Fantah's Birth

I had a chance to observe a few births. The first was in Theresa’s home. This was the first birth I have ever witnessed and it certainly took place in unforgettable circumstances. The hygienic quality and lack of comfort in the birthing environment was stunning. The woman, Fantah, gave birth on the floor of the room I had been staying in. A thin sheet of plastic similar to a cheap shower curtain was laid over the dusty floor in the dimly lit bedroom. She had no pillow. Many body fluids are expelled during birth and we had no way of keeping the area sanitary. The same gloves worn while mopping up fluids were worn while delivering the baby; the same towel used to mop up one fluid was passed near the woman’s body again to clean up another fluid. But Fantah delivered the baby quickly with no complication and in nearly absolute silence. This was also my first experience seeing female genital mutilation. Fantah had had everything removed. Only a slit in her body remained. It is absolutely shocking to me that a human body could survive such a procedure, much less be able to birth. It actually wasn’t until I had seen several other mutilations that I understood what I had been looking at – it was so disorienting to see these parts missing. A fifteen year old came in to the clinic with complications in birth (someone had not properly removed the placenta). She had had slightly less removed and the scars were still easily visible which helped me more easily understand what I had seen earlier.