It has been a real struggle for me, trying to pen down my mother’s account of how I came into this world.
It would have been a nice article, to describe those precious moments of how she bore me and how the preceding events of my birth were so much memorable that she couldn’t confuse my birth with that of my siblings.
I would want to beam with pride if only I could write those down as accurately as how she had described them. But I know I am so lacking right now to find every word that would fit her descriptions of the happenings before and during my birth.
It was the 21st of November (or was it 22nd) that she was on her way home from school from a different barangay.
According to my mother, she got carried away by the current of the river. And there was someone who was calling out her name saying, “That is teacher ____, that is Teacher ______!"
One notable thing I am proud about my mother’s character is that she wasn’t scared at all or shocked by the incident that she simply waited, I think, of the person, who helped her got out of the water.
She didn’t detail anymore the experience after the water incident but she was very grateful that nothing very bad happened to her or the baby (me). She also said that I was like a boy inside her though she knew I was a girl because my movements were that of a female.
When I came out, I was a big baby, bony and tall. I kind of liked it that I was a big one, a big creature who came out of her as compared to my sister who came also from her after two years. But then I could at least imagine her struggle in trying to get me out of her womb because of my size while my sister easily came out. I thank God she was that strong, and I was the third child of the family.
I asked her if I was irritable or ‘iyakin’ as a baby but she said no. I was glad. I kind of knew how it felt to have a baby who is always crying.
I find it cute that she let me sleep in the health corner of her room that her pupils prepared. She was a teacher then and she does what she could to be as near me as possible. I don’t know with her why she did that but she probably has separation anxiety? Or that no one at that time is available to sit me. I bet she simply wanted to be as near me as possible. Oh so cute a scene. I am very blessed that I had those pupils prepare some bed for me and that I wasn’t a very fussy baby. Yey!!!
My mother felt a little embarrassed when she divulged that part to us, saying I should leave that out if ever I was to write something about my infancy. But that actually was the most wholesome and also delicate part for me. Imagine my young mother, a teacher, trying to make ends meet, having me inside her classroom, while talking out a midwife not to tell on her to anyone concerned about the circumstance. Teehee.
I wasn’t fussy at all but I got hungry while the health workers were making their rounds so I cried a little. The midwife noticed the sound and asked if there was a baby inside the classroom. My mother talked her out to not telling anything to the others and it was a good thing that the midwife was a kind one.
