Babies Everywhere

June 5, 2015

            So far I have witnessed five births at Janet Nursing Home and I feel like a proud godmother. From my point of view, I don’t think they keep the patients heavily sedated, because they look like there are in a lot of pain. Women giving birth the natural way probably feel 90% of the pain. Furthermore, women here don’t push the baby out, instead the baby is forced out of the uterus by the nurse pressing down on the upper abdomen. It’s a spectacular sight to see, it makes the whole birthing process much quicker. The baby is out in less than 5 minutes, maybe all births in the U.S should be done like this. Today I also got the opportunity to watch the process the baby undergoes once it’s out. At first, I was shocked to see the nurse handle a new born baby in such a way. She held the baby boy by his legs and held him upside down, while she rubbed/slightly slapped his back. Then, she inserted a long tube down the baby’s mouth and nose multiple times, it looked quite painful. I was confused during the entire process and I felt bad for the tiny human, but I know she is a trained nurse and she wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize the child’s life. It was later on that afternoon that I learned why the babies undergo the treatment. Apparently, babies are filled with some sort of substance when they are born, so they use the tubes to remove the tar from the baby and the remaining substance the baby poops out.

            I have been in India for a week now and every day has been a struggle, but also a learning experience. Some days I’m happy that I have three more weeks left, other days I want to pack up my bags and catch the next flight home. Luckily, I haven’t done it yet. I don’t know what curve ball life might throw at me in the next three weeks, but I still have my smile and my curiosity, so I think I’ll be ok. 

Day six in Trichy and I don’t want to give birth any time soon.