In our hospital the practice is to leave a woman alone during the second stage of the birth. I didn't want to be alone. I was afraid that something may go wrong and nobody would notice. I was also afraid of the pain I am going to feel. After having the epidural, I am convinced that it helped me and eased my baby’s way into this world. It helped me to live the most beautiful event of my life with enough strength to fully enjoy in it. Finally, I was lucky to have the competent and humane anesthesiologist who was there for me, and whom I felt was my sister to be with me and my son there. (Husbands generally aren’t allowed in the delivery room).  

Thank you so much for including me. The trip was very satisfying – personally and professionally – and has given me much momentum to make this type of development part of my career as well. You have done an amazing job setting up the support structures for this and are really making a difference. You are a role model and a leader!

I'm in touch with my colleagues at the host hospitals almost every day. We are preparing epidural protocols which will be introduced in all Croatian hospitals. I think that it is very important. It is the first time that anesthesiologists in Croatia work together. Can you image that in Croatia there are no guidelines about any field of anesthesia. I'm trying to change it.

The picture is of Australian doctor Amanda Baric (kneeling front left) with a group of doctors and nurses in Sisak University Hospital. One Kybele doctor can help educate many!

We received e-mails from a number of our hosts thanking us and describing their experiences after our visit. Mate Perkovic, MD, Split, Croatia, wrote:

I came today from a hospital in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have done the first epidural analgesia for labor there. Can you imagine that? Everybody in the hospital was talking about the epidural. That district is very rural, Catholics and Muslims live together and finally any mistake is not allowed.  I hope it is only first one of many that will come.  Thank you for your time and the book that you gave me, and for all your efforts to bring a little peace of the world to our country.