Medical Care

It is been almost a year since I posted last. Sorry for that. I have recently been inspired by some interesting cultural things to get back to the blog. Baby (see post from last March) is pregnant. She surprised me last May by showing up at my house married- out of the blue, just like that. And now she is 7 months pregnant, living in a shack with her husband who paints walls and only sometimes has work. She came from a poor family so poverty is nothing new to her, but she had higher hopes for her life. They barely make ends meet. Because they have no money to spare, Baby has to go to the government hospital for medical care. The service is cheap. 5 rupees (a dime) and you get everything but your medicine, but the care is awful. The hospital is crowded, dirty, understaffed, and the staff are under qualified. Baby talks to me about how she is afraid to give birth in that hospital. If a woman delivers naturally it is free, but if she needs a cesarean then they can charge for it. So most births are done by C-section. Not because it was necessary but because it was efficient and cost effective for the understaffed hospital. The women here don't have education to know about different stages of labor, so they will go into the hospital as soon as they have pain. If the woman isn't ready to deliver they will just force her to have a C-section because they can't afford to have someone in the hospital that long. Also- you have to provide everything for your care. All linens, all meds, all food, blood if needed...and don't expect nurses to come around and see if you need anything. You have to have a female friend or family member stay with you to care for you. Now, I don't always believe everything Baby tells me, but she told me that they also switch babies on people for money. One lady came into the hospital knowing that if she delivered a baby girl her husband would not allow to ever come home. When she found that she delivered a baby girl she paid a nurse to trade her baby with someone else's. So the nurse did it. While a lady was sleeping she took her baby boy and replaced it with a baby girl. The Woman who had paid the money quickly left with that baby boy before the other mother woke up. When the mom woke up she quickly noticed that her baby had changed genders and let everyone know about it. I don't know if she ever got her baby back, but the nurse was fired. I am so thankful that we have money to choose better healthcare, but even then the choices aren't the greatest here. There are very few real Doctors in our city and I don't really even trust them. I always check medicines on the internet and often determine it was the wrong one to prescribe. I am so thankful we haven't had any serious illnesses (though I would like to get to the bottom of my frequent colds). But anyway. Be thankful for the medical care you have. Sure it is expensive, but it is good. One more thing. Baby wants me to be at the hospital when she delivers her baby and help her know when it is time to go so that she can deliver naturally. We are scheduled to be out of country on her due date, so I hope that baby comes early.