The continuation…
A few hours later the doctor had me get onto the delivery table (a skinny bed with no sides on it) and broke my water (Side note: the medical instruments used here are also not the most up and coming ones). After my water broke they made me lay on my left side, making the contractions that just got a whole lot worse, now intolerable. I was moaning and practically yelling every time a contraction came because they were so painful and lasted so long. The nurses kept telling me to breathe and were trying to ask me questions or tell me things in Indonesian. I tried to breathe and kept up my moaning. I was on the verge of tears. Finally, they said I was 10 cm and they got me ready for the pushing. I said that I felt like I needed to push right then. The doctor said not to push yet and Evan said to go ahead. I started pushing and kept it up a few times and Silas popped out.
This is probably more details than anyone wants to know about the birth, but hey it’s our blog right? I left out the icky details to keep it family friendly.
I eventually went up to my room which was the VIP room, not the VVIP room mind you. The VVIP room had a table in it and a bigger price tag. I only stayed one night at the hospital, in which I was alone since Evan needed to take care of Jeremiah. It was nice to have it be just Silas and myself, but he was awake all night, not giving me any sleep. The next morning they took Silas to give him a bath and 3 hours later had still not brought him back. When Evan and Jeremiah arrived I started crying and told him that they took Silas and he hadn’t come back yet. Evan went and found him in the nursery where they were observing him. We were upset that they had taken him and never told me that he would be gone for so long. We left as soon as we could after that incident was over.
Overall, everything ended up working out though not always as well or as quickly as we would have liked. It was a nice hospital and the staff were friendly enough, but the language barrier was a big problem. It was hard to know what was going on sometimes. In the states the birthing experience is all about you and what you want. Here you just show up and aren’t really included in what happens. Having a baby in another country is definitely do-able and a lot cheaper (about $650 for the whole thing) though not quite as nice as at home.
I will leave you with an interesting fact. Before we left they asked us if we wanted to take the placenta home with us (some people here bury it for superstitious reasons). We declined and told them they could keep it.
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Hey! Thanks for sharing your experience with “us”! I think your descriptions are a good indication of your experience despite the lack of intimate detail.
The part I wanted to comment on was that….did you think about the weird fact that they KEPT your placenta long enough to ask you if you wanted to take it home?! That shows how prevalent that practice is in Indonesia! WOW!
So glad Silas is well and that you guys are all at home, healthy and whole in Christ. Have a great day and we’ll continue to pray for you guys as you step forward with Christ’s love.
We look so forward to your blog postings – it helps us to feel like, in some way, that we are there with you. We wish we could have been there when you had Silas, but since we couldn’t, we were so glad that God provided a safe hospital and friends like Karin to help you out. We are so extremely proud of you and Evan!! Thank you for our beautiful new grandson.
I just came across your blog on google. I just had my first baby in Indonesia (in Surabaya). It was neat to read about another bule having a baby here. I wrote my son’s birth story on our blog http://www.thehamptonbaby.blogspot.com
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