BLOG 60 – POWERFUL WORDS BY EUGENE MARAIS

In blog 60: Powerful words by Eugene Marais Jake is all fired up to research Eugene Marais’ view of the relationship between pain during childbirth and motherly care. Zani finds yet another list to tick off (she can be quite predictable, right?)

While we are enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the garden, I finally get to tell Jake about meeting Sky at Vee’s. He must have seen Sky at the antenatal classes, but like most of the others, we tend to arrive in the nick of time and leave straight afterwards so we haven’t officially ‘met’ anybody there yet. But when I describe her, Jake immediately knows whom I am talking about because both Sky and Seth have an unintentional way of standing out.

I briefly relay what I can remember of what Sky said, but it comes out a little like mumbo-jumbo, until I remember my notebook. While paging through the lists I remember the movie we watched together. “Jake, remember that movie, Die Wonderwerker, about Eugene Marais?”

“Ja?”

“Sky says Eugene Marais was intrigued by the role of birth pain and studied many species to see if he could find a purpose for birth pain.”

“Yes?” Jake is frowning, clearly not sure where this is leading to, or why I am paging so frantically.

“Here, got it! Eugene Marais said, ‘Where birth pain is feeble, mother care is negligible.’”

“Wow, Zani, those are strong words – let me see that?” Jake reads the words again before he puts the book down. “I think we need to read this statement in the context in which he used it originally, because sometimes people quote something, but when used out of context, the meaning changes. I need to read this before jumping to any conclusions.” And with that he picks up his phone from the table and Googles the quote. He finds the original source: The Soul of the White Ant by Eugene Marais. 

“I’d like to read this actually. Sounds very interesting. I would never have thought of putting the words soul and white ant together!” he says, as the marketer in him jumps to attention and keeps on searching.

“What are you searching for?”

“I’d like to order a copy, but it seems to be out of print …” his voice trails off while he checks availability on other websites.

“Vee has a copy. Maybe she’d lend it to ‘her boy’ Jake.” We look at each other and laugh.

“I need to go for a run to get rid of yesterday’s stiffness. Mind asking Vee if I could borrow her book for a few days? And if she says yes, I could jog past in say 40 minutes to pick it up? It’d be a great read on the flight to Cape Town later today. The project that cost me seeing Brandon at the first scan has been a hit, and the reason for today’s trip is to talk about additional work.”

“Awww, I forgot you were going! For how long?”

“Back in time for dinner tomorrow night.”

“You and food! But, yes, let me phone Vee quickly.”

Vee is happy to lend Jake the book. He gets changed and off he goes. I stay right here in the sunny spot in the garden and flick through my notebook.

• Shortness of breath: no, not really.
• Trouble sleeping: nope, I sleep like a log when I am tucked in behind Jake’s back with a pillow between my knees.
• Heartburn: luckily, not at all.
• Swelling of the ankles, fingers and face (could be a sign of pre-eclampsia): a little in the ankles maybe, but Miriam says that’s normal.
• Tender breasts: yep!
• Haemorrhoids: nope, but Miriam says our lifestyle changes – what we eat, regular walks and staying hydrated keeps the system running smoothly.
• Belly button may stick out: Eeek! Luckily not – although it has smoothed out a bit.
• Baby “dropping”: not yet, no.
• Contractions: an odd stiffening now and then, but Miriam says it’s natural and calls it some kind of ‘hicks’.

And then I notice, marked in bold and underlined: Spinal Galant. What’s that about?

Article: From fearful to powerful

Marais, E. The soul of the white ant.

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