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Volume 8 |
~ News From
"Your Birthing
Family" ~ |
Issue 3 |
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Charis Around
the World
Tidbits From Ebony
Bleak Birthing in Ebony Hospitals: Part II
by Elizabeth Carmichael
Midwives graduating in Ebony
Dear Charis Family,
Thanks for bearing with me as I give you two installments of
this crazy Ebony birth story.
Continued on from
last month…..
With the nomad mother on the table, ready to deliver her
twins……my German midwife friend tried to listen to the twins
with an aluminum pinard horn, but, despite her many years of
experience and trying various positions, she could not hear
anything. In the hospitals and clinics of Ebony there are
no dopplers or fetoscopes. Monitoring of a mother’s
vitals, much less fetal heart tones, is not possible even in the
most advanced hospitals where I have attended births. So
many things are less than ideal….
One of the aspects of birth in Ebony that bothers me most is how
rough the local midwives are with patients. One midwife,
who was trying to explain things to me and include me in the
process of the birth, was so rough with the mother that I found
myself feeling ill. Sometimes this country is heralded for
the number of midwives they have trained in recent years, or for
the very fact that they use midwives, but the term “midwife” can
be extremely subjective. I think we, as the international
community, need to make sure we are backing the Midwives Model
of Care, not just the existence of so-called “midwives”.
As the mother began to push her first baby out, the midwife
roughly leaned into her like a linebacker, pushing her shoulder
into the mother’s knee so that it would fold closer to her
chest, opening up her pelvic cavity. If the women were
allowed to labor and deliver in the squatting position, this
benefit could be even more efficiently accomplished. As
the midwives would speak with me, they seemed to emphasize their
point by roughly pushing their fingers into the woman’s body.
Each time, this mother would wince and scrunch up her face in
pain. Nobody else was looking at her face.
I’m telling you, it is a completely surreal experience to be in
an Ebony hospital. I’m not sure there has ever been
another more powerful temptation for me to psychologically
disassociate from a situation. I have to fight to both
remain in control of my emotions and opinions and, yet, also
remain alert and “present” spiritually.
This mother had conditions I had never witnessed before, but
that I know are very prevalent in this country. She had
both a fistula in the “front” part of her birth canal, where her
bladder was bulging through as the first baby’s head journeyed
down through her pelvis. She also had a rectocele, bulging
into the “back” of the vaginal wall. Fistulas in any part
of the vagina are a major concern for maternal health in this
part of the world:
Each year between 50 000 to 100 000 women worldwide are affected
by obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal. The
development of obstetric fistula is directly linked to one of
the major causes of maternal mortality: obstructed labour.
Women who experience obstetric fistula suffer constant
incontinence, shame, social segregation and health problems.
It is estimated that more than 2 million young women live with
untreated obstetric fistula in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Obstetric fistula is preventable; it can largely be avoided by:
• delaying the age of first pregnancy
• the cessation of harmful traditional practices
• timely access to obstetric care.
Preventing and managing obstetric fistula contribute to the
Millennium Development Goal 5 of improving maternal health.
For this nomadic mother, her twin boys born this day would be
her 10th and 11th live births, although this was her 12th
pregnancy. She was a pretty young mother. Maybe
thirty years old.
The first, sweet baby boy was delivered without incident.
The doctor explained to me that, to deliver the baby, who was in
a perfect birthing position, she pushed the fistula up and out
of the way in order to deliver the baby’s head. His
delivery required no other
assistance.
He was long, full term and precious. The other midwives
assisting rubbed him down a bit after he was born, but never
spoke to him or offered for his mother to see and hold him.
After a few minutes, they allowed the lady who had accompanied
the mother care for the baby (probably a village traditional
birth attendant). His lips were quivering and his eyes
were not open, but suddenly he began offering a clear stream of
urine in a high arch across the room. It landed all over
the pile of rags on the floor that were brought by the nomad
ladies for wrapping up the babies after birth. The whole
delivery room experienced a moment of light heartedness as we
laughed and commented on his “blessing” or “anointing.” I
kept my hand on his head, taking a mental note of his heart
rate, and also in order to pray over him. I prayed he
would belong to the Lord, grow up to know Him and share His Good
News among nomadic peoples.
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! |
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'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.
March 2013 |
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