Christmas babies always arouse an extra special feeling of wonder at the miracle of birth, given the meaning of Christmas and the celebration by Christians of the birth of Jesus Christ. But even if the sacred nature of Christmas is not observed by all religions, one does not have to be a Christian to share the joy of families in Guyana and around the world, who feel that they have been blessed at Christmas with the greatest gift of all: the birth of a child. And while Christmas babies are endowed with a certain aura, the birth of any child at any time of the year should be cause for wonder and celebration.
According to some estimates, the world’s population is increasing by 75 million people every year, which translates into a little over 200,000 babies a day. The numbers are staggering and when viewed in absolute terms, the statistics tend to make childbirth seem almost a routine affair. But for the families involved, particularly the mothers, childbirth is far from a humdrum, mechanical matter, to be dismissed as just another stage on the conveyor belt of life.
More critically, the majority of children in the world are born into poverty. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that “worldwide, families are having half as many children today as they did in the 1960s, but fertility remains high in the poorest countries.” This makes effective family planning vital in order to have a direct impact on maternal health. According to the UNFPA, “when couples can choose the number, timing and spacing of their children, they are better able to ensure there are enough resources for each family member to prosper and thrive.”
Worse, one woman dies every minute during pregnancy and birth due to a lack of adequate and timely care and treatment. The UNFPA is therefore working to increase interventions for safe motherhood in order to save the lives of half a million women and seven million infants each year, to contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals numbers 4 and 5, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health respectively.
These are sobering statistics and facts. But inasmuch as their cold reality threatens to cast a pall over the happiness felt at the birth of a child, a newborn baby still represents ultimately a triumph of hope over despair and life over death, no matter how daunting the odds.
Indeed, it is the very cycle of life that makes the birth of a child such a wondrous thing. From the biological miracle of conception – and remember, not every couple is genetically or physiologically equipped to succeed – through gestation, to the arrival of the baby and its first squawk at leaving the safety of the womb for the uncertainty of life in an alien environment, there is sufficient evidence for us to marvel at our natural ability to reproduce and regenerate from within ourselves.
Many a hard-bitten man has been inexplicably reduced to tears at his first sight of the tiny, helpless, wriggling creature he has fathered. Why this should be, it is hard to say, especially as it is the mother who has borne the child inside her for nine months and who has endured the hormonal and physical changes to her body during pregnancy and suffered the pain of childbirth. And it is the mother, who in most cases will shoulder the burden of child-rearing.
Perhaps it is the enormity of the moment which overpowers, even if subliminally. For those of us who have been fortunate to produce a child, regardless of gender, race, creed, class or nationality, have done our bit for the survival of the human race. Perhaps in this way we begin to understand our common humanity, through a phenomenon that is at once the most amazing and perhaps the commonest of all human experiences. And it is indubitably all the more so for women, who share in the intensity of their experiences something that dwarfs all differences.
Of course, the banal demands of everyday existence intrude all too often for mothers and fathers to wander around swooning at the sight of their little darlings cooing, gurgling and dribbling. The sleepless nights, the seemingly incessant and insatiable feeding at the mother’s breast, the cleaning up at both ends, all this and more can sometimes make parenthood seem a tedious and thankless experience. Then there is the need to put food on the table and to provide for a growing family, sometimes under the most trying of circumstances. Birth is only the beginning; the challenges multiply and are not always overcome.
But even if all is not sweetness and light in life, there can be no denying the sublime moment presented by the birth of a child and its transcendent gift of filling one’s heart and soul with pure joy and hope for the future, however fleeting the feeling for some.
