I have no experience with birth. I, obviously, don't remember my own. I only have one older brother.
I do have a niece. She was received excellent pre natal care both from doctors and her parents. She was born in a hospital and her whole family was there. both sets of grandparents and great grandparents, her cousin, her aunts. it was a cool day. ANYWAYS.....
I read a book called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down about the culture clash between the Hmong people and the California community. The beginning of the book is about a birth experience of a woman. She is in Laos in a hut. It is a silence birth because she believes noise will "thwart the birth"(Fadiman 1997). The mom delivered her babies herself. She saves the placenta and buries it. The book explains how the spiritual faith of the Hmong people are completely integrated with their lives. It was a great example of how the separation of faith from daily live is not always the best.
I also thought about how being born must be a CRAZY shock. to go from a temper controlled, perfect environment into a place that has bright light and lots of sounds and air conditioning must be unbelievable. Thank goodness we don't remember it.
Fadiman, A. (1997). The spirit catches you and you fall down. New York, New York : Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux
Hi Koni,
ReplyDeleteI did my research about birthing practices within an indigenous group in Mexico, and they too bury the placenta. What a coincidence! They dig a hole in the ground, inside their hut, and place the placenta facing down if they want their next baby to be a boy, or facing up if they desire a girl.
I found these birthing practices very interesting.