Babies

When the average family here has about five children, having babies starts to become routine. Even though 46% of the population (10.6 million) is under the age of 15, the infant mortality rate is at an extreme 6% (58.4 deaths in every 1,000 births) which ranks #40 on the worldwide list of highest infant mortality rates.

These are a few pictures of my friend's seventh child, a girl. My friend is about 40 years old (no one knows their ages) and was married just over twenty years ago. At her age, she was quite concerned about the difficulties in birthing and reminded me several times that women often die in childbirth.

There is a general mistrust and dislike of hospitals and doctors here so most women choose to have their babies at home. There is usually a midwife present to help. Women who start the birthing process at home and run into trouble are then rushed to the hospital. I don't know any exact figures but I wonder how many women and babies suffer from this inadequate care because there are no ambulances or emergency care systems for those that may run into problems. Most families don't own cars so finding a way to get to a hospital can, in itself, be a problem.

If a woman chooses to have her baby at the hospital, she will go only when it is time and she and the baby will be released only a few hours after birth without a lot of the tests that are standard in the States.

Within a day of the birth, visitors will start arriving to congratulate the new mother. Visitors will continue to come throughout the next week to see the baby, mother, and give gifts, usually money. One friend of mine who had a baby seemed to be not allowed a moments rest. This friend was a young, new mom and I felt bad that she was surrounded by a room full of women when it was apparent that all she wanted to do was enjoy being a new mom and rest. The third day and seventh days are important days to visit a mother and baby.

The mother is then required to rest in relative confinement for forty days after giving birth. She is required to eat certain foods and she's not allowed to do regular housework. This allows for her body time to recuperate and for her and the baby to bond. Her family - mother-in-law, mother, aunts, sisters, etc. - will all help her out during this time.

These pictures are pictures taken at her thirty day party. Technically her mother should have held a party after forty days, but she seemed to be ready to move on with life after thirty days so she decided to move up the party to the thirtieth day. She cooked a lot of food and we sat around, drank tea, ate cake, boiled potatoes, bread, and bagia (a falafal-type fried food). We had fun and she was clear to tell me that this is her last baby. No more babies and no more being pregnant.

By the picture, you may think that she's wrapped up like it's 5 degrees outside. In reality, the temperature doesn't get very low here even now that it's winter. Arabs tend to feel that there children are extra sensitive to the cold and will bundle them up no matter what the temperature. My friend pointed out that the poor girl must have been suffering so wrapped up. It's common to see children all bundled up when the temperature drops a bit.