Photo: Ray Ally
Many regular readers have asked why I haven’t posted so frequently over the last few months. The simple answer is – I was having a baby. Well actually not me, but my wife. So I am happy to report that two weeks ago today, she delivered a healthy baby girl by Caesarean section (C-section).
In China, C-sections account for 46% of babies being born. A number three times higher than the World Health Authority’s (WHO) alarm level of 15%. An increasingly rising world epidemic, which the WHO is rightly concerned about. Especially, as the vast majority are elective operations, rather than performed out of medical concerns for the mother or child.
Many women in China, especially professional career women choose to have C-sections as they are seen as fast, painless and predictable. The operation is also perceived as having less effect on their future sex life. With these reasons in mind, my wife too wanted a C-section. It also meant she could choose the day of birth, so had consulted her Feng Shui Master to make sure of an auspicious day.
C-sections are also favoured by local hospitals in China for several reasons. Firstly, the operation costs two to three times as much as natural birth. This is substantially increased in private hospitals, so provides doctors with a strong financial incentive for persuasion. Secondly, given the huge population of women, C-sections make the process easier to control and manage. Hospitals become baby factories, with well-oiled production lines pulling out one baby after another.
My wife and I had much discussion over the birthing issue, as my Western and her Eastern perspectives did not always agree. However, after consulting many doctors, researching online and talking to other mothers she changed her point of view. Eventually realising that natural birth would be a better and healthier solution for her and our baby.
Unfortunately in our case, several complications set in with her pregnancy. The most serious was placenta previa, a low-lying placenta and the more dangerous placenta accreta. With natural birth these could cause severe blood loss and require a blood transfusion and hysterectomy to control the bleeding. Given these conditions, doctors recommended a C-section as our only option.
Three weeks earlier than planned, our baby was successfully delivered by C-section – and it was a girl. Now this was not a problem for me, as I wanted a girl, but my wife secretly would of preferred a boy. Our doctors had previously hinted it could be a girl, as it is illegal for doctors to tell you the sex of your unborn child. More importantly, we both wanted a happy and healthy baby regardless of its sex.
However in China, boys are still the preferred children that parents and even more so grandparents demand. This is because the One Child Policy introduced in 1979 is still in effect, so families only get one chance to have one child. The policy has resulted in an unnatural imbalance of boys being born. Or more accurately, a large number of girls being terminated either before or right after birth.
This terrible situation is well documented and far worse a problem in rural areas of China. Total abortions for various reasons in China are estimated at 13 million, compared to 20 million births. Selective sex abortions have lead to a gender imbalance that threatens the social harmony and demographics of the country. Latest reports by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences suggest that 20 million men could be without spouses by 2020.
Immediately our daughter was born, we already had an English name and called her Tanya. However, we didn’t have a Chinese name, which she will need being a Chinese citizen. Originally the name Tanya, came from the Chinese name Tian Ya 天 雅 (Sky and Beautiful). As we thought the idea of having a name that sounded similar in English and Chinese was a great one.
Unfortunately, Canthy’s Feng Shui Master was set against it. As the name Tian 天 translated to ‘Sky’, which had a meaning too big for a girl. Especially for one born in the year of the tiger, as tiger women are supposed to be headstrong and difficult to control. He said the name would only give her more pressure to live up to and unhappiness in life.
Whilst not a total believer in Feng Shui, I do believe that many elements of this art and science are based on sound principles. Just like the superstition in the UK of ‘not walking under a ladder’. Which is based on the rational notion, if somebody was working overhead they might drop something onto you. Therefore I don’t pretend to agree or understand everything about Feng Shui, but I am sensitive to its cultural importance in China, with dates back thousands of years.
For now our daughter only has an English name, but my wife is taking Tanya to visit the Feng Shui Master next month. I joked to my wife that with the oversupply of men in 2020, she will be more valuable. So in the future she will have even more men to choose from. My wife quickly added, that maybe she could also ask the Feng Shui Master about Tanya’s future husband.
At this suggestion I sighed and reminded her that Tanya is only a few days old, so a little too young to be marrying her off. And anyway she is already daddy’s little girl, so I don’t want to be thinking about her boyfriends or husbands, for at least another 20 years.
