Midwives

In our Philosophy class, our teacher made us watch a movie called Midwives. It’s a story of a midwife Sibyl who had an extraordinary devotion to her job. It’s not a job to her. It’s a kind of passion, helping the pregnant women. She even neglected her daughter since she’s always out with her patients. When Coney (the daughter) had a boyfriend, she wasn’t even there to check her. She never even sleeps.

Time came when the wife of the pastor on their town got pregnant. Coney was babysitting the pastor’s kid so when the wife asked Coney if her mother Sibyl was really a midwife. And when she said yes, right then and there, Sibyl became her midwife.

Late one evening, the wife was having a labor. With Sibyl and her apprentice, they managed to make her push the baby. But after 15 hours of labor, there was no sign of the baby, just bleeding. They panicked and Sibyl decided to call an ambulance so she and the baby will be under the care of the doctors. But due to the storm, the ground was icy. And since the phone line wasn’t working, there was no way that they could bring the wife to the hospital themselves. Then Sibyl said that they must first rest and give it a go after a couple of minutes or so. After what seems to be like a reasonable rest, the wife said that she wanted to try it again. With a heart wrenching scream, she started pushing for the baby. And with just a flash, her whole body became rigid before she passed out.

Sibyl started reviving her but it seems like it was of no use. She even conducted a CPR. But to no avail, Sibyl announced that the wife died from some kind of a stroke or seizure. The pastor couldn’t believe that her wife was gone. But still, with Sibyl’s mind still working, she ask the pastor to give her the “sharpest knife” that he could ever find. Obediently, the pastor went downstairs to get the knife but then her apprentice followed as well. Maybe it was because of the shock of the wife’s death that she felt the need to go and hide downstairs.

When they came back, the pastor had the kitchen knife. Sibyl started blabbing that she needed to rescue the baby or the baby might also die. The movie then fades between the court scene and Sibyl finding a lawyer. After the initial investigation, it turned out that the wife was not dead after all since when Sibyl cut the belly of the wife, spurts of blood was seen by the apprentice and the pastor WHICH can be seen ONLY to a beating heart.

In the court, every single person was questioned even the apprentice and the pastor. There also came a few doctors to explain what could’ve happened to the wife. Their autopsy tells that no stroke or seizure was seen in her brain activity and what happened was just the malfunctioning of her brain, causing her breathing to stop. And with the CPR Sibyl did, the wife was revived.

When it was time for Sibyl to defend herself in the witnessed stand, she swore that the wife was already dead before she operated for a C-section. She had no choice but to save the baby or else the baby would die too. During the interrogation, Sibyl got her tongue slipped about the daily journals she was keeping. With all the record of her past delivery, the judge summoned Sibyl to get the journals from their house. Recess came and Coney volunteered to get the journals herself.

I was a little bit confused why Coney stacked out some leaves of the journal and hid it under the clothes that she wore that time. But then of course, I remembered that she get to read the part of the journal the night the wife of the pastor died. After the judge and the jurors examined the journals, they decided that it couldn’t be a source of evidence that would indict Sibyl. We held our breaths as one of the jurors announced their verdict—not guilty of involuntary man slaughter.

My classmates cheered and some even clapped their hands. Some of them crossed their fingers and prayed that Sibyl will not be sent to prison.

When they got home, Coney immediately put back the leaves of the journal again. All night, Sibyl and her friends were celebrating on their success. Just when things got calmer, Sibyl checked out her journal and found out what Coney did since some of the missing leaves that Coney took were all crumpled. A narration on the voice of Sibyl revealed that there were really spurts of blood that came when she cut the belly of the wife. She even said that no one would know. I felt sick. I felt like I was duped, totally.

I still can’t forget the whole movie event that I felt the need to write it here. Just to let out my confusion, and stressed mind.