Do You Want My Baby?

Last Friday while working at the clinic a woman came in inquiring about midwifery care for her current pregnancy. She had a 7 month old sitting on her lap and she told us she thinks she is 4 months pregnant although she's not sure. She has had a few of her other babies at Glory Reborn so we knew from her file that she had 5 children already. After seeing so many malnourished babies in Burma, I could tell just by looking at this woman that both she and her 7-month-old were very anemic and malnourished. She had a look of desperation on her face. She looked at me and in the local language said, "This baby I am pregnant with - do you want it?" I thought to myself, If only it were that easy I would take this woman's baby in a heartbeat. Instead we told her that it just doesn't work that way and that we could arrange for her baby to go to a very good orphanage in Cebu that would arrange for her child to be adopted out. Then we gave her some iron tablets and strongly advised her to take them. She then inquired about tubul ligation. We told her we could also arrange that for her once she recovers from giving birth - or in the least information on how she can receive free birth control pills or injections from the local health center.
One of the many sad parts of this story is that in order to receive care at our clinic, she has to go to a lab and pay to have some basic lab work done. She will have to come for regular prenatal check ups and she will have to comply with our protocols and take medicine should she have an infection. I really hope she chooses to do these things. I really hope she comes back. Otherwise she is at very high risk for hemorrhage during labor. If she goes to the hilot (the local witch doctor) she will be at even higher risk of death since the hilots don't provide prenatal care, IV in labor, or postpartum care - nor do they have any supplies or training to help stop a woman from bleeding to death should she hemorrhage in labor, which is all too common here. For the poorest 20% of the population, only 21% of their births are attended by a trained health care practitioner.
Hopefully, she will make it a priority to scrape up enough cash to be a patient at Glory Reborn (about $5 - which is equal to 2-3 days of wages for an unskilled worker- that's if she has a job or a husband/partner who does). Hopefully she'll comply and take the free iron pills we provided. Hopefully she'll come for prenatal check ups and at the same time receive health teachings and prayer. Hopefully she will choose to do what is best for her child - to give it a chance for a decent life.