In this second session, we started to learn more practical information, the most important discussion being, "When am I truly in labour and when do I go to the hospital for the birth?" Feeling less overwhelmed with emotion than last time, I settled into the comfy beanbag chairs they had provided for us pregnant women, and for lack of anything more nutritional, ate the cookies they had provided. (Not all the cookies...)
A very young religious woman sat in the corner with her husband, away from the rest of the members of the group. Apparently she preferred to go into the birth blind, "the less I know, the better"; her husband had to convince her that knowledge can be a powerful tool. Several times during the two and a half hour session, this woman ran out of the room crying, specifically when the midwife was illustrating in three dimensions the exact physics of how the baby leaves the womb, and how the body expands to accommodate the 10 cm or so head. Having participated in several births with friends and patients, I can say that yes it is messy and scary, and at the same time the most awe-inspiring miracle I have ever had the honor to witness.
We all wondered how she had planned on being a mother, if she could not handle the idea of the birth; after all, the baby has to get out whether she chooses or not. There will be greater challenges for the rest of their lives when they have a child.
Shame on the Ultra-Orthodox community, which marries off their women young when they have been forbidden contact with the opposite sex; a social order which tells these young men and women to "Be Fruitful and Multiply" and then does not prepare them in any way toward the end result. True, the female body was built to give birth without instructions, but both the child and its parents deserve better.
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