Baby Joy

Staff at Hemei Hospital

       On our first professional day in Guiyang we visited the Hemei Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Hemei Hospital boasts of being one of the most modern hospitals in the Guizhou Province. It opened its doors a year ago. More than one of our group members asked if it was a hotel in a prior time. It didn’t fit our idea of what a hospital would be. We were a little apprehensive as our tour bus pulled up and we saw the hospital staff waiting to greet us. We didn’t want to make the same mistake we did at the last hospital in Beijing, somehow coming off as arrogant and taking all the time to talk of our “perfect” childbirth practices and breastfeeding “success.” (You will have to see the blog not yet written about how our arrogance and self centered ways created dishonor for our group.)

     As we walked into the hospital we were greeting by a sea of pink. The walls, the signs and even the nurses’ uniforms were pink! This group of administrators and staff seemed a little more eager to share their hospital with us than our last hosts. The veil of suspicion we felt greeted us at the other institution was not present in this facility. Smiles and protective gear was handed out so we could have a first hand look at their operating rooms and birthing areas. We suited up for the tour, face masks and shoe covers to see the pink, modern surgery rooms and labor rooms. So proud they were of all their western ways; I smiled on the outside as I cried on the inside seeing the stirrups attached to the beds, learning of the 50% cesarean section rate and the accepted practice of women laboring and delivering on their backs. Asians are naturals at squatting. Wasn’t every toilet I encountered a squat variety? In my head I was saying, “Just because it’s western, does not mean it’s better. Hello people haven’t you read our maternal mortality rate is going up?”  Other things western have not caught hold yet, like Dads in the delivery room? Ummm, well not so much. Finding out the sex of the baby? Absolutely not. Against the law in fact.

     As we get in the elevator, the liberal childbirth educator in me is grieving the loss of childbirth as an empowering process for the women of China. Shit most of them only get one crack at it, lest they pay a penalty of 5 times their annual salary for a second child. I was snapped back to attention when the hospital administrator repeated, “Now we see the baby swimming pool.” The what I asked my colleague? She answered with a shrug and baffled look.

     We are led to what resembles a nursery. As we walk in, we first gasp and then are slowly captivated by what we see. Babies floating in giant sinks of warm water looking up at us with big, wide eyes. Their serenity and innocence draws us in like flies to honey. We are completely enchanted. Never have I seen anything like this. Our Chinese nursing counterparts see our intrigue and smile and coo at the babies. Where we were previously told no pictures we start to beg, please, please. When they see how taken we are of this practice they relent, and out the cameras fly. We watched and participated as the nurses in the nursery cared for the babies, rubbing them down with sweet smelling oil and tenderly wrapping them in layer after layer of clothing. It was truly a bonding moment like no other on this trip. The one to one nurse baby ratio made it possible for these nurses to shower the babies with love and attention. Each one a little treasure.

     Later in the trip when we visited the rural parts of Guiyang and I came face to face with the ugliness of poverty; I thought of the floating babies. The helplessness of not being able to change the world would leave me. I was then able to accept the good with the not so good.

Nursery Nurse