Thursday, August 11, 2011

It's a Girl!!!

At the wise old age of 24 I have a brand new baby sister! Amanda (Yep she is my name sake!!!) was born on Friday July 29th and she is healthy and beautiful in every way.

I could not be more relieved at her healthy birth. My mom was sick for awhile and I was terrified that there would be birth complications, knowing that her health and the health of the baby were at risk. I also have seen so much sickness and death lately that I am really not sure I could take more.

When my family finally took momma to the health-post the doctor told her she was in the early stages of labor. Then, my brother brought her back to village. It is seven kilometers by donkey cart to the health post so it makes absolutely no sense to bring her back to her dirty hut to give birth. I really didn’t want to be there for the birth, because like I said, I wasn’t ready for more heartache and also am not a midwife, but I also didn’t want her to give birth in the middle of the night all alone, like my sisters have told me happens a lot so I told her to send for me if she needed me. Needless to say I didn’t sleep at all but by morning she still hadn’t popped.

The next day I went to meet some friends at the river, urging my family to take my mom back to the health post. By the time my friends and I came back, only hours later, there was a brand new baby to greet us. She had beautiful, thick, curly hair (before they shaved it off at her baptism) and is light skinned enough that everyone says she looks like me. I am so happy that Penda gave birth during the day with plenty of women around her giving her health and support and that everyone was healthy.

I asked my sister what they do with the placenta, as I was warily looking around the hut and it seems we arrived just in time for the afterbirth ceremony. My other mom and two of her ancient lady friends dug a perfect cylindrical hole in the backyard. My friend, Shannon, and I watched as my mom brought out a gourd bowl with the afterbirth inside it. The old women lined the hole with leaves and then, WEAK STOMACHED PEOPLE STOP READING HERE, my mom picked up the placenta by the umbilical cord and placed it in the hole ever so gently. Then they threw a couple grains of rice and corn in, poured blood from the bowl over it all and then tipped the bowl upside down breaking it into the hole. We all covered the hole with dirt and then put a giant rock on top. There you have it. Placenta taken care of.

In Senegal, they wait a week to name a baby at their baptism. New baby girl was named Amanda, although her Senegalese birth certificate will read Aminata. Everyone here calls her Amanda and it’s the first time most people realize that I have a name other than Issatou. When someone is named after you, you never address them by the name but call the “tokora (namesake).” It seems silly but it creates an unexplainable special bond like the one I have with my brother’s wife Issa.

Amanda’s baptism was pretty uneventful because Ramadan has begun. That means no cooking food, dancing or singing at the baptism. Lame. Back to fasting daily from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. I am not partaking this year as I don’t really feel the need to prove my solidarity anymore. I will be drinking as much water as I want, a cocktail every now and then, eating protein bars and cuddling my new tokora. Happy Ramadan!

Pictures to come after my camera cord starts working!