That's it, and all of my other aunts and uncles are still here. So you
were saying that you have a family history of home birth? Yeah, my grandma
, she has 11 kids and she had them all at home except for one that she had
complications and the other one she had, um, I think she had stillbirth on
that one. Yes, that was the only other complications second one was there
a midwife that was working with her, or was it just there's always a
midwife that will be there with her, yeah. So there was a tradition of
midwifery in um in the Zia Pueblos, is that or is that just? Yeah, because
um the midwives that we still have, they're the ones they're the first
ladies that come and see their babies and take them out to the sun to name
them. Yeah, so we always have to have our midwives instead of ones that do
that for us. Did you have a midwife? Yeah. Yeah. So who is your midwife?
Oh, her name is, don't have to tell me the name, but is she from this area
or how did you meet her? Um, she's actually my dad's godmother. Yeah, so I
, I know her and then um one of my grandmothers, which would be my dad's
my dad's.
No, that would be my dad's dad's wife, yeah.
It is the is the one that did hers and then the other lady did my um my
two boys, my dad's grandmother did my two boys. Did you still give birth
to them in the hospital? Yeah. And then that was when we on the first day
when you first come home then they meet you here and then that's when they
take your baby out to name as long as the sun is out.
How was the pregnancy? Was the first birth expected? I mean, was the
pregnancy expected? Um, yeah, we kind of like wanted him. The second one
was a surprise. And then this one, she was a trial. Oh.
You just wanted that girl, huh? Yeah, my girl. So was there anything
unusual about the pregnancy or were you, did you, were you, um, told what
to expect and did your family share that information with you? Yeah, yeah
, and just like going to, um, um, have you been to amas to learn their
stuff? No, they have a cradle Club thing and I went to that for my first
one, so that's how I learned all like everything to expect and Yeah, so
they, they had that collaboration with Z and Heus to do that and it was
just a lady that um. Carried on with it, so she does it and he was still.
Did you enjoy being pregnant? I love it. I love it, except the morning
sickness. I will pass morning sickness any day, but.
Um, did you have a medicated birth or not? Um, I had to because when my
son, when I was induced to my first one,
I only went like so many centimeters so I had to have cesarean. My second
one, I never dilated, so I had to like cesarean, and this one, her her
umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and she pushed herself back up
so I had to have a cesarean.
Yeah, so all three of them was Cesareans. Tell me about a little bit more
about that first birth you were saying there were, you know, unexpected
complications. Oh yeah, because well when we went in and they got inded
they had already told me like you know they they have that already um
percentage of or how would you say yeah, there's a percentage that there
might be um I may end up having a cesarean because inducing.
I don't know, sometimes it does that or something. How, why were you
induced? I was 2 weeks overdue. Yeah, I went to 42 weeks. How big was the
baby? He was 813, yeah, and 22 inches. Yeah, and he's still a big boy.
Um, do you find, and we've noticed this in talking to women in the area
here that there's this culture of community and taking care of each
other's children and having extended family here. Is that the case? Yeah,
everybody takes care of each other's kids like when stuff is going on,
like recently we had some um some doings going on and I had to be there so
when we take her up there and everybody's like, you know, helping her out
, playing with her, even like the kids sit around they like take care of
the babies while we're working and doing something and we all sit around
like they play with her ladies will feed her or ginger.
The men too seem really involved in nurturing the children, which is not
really like in the area that I live, that is not necessarily the case, you
know, so it's nice to see her. Oh, I'm daddy adores you. Yeah. Well, it's
, it is his little girl, right?
Yeah, you're the little princess.
So were you and your siblings then because you're saying your grandmother
had all of her children in the home. Were you and your siblings all born
in the hospital or did your mother ever have any homes? So, um, we were
born in hospitals because of my um my sister. Um, I don't remember what
happened with her, but she ended up smelling him acomium so so she was
like staying in the hospital for a while. Um, for me, I was the unexpected
one. And um yeah, she didn't really know my due date, so when she went
into labor, they just rushed to the hospital and then Yeah, my brother
My brother, I think she just plant to have him down there. Was that
something that was um That she wanted to make that transition from the
home to the hospital, or was that kind of forced upon her? I think it was
her own. Yeah, because I don't know. I guess people see other
complications now. And then too, because my mom, before she had, she had
one stillborn and one miscarriage already. So I think that was the reason
why she kind of said she'd just go down that way.
Do you think so do you have any, you're not, your children are old enough
to have babies at this point, right? Do you think you'll be there for the
birth, or do you have any, have you ever thought about that? And even like
my grandma, she stayed there with me all my two days and I have both my
boys. Well, she actually stayed there 2 days because I was in labor for 2
days and she stayed there with me. Yeah, but then sadly she passed before
this one.
Well, you've been extremely helpful to us. Is there anything else you want
to contribute, anything else you wanna say about the birth process or
motherhood, or anything that pertains to your, um, culture? Um, just that
, like, we try to keep the um male alive, you know, like we keep that, we
try to keep that going, keep it by the tradition. I think it's like really
, really important to us. Why? Um, because I mean that's tradition for her
to be the one to come out and name your baby for you, and you know, like,
um, and we bless their beds with like certain beds that they lay in while
they're born or like first born. Yeah, so they come out, they bust those.
And that's important for you to keep that going on with your
grandchildren.
What about language? Is that the naming and uh the part of it is that is
that something that um is important to kind of keep going to? Yeah, I
think so. I think it's important for us to have like our to get to like
learn and know our like culture like to how to say it like because there's
a certain way you say it like to introduce yourself, to say like your your
name, your clan, and who you are. Yeah, so I, I think that's a big part of
it, because how else are you gonna tell people who you are and like they
say when you pass on and you go to like our traditional um like our
traditional god, yeah, then you have to be able to say who you are, so. I
think that's the reason why I say it's like a big, big deal for us. Can
you, can you say, tell us your name and your tribe?
Yeah, it, it starts at your Guin and see. This is, um, I'm a female. My
name is Elena gotchain and I'm from a coote class.
That's nice. Thank you so much. You've been incredible. I'm gonna turn
this off unless you have any other questions, OK.