by Dur Wai

Created on: June 20, 2008

I can remember it like it was yesterday and I doubt that I would ever forget the experience of living in Saudi Arabia. I had done everything to prepare for the adventure that was to come but little did I know, nothing can prepare you for the realities of a different culture, different food, different people, and a different climate that would be all too new to me. It was exciting to be able to learn to understand someone who doesn't speak your language by learning theirs (I couldn't speak their language but I definitely got the gist of what was being said to me.) It was actually refreshing, and matured me in ways that only traveling abroad would.

I became pregnant and the issue of where to have my son quickly arose. I couldn't help but thinking that Saudi Arabia, in all its beauty and history within it, is a third world country, which means that everything from medicine to doctors may not be as good as back at home in the states. My husband thought it would be a grand idea to have the baby there instead of at home, and understandably, I was not in favor of his bright conception...(LITERALLY, but thats another story.) But as it may, the day before I was to board my flight back home to the good old United States where my doctor would be able to give me just the pain medication I would need at my time of delivery, I went into labor. I hope I am not too graphic for some, so I'll choose my words carefully; GET IT OUT! In a nutshell, it took me all of 20 minutes to push, but it felt like days. I was accommodated with a nice firm (hard) surface to lie FLAT on and push (I assumed gravity had called off.) I was administered oxygen when I asked for medicine for the pain I was in. Their bedside manner came with the biggest Egyptian lady I had ever seen in my life who was there to make sure I took my medication properly (which consisted of putting a mask over my face and breathing deep), and that my son was delivered into the right hands; she was even kind enough to straddle me and put a massive amount of pressure on my baby bearing belly as I pushed. I had no energy. I was so weak that I couldn't prevent her from trying to squeeze out my ovaries, placenta, and fallopian tubing. I am not a doctor and I do not practice medicine but it doesn't take either one of those to know that an episiotomy and suture should not be performed without some form of numbing serum. Thant night made me know that God isn't sleeping. I made it back home 5 hours later (I wanted to get as far from that hospital as possible), with my healthy baby boy and all of my internal organs, thankfully.
We returned home four months later and I have never been so happy to be back home.

Although that was years ago, the question still arises as to whether emphasis is being put on the right things; here at home and overseas. Whatever the case, anyone who has lived abroad comes home with a greater appreciation of where they come from, our resources, our food, and our MEDICINE, in one way or another. The whole experience overseas was not like my labor but it was definitely the most memorable and the first thing I think of when I think about life abroad.

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