Fertility Force

In class on Wednesday we discussed Angela’s birth and the labor scene described in Chapter 21. We got to see what a handmaid’s birth is like, and what it consists of. On page 123, the reader is told for the first time what the process of giving birth is like. It involves repetitive chants, a handful of handmaids, and spiked grape juice. It says the handmaids have been prepared for this, “We are all good at this, we’ve had lessons” says Offred who helped Janine while she dealt with her contractions.
After Janine has given birth, the wives help the household’s wife down from the Birthing Stool and take her to lie in bed. Then, the baby is taken from the handmaid and given to the Commander’s Wife. Offred speaks about the process after giving birth and how the handmaid will now never have to be sent to the Colonie, or be labeled as an “Unwoman.” She says it’s the handmaid’s “reward.” This entire section of Chapter 21 resonated with me because I honestly can’t imagine the pain of birthing a child, and it’s not something that’s on my bucket list. Pregnancy isn’t always the safest thing, and there could be a lot of issues. The handmaids were very passionate during the chants and seemed to be working hard to try and help Janine out. “It begins to catch me, it’s hard work…Already I can feel slight pains, in my belly” Offred says, and “By now I’m wrung out, exhausted. My breasts are painful.” The handmaids described being tired, sweaty, and in pain afterward, so I can imagine it was not a pleasant experience. It made me think of all the women who have gone through pregnancy and the ones who have had complications and have either lost their lives or have lost their babies. I think complications during pregnancy are a really big issue and people often undermine it. While reading I became curious about what happens with the babies with complications. My curiosity got the best of me and I ended up accidentally spoiling it for myself. I wanted to find out more about what happened to the babies afterward. That led to me finding out about something called an “Unbaby.” I won’t be going into detail about it because I don’t want to spoil it for the readers. But I did end up spoiling it for myself because the author hasn’t mentioned what happens with the babies born, and I wanted to know. I feel like the section I chose to write about was intriguing and it shed light on the impact of pregnancy and made me think of women’s postpartum care. Despite this, there was also something comforting in this chapter, all the women that gather around Janine to support her. The amount of handmaids involved in this process and what they do, Offred says, “The two women help her off the bed, support her on either side while she paces…One of the girls kneels and rubs her back. We are all good at this we’ve had lessons.” and “We are jubilant, it’s a victory for all of us. We’ve done it.” I think these quotes show how supportive and happy the handmaids were to be there for Janine and help her through her pregnancy. There’s comfort in knowing you have help and that it’s coming from women, and people who know what they’re doing. Nevertheless, this chapter and section stuck out to me and left me asking questions.