The whole goal as a midwife whether caring for a Saudi Arabia woman or any other woman was delivering a healthy mom and a healthy baby. The working conditions in Saudi Arabia was unsafe.
As a young midwife at the age of 25, Hannah found herself delivering babies without sterile gloves which increase the risk of infection to these Saudi Arabian women and babies. Staff and patients were not been given proper prevention vaccinations such as Hepatitis B. Many of the Saudi Arabia women were hepatitis B positive. This poses a huge health problem for the mother, baby, and staff. Chronic hepatitis B can destroy the liver and cause death.
Childbirth is an unpredictable event. Hannah found herself working alone with her back up MD over an hour away. She observed within 6 weeks of her orientation her opposite shift Midwife had 3 cord prolapses as her level of competency was low. Hannah had a lot of liability concerns about how things were been done within the department. When she voiced her concerns to management she was told it was none of her business. YES, it was her business as she had to take over care of these Saudi Arabian women in childbirth.
There was no equipment to clean bed pans. Just rinse them in hot water. Hannah had a lot of cancers about cross contamination. Some of these patients had Hepatitis B, who knows if any of them had HIV as we were not allowed to test for this. Caring for pregnant Saudi Arabian women in Saudi Arabia increases your personal liability. The general rule is if a Saudi Arabian woman dies under your care there is a high probability you will be put in prison and never get out.
It was normal for Saudi Arabian women to have their husbands other wives visit and stay with them in the hospital. The women would sit in the middle of the floor and make tea. For some reason, they always looked happy. They would always dress the same, covered from head to toe including the face in black outfits.
Hannah quickly learned their rituals. She would have to accept their offer of tea before asking to look at their wrists, in order to identify who was a patient and who was another wife. Hannah would internally cringe each time as the filthy dirty cup touched her lips pretending to take a sip of teas in order to honor these Saudi Arabian women’s tea ritual. Hannah would do this over and over every time she entered a clients room.
The disaster would happen every day at 3pm, Hannah would get an instant headache. As soon as the clock up on the wall would strike 3pm. The unit doors would, Hannah would be bombarded with at least 20 Saudi Arabian men. The men would come up to her screaming, their one though is who is going first, everyone wanted to be first. There was no such thing as order, no such thing as standing in line.
Hannah was the only white woman there so she was in charge. These Saudi men would ram their passport in her face. Everything in Saudi is about passports, you can go nowhere without it. Hannah would sit there and think, “you can’t get angry, you can’t react, you can’t shout, you just have to let them shout and figure it out, you just have to be calm and just do one at a time.”
My main job was to discharge the clients with the right babies. She would sign the papers go down to the room to where the patient was, check patients wrist band checks babies wrist bands. It was not uncommon that they swapped the babies around. She couldn’t believe it! Baby swapping!
The Saudi Arabia woman who gives birth to a lot of baby boys and another woman, she may have never met has a lot of girls but no boys, it would be normal for them to swap a babies, giving the woman without a boy a male child. A Saudi Arabian woman has to produce a male child. The male line has to live on. It was no big deal to baby swap. When Hannah tried to get her head around this concept the Saudi Arabian women would say “inshallah” (God willing) Everything would be fine.
Hannah would have to legally make sure that she discharged the right Mom with the right baby. What these Saudi Arabian women did outside the maternity unit door or anywhere else was up to them. It was a very strange world. Hope you tune into episode 7 of my 9 part series of Life in Saudi Arabia, it is candid, funny and at times horrifying!
Midwife Hannah Bajor, C.N.M., M.S.N — Pregnancy Expert

Midwife of 30 years her website is http://www.lumalove.com. Pregnancy is one of the GREAT human miracles no one will ever fully understand. Hannah walks her talk in everything she does. At the age of 38, she finally got pregnant after a 12-year struggle. She finally joined the elite group of women she cared for called pregnant. At 16 weeks pregnant her world came crashing in. Hannah found out her baby boy growing inside of her had died.

A year after her devastating miscarriage, six months of failed infertility treatments her inner world crumbled to pieces. Hannah’s Doctors told her she was infertile; she had run out of eggs and she was too old to have a baby. The killer was she was advised to stop trying to get pregnant.
Hannah would not give up her dream of having a baby!
Despite her devastating diagnosis of being infertile, she did not give up hope. She did a year of research which finally paid off. She now has two growing boys, conceived naturally. At the birth of her second son, she almost died. She was given a death or stay option at life. This experience ignites Hannah’s mission in the world to be a leader.
Hannah’s Mission in Life…

Hannah is driven by a life mission to provide a multi-platform line of pregnancy and childbirth related educational products. Her company Lumalove LLC helps couples globally to access new and dynamic prenatal education. Hannah shows parent-to-be how to lay the foundational blueprints for a happier, healthier pregnancy outcomes.
Do you have a copy of Hannah’s FREE eBook Birth, A Conscious Choice? If not have it delivered to your inbox, chapter by chapter. It is fascinating to read to deepen your understanding about getting pregnant, pregnancy, birth, and miscarriage. To access click on DEEPER UNDERSTANDING INTO PREGNANCY BOOK