04 January 2009

Hi Blogworld!

Been out of touch with Blogworld for a while. Was out of town, where there was not much Internet time. Have only just caught up with all the blogs I follow. I didn't want to post till I'd read all the posts of my blog friends that I missed.
Well, during the time I went missing, some exciting things have happened:-- I got to see the birth of a baby! This was a first for me. Though I have been to the hospital with a to-be mother, have helped with baby-sitting new borns, I have never witnessed a birth. My own daughter had to have a Ceasarean.
In India, normally there are no private labour rooms. It's only in the very recent past, that upper-end private hospitals have started having such rooms. In a usual hospital, in the labour room there would usually be more than one woman giving birth. I remember that when I had my babies, especially my eldest, there were atleast 5 or 6 women having their babies at the same time, in cubicles on either side of me. So it was just not done to have anyone with you during the final stage of labour.
In the generation previous to mine though, women just had children at home, with a midwife, and in later days maybe a lady doctor, to help. For example my mother-in-law had 7 of her 8 kids at home and my own mother delivered my elder 2 siblings at her parents' home. But when hospitals became the norm for delivery, under Indian conditions of the time--many babies being born, far more infectons around than now--there was no way any lay person could be allowed into a labour room.
But whatever the situation, men were strictly excluded, unless the man in question was the doctor. But now with all the reading of books from the West on birth and how the husband is allowed to witness the birth, more and more young Indian women are asking for their husbands to be allowed in to the labour rooms, as well as a close female relative.  So the young father-to-be and I were in the room.  But dad-to-be kept to a corner, well out of the way, till the baby was with the pediatrician and he was given permission to go see his son.
Anyway, so I got to see the little baby come out into our world and laid on his mother, after which he was taken away to be cleaned up and his stats looked at.  I didn't really see much of the gore as I was holding the young mum's hand.
To me the experience was much like when I used to go cheer my daughter and friends when they ran marathons (11and1/2 kms) in school.  When they flagged towards the end, one would cheer, "Come on, come on, you can do it, just a bit more, hang in there!"  Even the words I used was about the same :).  It was an exhilarating, though somewhat exhausting experience!  But I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

7 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to start your year!

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  2. Susan think of the experience you had - how lovely !

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  3. Yay! I missed you.

    My mom was with us when I gave birth to our oldest. She wept copiously but soundlessly.

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  4. I have never seen the birth of a baby.It must be a wonderful experience and as someone commented before, what a wonderful way to start the year.

    All the best :)

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  5. Wow! I love the way you compared it to the marathon :-)

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  6. in terms of difficulty level, i dont think Vee will be very happy with the comparison of going through labour to marathon....hey not to say running 11 1/2 km was easy....and in fact if I attempted it today, I'm sure the marathon would be more difficult than giving birth to a baby!

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  7. Oh, Hillgrandmom you sure brought back some wonderful memories. I was with my daughters when most of the grandchildren were born. But our youngest was still single and I was there in the room alone with her when the baby started coming into the world, I rang for the nurse who came and then she had the Dr called. By this time I was holding the baby`s head in my hands . I was actuslly delivering my granddaughter myself. Other times I was just standing beside them holding their hands and giving them encouragement. Never in my life did I ever think I would be delivering a baby by myself. Since I was already holding the baby`s head the nurse got scared and kept asking for the Dr to hurry. He arrived, slid his hands under mine in time to help catch the baby. The nurse told me she felt I should be the one to show the baby to it`s mother since I was the one who delivered her.
    A student nurse had came in and asked to stay for her training and my daughter was in so much pain at the time, she said she didn`t care. After the delivery, this student nurse told my daughter that she had always wanted her mother to be with her when she has her first baby, but she changed her mind and now wanted me with her because she said I knew what to do. Well, I would now if it ever happened again. I learned the wonders about the miracle of holding a new born as it was being born. :) Today, that baby is now the mother of her own little 3 year old daughter.

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