Saturday, June 21, 2014

The umbrella cord, the play centre, and the 'middle wife'...

There were seven of us. None was born in a hospital's maternity ward. By the time No 6 was in the oven, my late father felt he could "DIY" deliver her (my late sister How Eng)! Fortunately he was dissuaded from doing so. I was No 7 and was delivered by a professional "middle wife" at home (see story below). It must have been fun those nine months, what with a "play centre" and all that. So this story below resonates with me:

The 'Middle Wife', as told by a 2nd grade teacher
I've been teaching now for about fifteen years.. I have two kids myself but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my pupils. It helps them get over shyness and usually show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're always welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class -- with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

Erica's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me.

The other kids are watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'Mom walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
'My Dad made a call to the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man.

They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands mimicking water flowing away. It was too much!)

Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe.'

'They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of toys inside there.

When Luke got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' saga comes along.
  
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I don't think many infants in Singapore are delivered at home by midwives anymore. This is Matt -- born in a hospital's maternity ward:



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