Welcoming the Second Daughter

After we moved to Qiao’ai Village in 1957, I became pregnant with our third child the following year. During that time I brought garments home from the clothing factory every day to sew.

As the baby in my womb grew day by day, my movements grew clumsier. Whenever I finished a batch of clothes and stood up from the sewing machine, my feet would be swollen. Neighbouring friends told me it was probably because the foetus was pressing on my kidneys.

The days passed, and my due date drew near. When my husband came home on leave, I discussed it with him: “If I go into labour and you are not beside me, I will not know what to do alone with two children.” He told me not to worry, because he could take a month’s paternity leave.

We worked out the timing so he would come home two days before the birth. Whether I had miscalculated the date I do not know, but more than ten days after he returned there was still no sign of the baby. If labour did not start soon, his leave would be used up and he would have to return to the unit.

In desperation I went to the obstetrics clinic and asked the doctor for help. He said that if the foetus was full term, I could have an induction injection.

After the examination the doctor told me, “We can give the injection, but you may suffer more.” I answered, “I can bear it. If my husband’s leave ends and he goes back to the unit, I will be worse off.” So I had the injection and went home to wait for the birth.

At a little past eleven on New Year’s Day, while we were having lunch, I felt several pains in succession and told my husband the child was coming.

There was no midwife in the dependants’ village. Fortunately Mrs Ma, a neighbour, introduced Mrs Yu, who helped women in the village deliver their babies.

After she had examined me she thought it was still early, went home first, and planned to come back later. In the evening she came and waited until midnight, but still nothing.

She told me to walk more. After I had settled the two children to sleep, my husband walked with me back and forth in the house—resting when it hurt, walking again when it eased. Seeing how exhausted he was, I told him to sleep and said I would call him if I needed him. He could hardly stay awake any longer and had to lie down on the bed. I kept walking alone, because if I stopped, the pains stopped too. I was afraid that would be dangerous. As I walked I kept telling myself to be brave and to bring the child safely into the world.

The minutes and seconds ticked by. Mrs Yu had gone home and come back a third time. When she looked at the clock it was already past six on the morning of the second day of the new year. At last the baby was born—a girl. After a day and a night of struggle, all had gone safely and smoothly.

Mrs Qi next door, seeing that we had finished and were resting, said happily, “Congratulations on your third child—a daughter. You have had a hard time!”

Everything had seemed to go well, but on the third day I myself ran into trouble. My face and feet swelled up.

I had not felt it myself; several wives who came to the doorway to see me and the baby noticed.

By custom, while one is doing the month’s confinement after childbirth, others do not enter the house, so they stood at the door discussing my swelling. In the end they suggested that my husband take the three children, and Mrs Sun accompany me to the obstetrics clinic in Taoyuan to see the doctor who had given me the induction injection.

After the examination the doctor gave me an injection and said it was acute nephritis and the swelling would go down quickly.

The illness passed. I did not expect worse to follow. After the anti-inflammatory injection, the milk for the baby disappeared. I saw how serious it was, bought Chinese medicine and stewed pig’s trotters with peanuts to bring back my milk, ate until I had put on weight, and still had not a drop. The poor child had to be fed formula for the time being.

My husband’s month of leave ended on the tenth day after our third child was born. Before he reported back to Penghu he worried about my doing the month alone while caring for the children. I asked him not to worry, because the neighbourly sisters were all wives of old colleagues and classmates, like family. They wanted me to tell him to go back to work with an easy mind—they would look after our household in his place. Hearing that, he returned to the unit.