Birth as a Community Experience: It Can Be Achieved in a Hospital!
by Lois Wilson
© 1997 Midwifery Today, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
[Editor's note: This article originally appeared in
Midwifery Today Issue 41, Spring 1997.]
Much of the fear and consequent difficulties American women experience during pregnancy,
childbirth and the postpartum period are directly related to the isolation so inherent
in their culture. The spirit of community among women—intact in many other cultures
today—has been largely missing from mainstream American culture in the past several
decades. A year ago, at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, I discovered
that childbirth can be a joyously shared community event.
During my nine days at Victoria Jubilee, I learned that birth among Jamaican women
is characterized by the same warmth, care and good humor that is so apparent in everyday
Jamaican life and culture. Because there are more than 1,000 births a month at this crowded,
busy hospital, one could have assumed that the maternity care would be fast-paced
and impersonal—with technology replacing human touch—but that simply was not the
case.
After a laboring woman is admitted to Victoria Jubilee, she is never left to do
her work alone. In the two labor rooms women labor together, encourage one another,
and in the case of the younger, first-time mothers, get their first “childbirth
education classes” right there. There are no additional support people present,
and none are required. The moms are there for each other in an unspoken sisterhood.
When the birth of the baby is imminent, the laboring woman crosses the hall to
the delivery room, climbs onto one of the five beds and is attended by the nurse
or midwife who is to catch the baby. It is not unusual for several births to take
place simultaneously in the same room. Curtains can be drawn around each bed to
give the moms a measure of privacy, but the feeling of togetherness remains. The
midwives and the nurses all work together and assist one another with each birth,
tending each newborn, catching the placenta and meeting each mom's individual needs. There
is always something to do, and a pair of willing hands is always there to help.
Once the new mother is cleaned up and dressed and the baby examined and wrapped
in a blanket, both mom and baby are escorted down the hall to the immediate postpartum
room. Along the way, women with whom the mom has so recently shared labor poke their
heads out of their rooms and call out their congratulations, asking if the baby
is a girl or a boy. The proud mother beams, reminding them it won't be long
before their babies will be in their arms as well.
The immediate postpartum room, with six beds and six baby cots, serves as a temporary
recovery room until the mothers and babies are moved to a different ward. There
the women rest, chat and nurse their babies, happy to be together. Day after
day I saw young mothers learn how to breastfeed, hold and soothe their babies by
following the example of the gentle, experienced Jamaican moms. Though their time
together is brief, the lessons the young mothers learn reap a lifetime of
good mothering.
One evening I escorted a mom and baby to the postpartum room right after a group
of women had been moved upstairs to the larger postpartum ward. When she entered
the empty room, the new mother looked around and then said to me with dismay, “I'm
in here all alone!” I assured her the other moms and babies would be joining
her very soon. As I left the room I thought about our American love for privacy and
how it contrasts with the Jamaican love for community, expressed so clearly in this
new mother's reaction.
The women continue to nurture their bond of affection and support once they are
upstairs in spacious postpartum wards. The rows of beds and cots are filled with
happy mothers and their newborns as they rest, nurse, talk and eat together.
It was one of my favorite places to be; I soaked up the atmosphere of sisterhood
and motherhood and observed the wisdom of a system of care that is so different
from our own. Western societies can learn many things from our Jamaican sisters, including
the value of birthing as a community experience.
Lois Wilson is a Bradley educator, doula and homebirth midwife who
practices in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. She plans to practice midwifery
in the southern Philippines within one to two years.
If you enjoyed this article, you'll enjoy Midwifery Today magazine!
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