Excerpt from The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down:
"Foua remains proud to this day she delivered each of [her babies] into her own hands, reaching between her legs to ease out the head and then letting the rest the body slip out onto her bent forearms. No birth attendant was present, though if her mouth got dry ... her husband ... was permitted to bring her a cup of hot water...Because Foua believed crying or screaming would thwart the birth, she labored in silence, with an occasional prayer to her ancestors. She was so quiet...her older children slept undisturbed...a few feet away and woke only when they heard the cry of their new brother or sister."
From the stories I've heard births, in America at least, just ain't like they used to be. I say that flippantly, but really - why all the hoopla surrounding birth now? the doctors, nurses, midwives, Lamaze classes, etc when women used to just cop a squat and pop out babies? What has changed in our bodies to make the process of birth so much more demanding and exacting of our bodies?
Segue (my word of the day!) -
Recently I went to the Po-die-a-trist for some work on my right, big toe. My nail was growing into the side of my toe, really really painful. The appointment to see the Po-d was spontaneously made while I was there for my annual exam, a half hour later. I was unprepared for the minor foot surgery that ensued and hence panicked and acted out like I never thought I would. I was hyserically laughing, trying to get her to stop, almost had to be held down by the assistant as she inserted a needle around my big toe with numbing stuff. As she was finishing up, she asked, "Do you have children?" I answered no. "Do you plan on having children?" I answered I'm not sure. She responded, "Because I'm not sure you'd make it through delivery," which sent me into part hysterical part belly laughter for the remainder of the procedure.
The image of your laughter has me laughing!
ReplyDeleteoh man, I can imagine it happening too! haha! did they acid burn your toe? char just had something like that done on her big toes for her ingrown nails and my mom's doc wants her to get it done too.
ReplyDeletethat is just too funny, and that exerpt...was that written by a man? seriously.
ok, but honestly, there is a lot of hoopla, and I think that's why some people do the midwife - at home birth idea to try and get away from all of that. like everything else in this world, there's a market for that stuff.