5th time lucky

As expected, today has been quite quiet. We had a hilarious moment this morning though. We looked in on one of the women in the mat ward (a lady recovering from an eclamptic seizure) and saw that she was covered in a sheet. She wasn't moving so we thought that she might be dead. We looked in her notes and couldn't see anything written about it. Surely their record keeping couldn't be that bad. We saw that her blood pressure had been taken just an hour before-maybe only her family noticed. We didn't want to go in and check, unsure of the cultural practices around the dead. I went to the nurse on duty and asked her what was going on, was she alive? She walked into the room with neil and I in tow and much to our surprise the woman pulled the sheet down from her head and smiled out at us! Apparently sheets are the best way to keep out the mosquitoes. 

We also had a very fast delivery this morning! The woman was pregnant for the 5th time (all girls previously of course). Within an hour of her waters breaking she was delivering! Neil just got his gloves on in time to catch the head before it was out completely!  We have been used to women having their first child taking a lot of time between getting into the labour room and the head coming out. The speed on this occasion was markedly increased! Thankfully the baby was a boy so she won't need to get pregnant again. There was even a slight cheer in the room! In the month we have been here I find myself more pleased when a boy is born than when a girl is. This is mostly due to the families reaction to the child. Last week, when a women gave birth to her 2nd girl she wailed when she was told the sex. The reason for this is that when girls marry they leave their parents home and family and become part of her husband's family. This often means moving miles away and never seeing their own families again (except when they are giving birth when their own mother is allowed to be present and look after her). The family also has to pay a dowry to the husbands family when they get married. Lots of girls can be quite expensive. Only boys get to stay with their parents forever and look after them in their old age. You can't get too attached to your female children as they will one day leave you. You will be left wondering how she is being looked after and whether her mother in law is working her too hard. Knowing that much of their daughter's life is out of their hands must be very hard. Having a boy means future security and less heartache.