Well, we had our first father present for the birth of his baby girl and coaching his wife along the way…this is a highly unusual situation in Senegal, as it’s considered taboo for a man to enter the delivery room.
Our birthing mother and her husband became inseparable, during her long labor and difficult delivery. He even spent the night with us at the birth center, keeping his fearful wife calm, as she was not open to any support from the women in her family or the midwives, through the birthing process.
It was quite difficult for the midwives and I throughout her 36 hour labor, as she would not allow us to examine her–so we had to do a lot of guessing about her progress during labor. She did allow us to listen to the baby’s heart rate periodically during her labor, to assure us the baby was doing well.
As a very young girl–like so many others in Senegal–this woman had female genital mutilation and was clearly traumatized from that experience, which made it difficult for her to trust anyone around her body and for her to give birth.
As time passed and we could see that birth was imminent, her husband was finally able to convince her to let us gently examine her, so we could assess her dilation. We were very grateful to him, as she was completely dilated and ready to give birth.
Note: About 60% of the females who give birth at our birthing center, have had some form of FGM. We are seeing a decrease, but it depends on which tribe the females are from.
