Would you highlight the risk of dieing in childbirth to a complete stranger?
People say some odd things sometimes.
I was unloading my trolley at the shops the other day when the woman behind me, wearing what looked like a nurse’s uniform, sparked a conversation about my obvious baby bump.
It was one of those nice chance conversations and she had a down to earth manner, not to mention that she probably knew what she was talking about.
We got talking about labour and she sad, “you know don’t worry too much about that. It will come and you will deal with it and it will be worth it.”
I replied something along the lines of “I suppose millions of women do it all over the world every day right?”
This is when the checkout operator gleefully chimed in with “Yes and a lot of them die!”
The nurse and I did a double take.
“Oh I didn’t mean to offend anyone,” the checkout operator said.
“We’re not offended, it was just an odd thing to say,” the nurse replied.
And it wasn’t that I was offended at all, it was just a weird thing to say, and the jovial way she said it made it even funnier.
I walked away trying not to chuckle.
The poor woman was probably trying to extract her foot from her mouth.
Thankfully I will be one of the lucky ones of those millions of women who give birth every day in that I happen to have access to some of the best health care in the world.
In metropolitan Perth I’m about as likely to die in childbirth as from a falling coconut.
I guess I’m lucky I can laugh.