The traditional way of child delivery
What we all wish for in life is to have undisturbed passage but our wishes are sometime not granted but rather decided by faith and destiny as our individual believe teaches us. When we are fortunate then luck has been bestowed on us and on the other hand when things get hay wired then we begin to attribute and find all sorts of excuses to justify our predicaments.
No child can for sure decide on whom and how he or she should be born it all depends on destiny and persons who are involved in the labor process.
Clinical and traditional are methods used in child delivery in Ghana where it all depends on your location and sometimes choice of the parents.
The traditional way of child delivery which is not common to the rest of the world is what I am going to share with you.
In Ghana most of the children born in the rural and slums areas are delivered traditionally by people we call traditional birth attendants and this people are mostly elderly women who acquired this act of bravery from either their grandmothers or people they stayed with during their youthful age.
It all started during the stone caving age of man, then passed on to us, you will bare with me before the orthodox time, man had ways of doing things and this happens to be one of it.
Normally villages where there are no hospitals are places one is sure of such attendants during labor, any way Nsuta had one and now have one been a man in his late thirties who has safely delivered all his kids sorely in his house, even though we have a hospital. This is the first time I am witnessing a male in these women dominated work. It will also amaze you to know that pregnant women get what I call traditional anti-natal care from such women where herbal concussions are administered till the time of birth.
These women earn a lot of respect in societies they leave, because of their immense contribution although most of them are illiterate; they manage out of experience to save most of the labor cases in these villages.
One is sure that the house where these practices take place can not be compared with that of the hospital, for instant you are not going to find proper instrument, bed, first aid materials, sterilizing machines and above all the competency of the attendant in question. Hmm without all these they sometimes manage to have safe delivery and sometimes are fatal.
Children born in these areas are normally denied proper anti-natal care all they and their mothers get is herbal medicine from herbalist or older people in the community. What one is sure as a result of this is malnourished kids and mothers because pregnant women in Ghana eat clay, raw plantain other non-balance diet, also complications in child birth and finally child deformities such as polio and low mental faculty.
Because these pregnant women do not get proper anti-natal care they sometimes end up not knowing the time of birth so they are usually rushed to these traditional attendants very late putting their own life in danger of child birth, others who are lucky get there early because they were able to notice that the time is up.
For me I know pain is associated or endured at this very time when one is in labor, I quite remember I day I happened to pass by one and could hear things like “I will not give birth again, foolish man look at what you have done to me, and I wish I am not a woman” so one will expert to hear well selected words of encouragement by the traditional birth attendants to ease the pain but rather hash and though methods are used. It is so because when such methods are not used some women instead of enduring the pain, they end up crying leading to complications so they are forced, wiped, slapped, shouted and a few words like you can make it, do you want to kill your baby, the baby is coming and push for the last time. At this time the husband may be loitering around the mud house with few family members mainly the mother in law and sisters, in some cases the husband may be under a tree drinking a local wine called palm wine or hunting for a game for celebration.
Unlike the hospital where blood pressure, body temperature thorough investigations and analysis are done by competent medical personnel to ensure safe delivery here is purely based on experience and luck.
Is very crucial because complications can set in, for instant severe blooding or when there is the need for episiotomy what happens? Is the traditional birth attendant going to use unsterilized blade, gauze and bandages?
Finally the cry of a baby is heard through the raffia roofing’s and wooden windows of the house. Is at this moment the mother of the newly born baby shares tears of joy and forgets whatever pain she went through during the nine months of pregnancy.
Sometimes it ends up fatal where things get beyond the reach of the traditional birth attendant such as severe bleeding, improper coming of the baby or when episiotomy was not done properly then there is the need to rush the mother in labour in what ever stage she is in to a near by hospital, what happens when there is no hospital within 2 kilometres and no access road? Then they have to carry her to the nearest hospital because most of these villages are kilometres away from a hospital. You are luck to meet or get a car to the hospital on your way.
Mostly they die even before they get to the hospital, this has increase child birth mortality rate in Ghana. When one reaches the hospital on time then she can be saved by medical personnel or even sometime get too late that nothing can be done to save the mother and the baby. It sometimes comes to a question of who to save when you are face with the option of saving one. Others save the mother and other save the babies depending on their choice.
If every thing goes smoothly then it is time for reward and for all these risk taking job the traditional birth attendant takes nothing does not charge a penny for all the marvelous work done all they get for a good job done is a piece for cloth, soaps and some goodies, they really appreciate it. I understand the work of a traditional birth attendant is not about wealth creation rather a devotion to mankind and is a joy to be part of one mans livelihood.
They are high in spirits years after they see that the children they help deliver are matured and of great standing in the society and also some of these children come back to appreciate the effort of these women who helped their mothers deliver, in both cash and kind.
Also they share the pain and anguish of the family when the baby is lost and sometimes even more than the affected family to the extent that they do not eat for some days even though they have been several cases of such nature.
The work that these brave women do has been of a great concern to government to the extent that education to upgrade them has been going on. Topics like proper handling of instruments, gauze, environmental consciousness and personal hygiene are thought in local dialect for better understanding. This has greatly improved the standard of traditional birth attendant’s work. They now conduct their work in much improvement.
Yet still they need support and upgrading.
Finally I will say with all the intrigue, it is an interesting job and experience one love to have in life.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us it’s not just in some of us it’s in every one.
Till we met again bye.
AUTHOR Neil Owusu Odame