We had a nice visit with one of our partner organization’s employees whose wife had just had a baby. Here’s what Yale midwife Dr. Cecilia Jevitt says about the visit:
“Outside temperature about 100 F. Mother sitting next to a wooden platform bed dressed in long skirt and hoodie. Under the platform bed is a clay pot with a 12 inch diameter and about 12 inches high filled with glowing coals. A second brazier is next to the bed, within 2 feet of the mother. The newborn daughter is sleeping on her back, on a bed of blankets with rolled blankets all around as bumpers. The baby is fully dressed with mittens on hands and a knit cap. The mother is drinking herbal tea. She shows a purchased packet of herbal tea. By custom, the mother eats chicken four times a day and showers in the hottest water she can tolerate 4 times a day. This is the family’s fifth child.”
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