Duration: 16M 52S Likes: 1164 DisLikes: 209 Rating: 8.48 / 10
Views: 427542 Description: The queen is going into labour. The poor king is torn between telling the royal doctor to do something and telling him to wait. The doctor begins laying out his stuff. Hot steaming water is poured into the crystal bath and colourful essences are dropped in. One assistant pours out a measure of honey while another unscrews a bottle of oil. Just as a third assistant calls out that the baby is coming, we see a speck outside the window becoming larger and larger.
Meena is sitting on the verandah, her legs dangling over the edge, with a book in her hands. Raju and Mithu are running around the courtyard pretending to be planes. Grandma is spreading something out to dry. Suddenly the neighbour on the other side of the fence rushes out and tells Grandmother that it is time. He is going to get the Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA).
In the neighbour's courtyard, the SBA first washes her hands well with soap. Meena is watching her from her side of the fence. The SBA talks while washing, explaining that cleanliness is essential. The neighbour comes out with a towel. She tells him that she will need to sterilize the blade to cut off the cord and she will also need clean, soft cloth to wrap the baby. SBA says that the baby should be put to its mother's breast immediately after birth and nothing else should be given. Colostrum is the child's first inoculation she adds and more powerful for protecting the baby than anything else. In fact, she continues, the baby should be fed only breast milk for the first six months of its life.
The flying horse urges her saying it is an emergency and that the king is waiting. Meena tries to talk but the horse tugs and pushes her on to its back. Meena holds on and immediately the horse becomes small again and they fly away.
The third assistant calls out that the baby has come. The doctor picks up his bamboo stick to cut the baby's cord. We see a close shot of the stick about to descend when someone shouts 'Stop!' The doors are flung open and Meena enters with the SBA. The doctor pauses angrily stick in hand.
The SBA takes charge. She puts on an apron and washes her hands with soap. Then she asks for a disinfected blade to cut the cord. Next she asks for clean, soft, well washed cloth and wipes the baby then wraps it. No honey, no mustard oil she tells them -- just mother's milk immediately. The baby is put to its mother's breast and everyone oohs and aahs. The king goes to touch the child but Meena stops him, telling him to wash his hands first. The king's initial glare turns to laughter. The royal doctor slinks outs looking venomous.
A little later, the SBA washes her hands again and tells the King that the first 24 hours after birth are crucial and that it is why she is glad she was there to help. Just then the royal astrologer comes towards them looking worried. He says that in her world, people appear to be looking for the SBA. Heavens! The SBA had forgotten about the other baby -- it was not due when Meena came to fetch her, but was probably ready to be born now. The king assures her that he will have her back home in a second.
The king is happy. But where is the King's doctor? Just then the doctor appears, his ear tightly gripped by his very pregnant wife! She asks that her husband's education be started immediately.....
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Username: UNICEF Bangladesh Added On: 2011 September 21
