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MAMA-KANGAROO 033
First delivery, 1991, vertical C section, from navel to... I was young then, and I didn't know the ropes and hospital procedure, and the reason why my Cesarean was done that way and not differently. I was sure though about my optimism, and convincing myself that everything was going to be fine, because it couldn't be any other way. I don't want to write about details, because, 17 years later, with hindsight, it all turned out fine. Nobody insulted me, everyone was civil, I saw the baby as soon as I came to, and later, in Intensive Care Unit, babies were brought to mothers every 3 hours. You know what it's like when you spend 20 hours lying in pain, and in the end you've got to have a C section, and then it is a relief both for you and the baby. My husband visited me, and during the three days I spent in ICU, he vas allowed to enter the room, except when it was breastfeeding time. There were 8 women in the room. I had lost a lot of blood and was very exhausted so I got up only the third day and almost fell because I felt dizzy and my legs wouldn't do as they were ordered. Nurses helped me as much as they could and when they managed to find the time to. I didn't get the impression that they didn't like their jobs, they addressed me as “mother”, which, I see now, some people find derisory or out of place. I was clean, washed, and had my sheets and nightgown changed every day or several times a day if necessary. I got all information I asked for, all of us were given a demonstration on how to swaddle our babies before going back home, and were explained how to proceed with the baby and oneself, nurses demonstrated how we should massage our breasts and how to notice a surge of milk. This was useful both for us who gave birth for the first time and for the women who had given birth before, to remind them of how to do it, or in case they hadn’t breastfed before. I remembered the words of a doctor, a neonatologist, who advised us to listen to our instincts and our babies, and we’d know what to do and how to do it. This was GAK Višegradska Hospital, I didn’t have a connection, didn’t bribe anyone, didn’t have to pay for anything, didn’t have to bring anything from home except for my personal hygiene kit, it was allowed to bring flowers, and as for food, it was allowed to have biscuits and milk or lemonade. That was 17 years ago. The second delivery was in 2004, in the same hospital. The only difference was that before the delivery I had to spend three weeks in the Pathology Ward. The C section was scheduled, I didn’t suffer any pain, I strolled to the OR. On regaining consciousness I was told that everything was fine, the baby was alive and well, I was told the baby’s weight and length, how long it took for the delivery to be completed, about the procedure I had on the interior of my womb because of the previous C section, and I was sent to the ICU. It was all easier and well known now, so I got up the next day, and took a walk to the newborns’ nursery, with an infusion bottle in one pocket and a catheter bag in the other. The nurse smiled to me, and let me go in, saying I was radiant, which was something she hadn’t seen in a long time. The babies were brought to us every 3 hours, and breastfeeding was really easy, I didn’t have any problem. To cut the long story short, this time as well I didn’t have a connection, neither did I bribe anyone, nor would I. Nurses were civil, so were the doctors, maybe because I didn’t have any great expectation, apart from my child being hale and healthy. Now I’m the proud mother of a 17-year-old boy and a daughter who is nearly 4, and I breastfed them both for 18 months and enjoyed that period of my life and felt so privileged. We took our children everywhere with us and I breastfed them whenever they asked, no matter where we were. There, that is my experience. Maybe I only expected to have healthy children, and paid no attention to anything else, so it didn’t have much importance, and I guess that is the reason why we go to a maternity ward.
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