Childbirth in my Life and Around the World

My story of birth up in the Himalayas of 29000 feet from the sea level!!!

My mother gave birth to seven children and all of them are born naturally without any medical help. There was no hospital in my village at that time, so everyone gave birth naturally. When I was born, my father was the one, who performed all the birth procedures. My mom shared this story with me and the story goes like this:

1.     Due to unavailability of medical support, there was not record of the conception of the baby, so birth could take any time. During the labor, my women are given a traditional food called, “Maldak” (which is made from wheat flour, butter, salt and water). It is prepared hot as we live in a very cold place up in the Himalayas. It is believed that hot food keeps the body warm. My mom also had the Maldak.

2.     My birth took place in our home and my aunt and father helped my mother to prepare the room and other necessary accessories such as scissor, clothes, blankets and threat.

3.     Since I was the fourth child, my mom didn’t go through much labor pain. So, it was a quick and normal birth. My Dad was the one who cut the umbilical cord and tied it with threat by making a not.

4.     After my birth, I was cleaned by my aunt and immediately given to my mother’s lap. 

 Birth in Nigeria:

 In Nigeria the majority of women in the cities area give birth in the hospital. However women in rural areas and less educated tend to use traditional birthing methods or hospitals that are sub-standard while others give birth at home, usually with a birth attendant present, or with family members. The placenta is traditionally buried after birth in Nigeria so it is important for Health Service Providers to offer to return the placenta to Nigerian mothers. Caesarean births are not preferred and regarded as unnatural. They also consider it to be the failure part from the mother, so they dislike it. But in case of emergencies and complication, Caesarean is accepted. In some Nigerian communities mothers will eat very spicy `hot' foods after giving birth and will bathe in hot water immediately after the birth to prevent postnatal complications.

It was very interesting to find many similarities between Nigerian and Nepalese (which is mine) birthing system. In both the countries, women are given hot food and placenta is buried. One difference was that in Nigeria, there were more opportunities for hospital and it is not much preferred to do caesarean, whereas in my country, if doctors suggest it, then usually there is no objections.

Reference
 Retrieved from http://cultural.profiles.spirasi.ie/countries/nigeria.shtml