Charis Around the World

Life In Ukraine
Anne Sokol

Snippets of Knowledge and Understanding

It’s taken me years to pick up some snippets of knowledge and understanding about birth and homebirth in Ukraine. Here are some things I’ve learned.

In Ukraine, the medical professionals helping a pregnant and laboring woman are separate. She goes to one facility for prenatal care and is assigned a doctor based on her street address. For birth, she goes to a birth house in her region. Right now in Kiev, they are not very strict about what birth house a woman goes to, and some are reputed to be nicer than others, so women can choose a different birth house if she wants.

During Communism and still some today, the due date was all-important. The woman would go to the birth house a week or two before her due date and “lie-in”. She was entirely by herself. No family was allowed. They didn’t see the baby until she was sent home a few days after the birth. Outside some birth houses, you will see graffiti messages that husbands spray painted to their wives. They sometimes got to see their babies if the mother held the baby up to the window. Births were usually stimulated. There were other practices like separation of mom/baby, regulated breastfeeding, etc.

There are some cultural myths, too, that intrigue me. Like saying that you have to pump your breast empty after each feeding so the milk won’t spoil inside you and the baby drink it, or so you won’t get mastitis. The idea that you can’t drink water or you’ll swell — doctors used to teach this. Those things are starting to fade.

In 1996, a law was passed stating that a woman can birth anywhere she wants, in any position, with any person she wants with her. This didn’t do much to change the situation in birth houses; if she mentioned the law, she would just be told she could go elsewhere to birth if she didn’t want to follow their rules, often told to her during labor.

There are home birth midwives here in Ukraine. They practice illegally, although doctors (and others) know about them. Mostly, they are let alone, but they could easily become a target of any upset person (like a doctor) and be jailed for assisting. Homebirth midwives here don’t do prenatal care. They teach extensive pre-natal classes and then assist at the birth.

I have the opportunity to help start a Christian birth house here. I am excited, but it’s a daunting task. The laws and regulations surrounding birth and medical practice are incredible. For example, by law if a woman bleeds for any reason during pregnancy, she must be hospitalized.

In the government, no one here is desperately seeking to license a great, humane facility. What they have is “good enough.” But as I help my friends during pregnancy and birth, more and more I see and experience the rudeness and even cruelty. Those birthing at home sometimes risk a lot to avoid the government hospitals. A Christian, compassionate facility is so desperately needed. We must move forward.

Lena, a homebirth midwife in Ukraine

Dima, Nadya, and their lovely children are a Ukrainian homebirth family .
Five of their children were born in birth houses and three at home. Nadya is a future midwife!
Tierney Dovan, CPM, and Doran Richards (top right) are their two American guests.

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