Giving birth

Giving birth to Ivan took lasted more than 56 hours. Allen was born in some six hours. I wonder how " long" would labor with the third child last.

This makes me think of Mrs. Duggers , the reality star mom of the 18 kids plus counting fame. Apart from thinking the woman's nuts for having that many kids (does she even get to know all of her kids; does she spend individual quality time with them, the buzz words of modern parenting; can she even remember all of their names and call them out correctly at all times. I had problem differentiating between Ivan and Mariposa, and now that Allen is thrown in the mix, it's becoming a futile endeavor.) I wonder, how short and quick were her labors, let's say, for kids numbers 10 and above. Would she get contractions? Were they painful? Did she need to push out the babies or would they just slide out? Was she even aware that she was in labor, about to give birth?

Because what I keep picturing is that scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian (is that the one), where the woman is cooking when yet another kid just slides out of her and then she resumes cooking. Or the one and only image that has stuck with me from Pearl Buck's Good Earth, a book I read way back in elementary school, where the pregnant Chinese peasant is working in the field when she goes into labor, delivers the baby by herself--I think the child also just slides out of her--and continues working. Since that's the only bit of the book I remember after all these decades, I think I was probably somewhat scarred by that scene.

But on the more serious note, after both Ivan's and Allen's births, while I was convalescing at home, recuperating from labor, I kept thinking about all women in poor countries, and throughout the past, delivering babies in substandard hyegenic conditions, and then taking care of themselves and their babies in such environments. Needless to say, it made me really grateful for living when and where I do. It also make me want to get involved with or help organizations that work on maternal health issues in developing world.