Introduction-E

It must be a problem.
Saullu: Yes, it must be a problem for them. They seem to be just waiting, unlike the
Inuit.
Right. They don’t know what to do.
Saullu: I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t know this field, but I agree with that.
So do you think that when they get pregnant at an older age they are more
in pain?
Saullu: Some deliver really fast and some deliver really slowly. I delivered really fast
one time. We were out collecting eggs, and a group of people came to our camp, so we
went down to welcome them. Then I went home, because I needed to urinate. We used
to have a jam can, the old large kind, so I sat on it and urinated. Then I realized that the
baby’s head was sticking out. I thought the whole baby came out.
It was coming out?
Saullu: Yes. I was giving birth to it. Then I thought, “How am I going to do this?” I
loosened my pants and lay down. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I yelled
out. We were in a tent in the summer. But I know it was a wonderful experience. You
know, like when you have been constipated and need to have a bowel movement and
you feel good afterwards. It was almost the same feeling. It was a wonderful feeling.
You almost gave birth while you were alone?
Saullu: Yes, somebody came in after I yelled out. I tried not to push but when someone
came in I gave birth. It was a wonderful feeling, and easy when I gave birth to it. The
child is named after my mother. My mother used to get easily scared when I was in
labour. The baby was born in the summer soon after my mother passed away. Some of
the women were not able to deliver well. I never used to be in labour for a long time.
Maybe because my husband and I used to practice as midwives. That is what I think.
My husband used to get up right away when he woke up. He used to snore, then
the next thing I noticed, he would be up. His mother and his father used to tell him to
get up right away when he woke up, so that when he got a wife, the wife would not be
in labour for a long time. Even during the night, if someone needed his help in the camp,
he would get up right away, or during a storm.
Life Stories – Saullu Nakasuk 81