Random trivia

[kangeiko]

Women in labour are made to lie down because it assists the doctor, not the actual labour itself. The optimum position for labour is squatting, thereby letting gravity help as much as possible.



Leah laboured over the birthing of her second child as much as her first. The midwife had been called away, or mayhap sent away - she does not know - and she can hear her firstborn scream in the other room, convinced that his ma-ma is being murdered. Leah is not able to reassure him otherwise; even if she had not had the baby's head almost all the way out. She cursed and breathed and clawed the sheets as best she could, and she could smell her husband's tobacco from outside the room, hear the raised voices of the men talking roundly about sports, or wars, or some other such thing. No mention of the birthing, of course; their goal was to drown out Leah's cries, not to speculate upon them. After all, they had left her in the care of an actual doctor - a physician, no less - and was that not plenty? More than was required, her husband had insisted, but when she had tried to decline, he had not taken it well.

And, thus, Leah lay, her wrists and ankles bound to the bed, blood and mucus and other fluids sluicing from her struggling body, squirming this way and that and wondering why in all that was holy this hurt so much. It was nearly finished; for that, alone, she could be thankful. The pressure inside was easing slightly, and she could draw breath again.



In other words, I'm going to be working on my dissertation now.