February 24th, 2009: Birth

Unfortunately, adolescent pregnancy is fairly common in Las Pajas. Despite the fact that contraceptives and condoms are available at our local clinic, ever since I arrived I have seen way too many young pregnant girls and mothers. The one who I have had the most contact with is my eighteen year old host sister, who was about five months along when I arrived, and so, according to the math, was due to give birth sometime in February. I had accompanied her to a couple doctor's appointments here in Las Pajas and in the nearest city, and tried to encourage her to go to all of her appointments, however she did not go to see the doctor in the city or have a sonogram during all of January and Februrary, and because of this had no idea when she should expect to give birth. There are several reasons that she did not go to see the doctor: first of all, to travel to the nearest city where there is a certified OBGYN (in Las Pajas we have interns who have finished school but are not yet doctors) it is about an hour's ride on a motorcycle and then a bus, so the traveling alone is tiresome. Secondly, the cost of the trip is not cheap for the expecting mothers, which makes it even more difficult to arrive. Thirdly, my sister unfortunately is still young and does not quite know how to manage her money, so by the time she had an appointment to go visit the doctor, she had spent her money on other things and had none left to travel.
Finally on February 23rd she went into the nearest town for a checkup, and when I arrived at my host family's house for lunch, I was informed that my host mother had ran out the door because my host sister had called to tell her they were going to perform a C-section on her. I called my host sister at noon and she said she was waiting for my host mom to arrive and for the doctors to perform the C-section. By two when I called again, she had a healthy little boy and was recovering from the surgery.
I went into the hospital the next day to see her and the little boy. My host mother had spent the night there and was planning on staying there until they released my host sister. She wasn't just spending the night to keep my host sister company; in public hospitals here patients need to have someone stay with them because there are no orderlies or nurses who stop by to help them with anything. My host mom had to help my sister bathe, go to the bathroom and look after the newborn. Patients also have to bring their own sheets and provide their own food, so when my host mother dashed into the city after she got the call, she went with a pair of sheets, but I also brought clean towels in the next day when I came to visit. My host sister was also fortunate that her uncle lives in that town, so he was able to bring them food every day and run errands for them.
While I was there visiting the only time I saw a nurse was when she came into to change my host sister's IV; it was my host sister's uncle, my host mom and I who helped her to the bathroom and helped her bathe and change clothes and care for the baby. My host sister was lucky that she had a little privacy because there was no one else in the hospital room with her—even though there are about 8 beds in each room. While the hospital wasn't dirty, it wasn't clean either; there were no trash cans in the room and the bathroom didn't even have a place to hang and IV. While they weren't the worst conditions ever, I must say that these women are very strong to be able to give birth with very little attention and inadequate facilities!
Many women after giving birth return to town the next day on a motorcycle, but since my host sister had had a C-section, that was definitely out of the question! She spent two nights in the hospital and then we were luckily able to arrange for a man in our town who has a truck to pass by and pick her up. She arrived home and since then has had plenty of visitors, however acccording to Dominican tradition, she basically has to stay inside the house for the first month (especially at night) after she has given birth.