|
 |
|
Volume 8 |
~ News From
"Your Birthing
Family" ~ |
Issue 2 |
| |
_______________________________________________ |
|
|
Charis Around
the World
Tidbits From Ebony
Bleak Birthing in Ebony Hospitals: Part I
by Elizabeth Carmichael
Midwives graduating in Ebony
Dear Charis Family,
This past month I toured the local hospital here, in a major
Northern city. It was the first time I have been back in
an Ebony hospital since 2010, I think. Because it is so
hard to capture some of the oddities of daily life or “normal”
trauma that happens around here, I did my utmost to remember all
of you and capture little details for my memory so that you
could walk with me, just for a morning stroll in Labor and
Delivery. The hospital I visited is funded by a major
Western country (not the USA). My friend completed an
evaluation of the Maternity section of the hospital and then,
after I had read her report, she took me for a tour.
Introducing me as a fellow Western midwife (even though I
haven’t finished my Charis studies!), we had full access to all
parts of the hospital.
One of the most exciting events of the day for me was the chance
to see the birth of twins who were delivered by a lady from the
Nomadic Northern tribes of this country!! Keep reading for
more details. STOP reading if you can not stomach details.
The hospital was extremely dirty. One of the first things
my friend pointed out was the raw sewage covering the ground at
the entrance to the Labor and Delivery building. In the
entrance hallway we observed sewage seeping down the wall from
one of the ceilings. The offices of the supervisory nurses
and doctors, who are foreigners from the West, were much nicer
and cleaner than the rest of the hospital. In general,
this kind of disparity really bothers me, but I think sometimes
the foreigners just keep their space cleaner and functioning at
a better standard than local people do. I don’t know what
the problem is here—I’m sure it is a symptom of poverty and of
war—but whether it is a government building, an office, a
hospital or a bank—people are NOT motivated to pitch in and
really keep a place looking nice and working well. They
would rather scavenge bits of it to take home (like bits of
carpet, or a plant here and there, or wood for fire burning,
certainly office supplies!). And, often, they aren’t
motivated to put the time, budget or effort into a public area
to keep it nice. This is a very, very unfortunate dynamic
when it comes to a place like a hospital.
My friend took me to visit all the wards in the Maternity
department. There were separate “wards” (just meaning
rooms) for things like "Premature Rupture of Membranes" and
“Hemorrhaging.” It was so odd to me to think that a woman
could be in labor in one room and have one of these situations
occur, only to then be told, “Oh! You need to move to
another room now.” Part of the reason for organizing wards
this way is that women never have space to labor or deliver
alone. Whether you are laying with an IV in your hand,
laboring away, or spread eagle delivering your baby, there are
at least 1 to 3 other women on either side of you. So, I
can see how hospital management would want to consolidate women
by their conditions. But, I feel sorry for the woman whose sac
ruptures early and she is also experiencing bleeding, because
she may have to deliver in the hallway!
Further through the hallway, where the delivery rooms are
located, I found a stairwell. In this hospital, if you
need a cesarean section, you have to WALK upstairs to go get it.
There is no ramp. There is no elevator. I suppose,
if gurneys are available, women could be carried up by someone
else. But, no one spoke of such things in this hospital.
They only talked about the poor, hurting, possibly endangered
women who walk their tired bodies up those stairs to the OR.
The building is a good, strong building and it honestly was not
as dirty or crowded as the hospital I used to conduct research
at in Glory Land, Ebony. The labor ward was at least warm enough
which was positive.
When my friend and I entered the delivery room, we met the
nomadic lady and the assistant who was with her. We were
told by the midwives that she was due to deliver twins. I
know many people who get excited when they read, hear about or
meet midwives from Ebony. I really do have a lot of
respect for the young women who are studying and working very,
very long hours with VERY little support and very little
supplies. I have much respect for the older women who have
been midwives for years and have stuck with it, so that they can
teach the next generation. But, an Ebony midwife is NOT
like a Charis midwife. Their model of care is NOT the
Midwives Model of Care, as we would think of it.
The Midwives Model of Care is based on the fact that
pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.
