Finally after about 6 months, Kei’s birth video is done into a 5 minutes short clip. See here:
While I was editing the video in Yodhi’s mac, I went through a flashback of the labour process. It was just amazing and unbelievable that my body was just possessed by an unknown force. I didn’t have any control of what’s going on, and had to just surrender to the force. All that I could do is to concentrate and move along with the force, surrendering to the pain. And once it’s all over, I trembled, shaken, breathless and tired like I had just gone through a marathon, even though I did not move my body much. All those energy spent to do a marathon are focused on contracting my womb to expel the baby.
You may ask, why such unconventional position to giving birth? Current medical procedure makes us believe that there is only two ways of giving birth: Lying down on labour bed or through cesarean operation. Such position are actually invented quite recently for the convenience of the doctors rather than to make it easy for the mothers themselves. Actually, you don’t need to use the same position like you’ve seen in the movies, where the mother is lying down and the legs are lifted up in stirrups. I heard story from my sister in-law that the mothers of Papuan forest tribe would go into the forest, alone, and give birth in squatting position, just like going into squatting toilet. That makes sense, because I’d say, giving birth is somehow similar to expelling a very big poo or having a bad constipation. Ina May’s book also show pictures of people giving birth in standing position, or in all-four position. My friend Bridge gave birth on a birthing stool in a semi-squatting position.
Anyways, I was able to stay in that position because the the doctor hasn’t come yet. Side lying position was the most comfortable position for me that was able to slightly reduce the pain. All the nurses asked me to hold until the doctor came, but alas, Kei couldn’t wait and decided to just slip through by himself. As I said, I didn’t have any control of the whole process, my body just decide to give birth and I was just following my urge. At the end I gave birth without doctor’s help…. the doctor only come 10 minutes after birth… but I was still charged doctor’s delivery fee!
Now that’s the painful part! Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know!
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