Difficult Communication At Birth

I should first state that though I have lived in Mindanao for almost 2 years I still don;'t understand the local languages. Maybe that's why the recent birth  of our beautiful daughter was highly stressful for me. When labour commenced we went to our nearest hospital in Lianga. My wife was wheeled off leaving me in the waiting area. A few hours later there was a burst of activity, I was told that  the birth "wasn't progressing" so we were transferring to a better equipped hospital, this was clearly explained to me by the one nurse who spoke fluent English.. The transfer by "ambulance" which was a van with a stretcher in the back, was terrifying, I comforted myself by thinking that the eventual crash would kill us all outright, we were going so fast. No seat belts in the back or restraints on my wifes stretcher.

Miraculously we arrived at the emergency room of the D.O Plaza Memorial Hospital and once again I was ushered off to the waiting area. After paperwork, admittance, and a medical check my wife and I transferred to the delivery room together with "Auntie Midwife" who had been with us since we left home.. More time passed, then Auntie emerged  to tell me it would be a Cesarean birth. Family arrived and there were many seriously grim conservations in the waiting area, I couldn't understand any of them, and nobody spoke English well enough to translate for me.

Finally at 10.30 that night Auntie told me "the baby is on your wifes tummy". I had a further anxious wait before I was finally able to see her. When I sympathized with her about the cesarean she said it never happened! There were 6 women waiting ahead of her for the operating room and during that time our daughter decided she had waited long enough and was born naturally!

I'm sure I'm not the only one to find communicating very difficult. Many Filipino have a basic knowledge of English, but conversing "gives them a nosebleed".

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