The Midwives Model of Care includes:
• Monitoring the physical, psychological, and social well-being
of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
• Providing the mother with individualized education,
counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance
during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
• Minimizing technological interventions
• Identifying and referring women who require obstetrical
attention
The application of this woman-centered model of care has been
proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and
cesarean section.
Copyright (c) 1996-2008, Midwifery Task Force, Inc., All Rights
Reserved.
http://cfmidwifery.org/mmoc/define.aspx
In Ebony, rarely do all of these describe a midwife’s service to
women. The last point is the most common and consistent
one. Be assured! There is a GREAT need for people
who will come to this country to teach and model patient
centered and evidence based care.
When I saw the nomad lady who was delivering twins in front of
us, I started praying to God that we could be Light to her, and
that God would allow her to remember that light. I have a
quote from a hymn beside my bed. It says, “May His
beauty rest upon me, as I seek the lost to win. And may they
forget the vessel, seeing only Him.”
That is what I was praying for our time with this mother.
Her name is
Zarbibi. I didn’t
learn this until later on, after she had delivered her twins.
She was in pain still, her babies had been taken away from her,
and she was alone. Even though I stayed and held her hand,
tried to encourage her and tried to explain what was happening.
To be a part of peoples lives in a hospital environment,
especially with regard to birth in Ebony, is a very crazy
experience. Because pre- and post-natal care is almost
non-existent, as a midwife, doctor, or researcher, you find
yourself in the midst of a life changing experience with them
one moment, and the next they are gone out of your sight and you
are gone out of their lives.
The nomadic ladies had tattoos all over their faces.
Picture the face of one of your friends. Did you ever draw
freckles on your face (or on the face of a doll) when you were a
child??? I used my mother’s mascara to do this!
Picture those kinds of mascara dots all over your friend’s
cheeks, arranged in a pattern you do not understand. In
addition to this, picture her with a dot or line between the
eyes, and a dot on the chin. That is how the faces of the
nomadic ladies look. They are often tattooed in childhood
to mark them for their tribe.
The ladies had dark skin and were wearing obviously different
clothes from everyone else in the hospital. The nomadic
women RARELY come to the hospital for births, or any kind of
female care. They are notoriously “shy” about all these
having to do with sex or the female body. Their culture is
extremely strict. I have heard stories of women whose
tribe was on the move across the mountains or some plains, and
their husbands left them behind on the road with a camel or a
donkey, so that the woman could squat down, delivery her baby
and ride on the donkey to catch back up with the tribe. In
a country where only 14% of ALL births are attended by anyone
who has had any training AT ALL, the nomadic peoples are even
more behind on any developments that have been made in the city
areas.
So, with this frame of mind, my friend and I were very excited
and affirming of this woman’s choice to delivery her twins in
the hospital. She already had 9 children, so she knew a
little something about birth. I was thankful that they
were from a tribe that speaks the language I know. So, I
was able to speak with them at length throughout the labor and
delivery, and after.
Another lady who looked like them was also in the delivery room.
I thought she was with them, but I learned she had accompanied
another laboring woman. The woman had dilated to 8cm, but
her contractions had stopped. So, what’s the first course
of action in a hospital in Ebony???? If you guessed
pitocin, you are the winner! That’s right. They laid
her flat on her back and hooked her right up to a bag full of
pit. No monitoring of blood pressure or any vitals.
No monitoring of fetal heart tones.
I don’t say all this, especially with a negative tone to my
writing, in order to disparage Ebony, the hospital, the doctors
or midwives in any way. I share this with you in a selfish
attempt to express what I see. It is a desperate
invitation to enter my world and, hopefully, pray. Maybe
come and invest of yourself to help them develop!!!
Keep reading next month to find out more about the delivery of
Nomad Twins..........
Our International Charis
Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your
safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you! |
|
'Behold,
I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the
ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and
The one who labors with child, together,
A great throng shall return there...And My people shall be
satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
©2013 Charis Childbirth Services, All Rights Reserved
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends in its entirety,
leaving all attribution intact.
February 2013 |
|
