Читать книгу Your First Grandchild: Useful, touching and hilarious guide for first-time grandparents - Paul Greenwood - Страница 24

This is an exciting but often rather disturbing time for grandparents-to-be because usually there is nothing you can do but wait … and wait … and wait. Trying to hide any anxiety, wanting to help without being able to, feeling utterly impotent and slightly apprehensive at the same time is not much fun. Many women report a sense of total inadequacy and seem to share a primitive urge to be at the actual birth, perhaps because in the collective memory birth may often have been an all-female affair, as it is to this day in some communities.

I was extremely interested to read a book about southeast Asian birth customs, which was written in 1965, a time when birth in the Western world was extremely clinical, men were discouraged to be present, and women were placed on their backs, with their legs in stirrups. In contrast, Asian customs of the time quite closely resembled many of our so-called ‘modern’ birthing practices. This is about the Caticugan people:

The husband’s presence is essential to perform certain tasks: his absence angers the spirits.

A woman’s husband may assist the midwife if the delivery is complicated. Some Caticugan women cling to their husbands, who encourage them to exert greater effort during labour.

Massage is a therapeutic treatment closely associated with the traditional management of pregnancy and delivery in the Philippines.

During labour massage is often used to hasten a dilatory foetus. The woman may also stand and then squat to facilitate birth.

South East Asian Birth Customs, Dinn. V. Hart, Phya Anuman

Rajadhon and Richard J. Coughlin

Everything comes full circle it seems!