze in the isle.
Linda, Betsy and I made it back to our seats and found out the woman next to us us married to a Perinatologist in Zambia and also does volunteer EMT work and may want to join our 2015 TPM team! God at work!!!

The captain then came out shook our hands thanked us for our service and moved Linda, Betsy and I to first class!!! Wow never sat in there before!!!! I apologized to the captain for storming in the cockpit and he graciously accepted my apology saying he understood the urgency. First class ended after 6 hours as we changed flights for 17 more hours of travel.


God is Amazing as he provides all we need for all situations. We are about ready to touch down on American soil. Thank God for an wonderful TPM team and all the provisions HE put In place to make this a huge success within his plan. Every one of our team was healthy and
safe and came to know God in a fresh new way thru the people we served and the creation we had the opportunity to see on the safari and at the falls.

Thanks for all your prayers
From Melissa and Team Zambia 2014