I love reading birth stories, and especially birth stories from women who delivered in other countries. It always fascinates me how birth is treated around the world. I had a friend who delivered her first baby in Africa, in a shack with no running water! This contribution from reader Courtney is equally as fascinating. Enjoy the read:
Hi,
My name is Courtney and I was reading your blog and came across the entry about mom-a-thon. I am an American and I was living in Indonesia when my son was born last September. I wrote a birth story that I posted on my blog.
http://thehamptonbaby.blogspot.com/2008/10/ashers-birth-story.html
If was an amazing experience filled with lots of cultural learning. Here are some of the strange things that happened that I did not write about on my blog.
Each month at my pre-natal appointment I would be weighed in the waiting room where all the little skinny Indonesian women would gawk at how much I weighed.
I asked my doctor if I could be tested for Group B Strep (this is not a standard test in Indonesia). He looked at me like I was crazy and sent me to the lab. When the nurse walked in to do the test I started to take off my pants, she looked at me like I was even crazier and told me to keep my pants on and sit down so she could take my blood. Evidently they really didn’t understand the type of test I was asking for.
A week after my due date my doctor informed me that if the baby was not born before Saturday the pregnancy would be “terminated” after thinking about that word for a moment he changed his mind and said I would be induced. English was not his first language.
My doctor came in and made me eat a sandwich and fries while I was having contractions.
Before I was fully dilated my nurse would yell at me in one language to stop pushing I would yell back at her in another that I couldn’t help it.
My doctor ended up wanting to do a c-section. Luckily for us, one of my friends was in the delivery room with us. She yelled at the doctor that he was not going to do a c-section and yelled at me to keep pushing.
After the baby was born the nurse (that was supposed to be helping me start breastfeeding) took one look at my nipples announced they were unfit for breastfeeding and left me alone with my baby.
Every time the baby would cry while we were in the hospital all of the nurses would rush into our room at start yelling “thirsty! thirsty! you have to give him a bottle, he is so thirsty!”
Thanks for reading!
Courtney
www.thehamptonbaby.blogspot.com
RR
