BIRTH.

After the call, Odilia gathered her birth bag and layered on tons of clothes and told me to do the same because it would get very cold and we might be at Petronila’s house all night. I brought my big purse with my camera, a flashlight, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and a scarf, sweater, long-sleeved shirt, raincoat, and a hat Odilia loaned me. Then we were off! Santos drove us in the truck and brought a pillow and blanket to sleep in the truck while we worked.

When we got to the house around 8:30 pm, Petronila was walking around, having contractions every 5 or 10 minutes or so, but still smiling. Odilia checked her and she was only 1 centimeter dilated – 9 to go! Since she was 21 and this was her first baby, Odilia knew it would be at least 1 or 2 am before she was fully dilated and ready to push. Odilia showed Petronila some movements to do to progress and get through the contractions – including getting on all fours and moving her hips side to side, walking quickly around the room, swaying side to side with her legs spread and arms around her husband’s neck or the back of a chair. Odilia had her drink straight vegetable oil (she gagged and threw up from it), saying that it would soften her cervix. Then Odilia plopped down on the bed and flipped on a soap opera.

Recently, two women who were giving birth to their first child had complications and died during birth. Not Odilia’s patients, but somewhere very far away, on the other side of Guatemala. Apparently the families of both women didn’t want to go to the hospital despite the complications. Because of these two deaths, the Ministry of Health passed a law that all women having their first baby must give birth in the hospital because of the risk of complications. But a vast majority of women here want home births just like the rest of their family has. Odilia will still deliver first babies, but she has to have a form notorized first to cover her ass and not lose her midwifery license if something were to happen and the family refuse to go to the hospital. So, an official man came to write an official document (by hand in a little notebook of Odilia’s). He signed it, stamped it, and Petronila’s aunt and mother-in-law also signed and fingerprinted it.

Since I had been going to sleep at 8 pm every night and it was now 11 pm, I started to feel very exhausted. On top of that, I was feeling very sick, so Odilia told me to lie on the bed and try to sleep. I felt awkward just sleeping on this family’s bed while the woman is in labor, but my body would not let me sit up right and appear awake. Somehow I dozed from 4 centimeters to 8 centimeters with her moaning/crying/yelling, everyone talking, and soap operas and the news on tv, all around me. That’s how tired I was! I woke up around midnight and felt absolutely horrible… What poor timing for a sickness to come on. I threw up three times in an hour. Odilia told me Santos could drive me home but NO WAY was I going to miss the birth!

She was finally at 10 centimeters around 2:30 am, and I think adrenaline kicked in then and I didn’t feel as sick anymore. Petronila was lying on the tile floor next to the bed on top of many blankets and a plastic sheet. Odilia was between her legs and me next to Odilia. Her husband, Alex, also 21 years old, was up by her head, pushing on it during each push to provide some counteracting force. Her Aunt Juana was on her left and her mother-in-law on her right, both pushing her knees toward her head and supporting her feet. She kept pushing and CRYING and screaming and saying “ya no puedo” (I can’t anymore) and I could finally see a little circle of the baby’s head – with so much hair! She was getting so incredibly exhausted but had no choice but to continue. It’s definitely the hardest work anyone could ever do – physically and emotionally. But it’s what a woman was made to do! Finally, after a half hour, with one last push the baby slid out into a cloth Odilia was holding. I marked the time of birth – 3:05 am. Odilia suctioned the baby boy’s nostrils and mouth and he began to cry almost instantly. What a journey he has just completed! It is so incredible how there were 6 of us in the room and then all of a sudden there were 7. He was so little and adorable with big eyes looking at the world around him for the very first time. It was truly miraculous and amazing and I’m going to catch babies for the rest of my life, for sure. And I’m also having my babies at home without drugs, for sure.

Odilia cut the umbilical cord and rest the baby on Petronila’s chest, but she was pretty out of it. She delivered the placenta, which Odilia inspected and found to be whole and normal. Then they handed the baby to me – a 6 minute old, 6 pound pound bundle of joy in my arms that I had just witnessed come into the world, staring up at me. Surprisingly I didn’t cry – I think I was so tired and sick that I didn’t have the capacity to cry. Right after the delivery of the baby, the mother-in-law put salt in Petronila’s mouth and had her drink atoll de maiz – water from the tortillas – as ordered by Odilia, to rehydrate her. Alex, the husband, lifted Petronila off the floor and into the bed where she fell asleep instantly, completely exhausted.

I loved holding the baby while they tended to the mom – it made me feel official and important and gave me time to reflect on everything that had just happened. Next time I want to do more! Maybe cut the umbilical cord or maybe even catch one… we’ll see what happens. Odilia dressed the baby, weighed him, listened to his heart and lungs (I listened, too), then wrapped up the new baby boy. We took some pictures of him and with him, then all kneeled (except for Petronila, who couldn’t) and prayed. They all recited a very long prayer, thanking God for a healthy baby and labor without complications, all while Odilia held the baby. Then we washed our hands and gathered everything. I woke up Santos and told him we were done, but then Petronila was difficult to arouse so we had to stay a bit longer – oops, sorry Santos! Odilia took her blood pressure, which was an incredibly low 40/20. The mother-in-law rubbed alcohol all over her face, elevated her legs and turned her on her left side, all to try to get the blood back to her head and arouse her. Odilia checked to make sure she wasn’t bleeding too much, and she wasn’t. Odilia told them if she stayed like that to take her to the hospital. I guess she didn’t end up going to the hospital, but somebody came and gave her an IV to replace lost fluids. We finally got home at 4:30 am and I fell asleep instantly, only to wake up at 6:55 am to go on a day trip with Odilia and Santos… which I will write about tomorrow!