A December Birth Story

Brant woke me up this morning to go HELP AT A BIRTH of a tribal lady.... Max’s wife had been in labor for two days and still hadn’t delivered.  Max’s wife.... I think she was the biggest pregnant lady I had ever seen. April and Jenny and I had joked for WEEKS that she was way, way over due. We thought she was having twins - or triplets, seriously she was that big. And now her husband had come to get us for help. Let's get this straight right now... I am a linguist, not a midwife. My baby birthing experience is limited to my own 3 boys and watching "Call the Midwife" reruns while Brant was building our tribal house.... Anyways, barely awake, I am throwing gloves and disinfectant wipes and my “Where There Is No Doctor” book in a bag with crackers and rehydration drinks. Praying a ton. I met April and Jenny and we prayed and cried and ran down to the hut on the edge of the village, shoving food in our mouths as we ran. As we climbed up the ladder and into the dark room, there lying on a mat of banana leaves was a huge, perfect, dripping wet, baby girl. The lady had JUST delivered the baby. We were totally shocked but thankful that the baby was crying and alert and the mother seemed to be doing well too. There was blood everywhere; the mother was sitting on clean looking banana leaves in a corner of their hut…. dogs were wandering around. Ladies from the village sat around and ate and watched all the goings on. Little kids wandered around kinda like the dogs… at will, in the way, looking for food and whining. The husband literally paced up and down outside the door; at one point he opened the door and shoved in a bunch of fresh banana leaves - we didn’t understand all that was said but it was something to the effect of “I thought you might need these?” “No, take them away! Close the door!” It was so classic new dad, helpless to do anything, that Jenny and April and I almost burst out laughing. Almost.

Back to the baby on the floor - they just left her on the floor! They didn’t do anything! It certainly wasn’t cold outside, so she wasn’t about to freeze and didn’t need a blanket, but it was just kinda weird to see a brand new baby, laying on her placenta, all by herself with no one fussing over her. As soon as April and Jenny and I realized things were going okay, we sat back and became observers…. just watching to see how the tribal ladies “did” childbirth. They helped the mom “bathe” - got her stripped down and dumped a bunch of water on her with a little bit of soap. They got her into clean clothes and threw away the dirty banana leaves. They got her situated by the fire closer to the center of the hut…. all the while the baby just laid their by herself. 

Then they went back for the baby - sprinkled drops of water on her and used a bit of soap and started trying to clean her up a bit. The placenta and mess they just shoved between the slats in the floor… the dogs ran outside for breakfast. They wrapped the baby in a dirty blanket (I cringed) and then handed her to a nearby teenage girl who held the baby - if you can even use the word held - on her lap. No cuddling, no cooing over her. Just literally held the baby like my boys hold a stack of groceries “When can I put this down?” We were quite concerned that they would literally abandon the baby, but after what seemed like forever, the mother called for the baby and they brought her over and the mom held her - really held her - and looked at her and smiled. She tried to nurse the baby and just watched the baby and you could see the satisfaction of a hard labor rewarded with a healthy, beautiful baby. 

As for the twin…. we were quite concerned that baby #2 was coming soon, so I felt the mom’s stomach and April listened for a heartbeat. Something didn’t seem quite right with her stomach (it was way too hard and taut to have only one baby) but she never did go into labor again and seemed to settle down from labor like there was only one baby. So maybe the ladies here just get really big during pregnancy? We don’t know.

Within two hours I was back at home, thankful for a happy ending and a little overwhelmed at the whirlwind early morning. I joined Brant and the boys for breakfast and told them the story of the baby lying on the banana leaves and the mom by the fire and wrapping the baby in a scrap of dirty cloth...

“...just like Baby Jesus” Caleb said. 

Yes. Yes, as I thought about it, a bit shocked by the realization.... Christ came into the world much the same way. Animals wandering around. Clean hay instead of a sterile bassinet to lay in. A tired mom resting by the fire in a dark room while dad tries his best to help. No running water to wash with. No electricity to illuminate the birth of the Light of the World. No doctor to check that everything was fine and germ free. And yet, Mary delivered a perfectly healthy, Perfect Son. The cloth she had to wrap him in would have probably made me cringe.... yet that was God’s plan for His Son and my redemption. It blows my mind.

We live in the this tribe, but we live so differently than the tribal people - water filter, solar panels, flushing toilet. Sometimes I wonder if they will ever be able to listen and hear the Message we have to teach them - our lives are so different. But I am comforted and reminded again, that the God we have to tell them about came into the world the same way they did - simply, without fuss or modern amenities... welcomed by a mom and dad and the animals and the smell of smoke.