I think the hospital was actually for the mom, she did not look well. They said it was a difficult delivery, she looked grey and was almost unconscious and they hooked her up to an IV as soon as they had her in the helicopter. My guess would be mom has a history of higher blood loss.

From a microbiological standpoint, freezing meat is a valid way to kill any parasites that may be present, and the cold temps of the tundra would nearly eliminate bacterial contamination/the ability of bacteria to produce the toxins that generally cause foodborne illness.

The song is in their native language. They spoke russian with the doctor and sometimes with each other.
It's nice to see that they keep the native languages alive. It was not easy in the last century.

Many years ago I had a GP doctor in downtown Vancouver, BC.  He was originally from Quebec and while he and his (also a physician) lived there after med. school in Montreal, they spent about half the year in the far north.  They had done rotations up there during med. school and fell in love with the people and their experiences.  Everytime I had an appt. with him I begged him to tell more stories.  He spoke of the time a full service hospital was finally built for the region he returned to.  When someone had to be evac'ed from the boonies by bush plane or helicopter, the locals in the little communities would line up everyone's snowmobiles to light up the ice runway/landing pad!   I loved imagining that scene!  Once the welcome option of taking women to the new hospital for child birthing was available they usually insisted on taking the grandmothers/aunts and midwife along, too!  The whole entourage would show up in their fur garments and with blankets, etc.  "Hospital is fine but we know best about childbirth!"  A months long argumet/debate ensued and to make this already long story short, the compromise was that the grannies and midwife had to remove theoir shoes and outer coats, scrub up and wear gloves.  Period.  Oh, and no bear grease.  What finally resulted from this new cooperation was that the births were smoother because should there be a breech or other complication, the fancy interentions were available.  But, for those times when everything was going along fine, the docs, midwives and nurses found that they all learned a whole lot of brilliant techniques from the Indigenous women.  No stirrups!  Squatting or assuming that on your knees position became the new and improved choice for new mothers, etc.  I loved this story!

I have major respect for these women not making noise while giving birth. Giving birth was the most painful thing I have ever had to go through. I've had kidney stones, gallbladder surgery, open heart surgery and sinus reconstruction. I didn't moan or scream during natural birth either and it wasn't by choice. My body was so worn out that the most noise I could make was this mewing noise. Trust me if I had the energy I would have been screaming my head off.
Major props to the strength of these women.

My mom had 4 kids in the 70s in rural Germany. They had a dairy farm and she would typically start contractions at night, then get up to milk the cows at 6, take her shower and head to the hospital to have her babies before noon.
She did then stay 10 days in hospital to recover. That was the practice at the time, knowing these women had to go back to work on the farm as soon as they got home.

The most shocking thing about this to me is that they have cell reception! I can barely get reception sometimes & I live in a city! Lol

Squalling like a dying cat during labor was so instinctual. I cannot imagine feeling like I wasn’t allowed to do so.

This was a cool glimpse into another culture. I’m guessing the silent birth is tied to drawing enemies and predators from way back in their history.

I'm not sure if this is the reason why these specific people brought the mother and baby to the hospital still after birth, but in many of the slavic countries, the mother and baby go to a postpartum unit where nurses care for the baby completely except to bring it to its mother for nursing. In the meantime, the mother is only allowed minimal activity and is fed and taken care of for at least a week before she is allowed to see any family or leave.
*Edit for spelling

My great-grandmother, in Italy, in the 1880’s and 90’s worked in the field all the time, even when she was pregnant. My grandfather said that when she felt her time coming close she would carry an extra basket, with everything she’d need for the birth, out into the field, take a break to give birth, then go back to work afterwards! 😮

I just read a book called Childbirth Wisdom which describes birth practices in many traditional cultures. One of the things that was true in each one was that mom is active and does her work right up until delivery. I have seen that this is true. Moms who have kept active seem to have easier and faster labors generally. This is just anecdotal based on years as a LD nurse. But I’d love to be able to get her a blanket out of the warmer.

It seems like the word " unclean" in this context has cultural connotations. It makes total sense that in a wilderness such as this, the scents of blood and placental/ amniotic fluids in the main dwelling might potentially draw in predators.

I imagine her husband over hears her say she wants to fly into the Tundra. He says, "No honey. We're not moving from New Zealand to the frozen Tundra." ❤😂❤😂

As a medical anthropologist i am HERE for this kind of content!

I mean, I see why they wouldnt give birth in the chum they live, cook, eat and spend life in, which is pretty small itself. It doesnt look like it has empty space where you could give birth and have everything easily cleaned to go on with your life. It doesnt mean that the labor is "this yucky gross thing", but it makes sense why they would do it elsewhere. (i hope my thoughts make sense😅 )

so this seems to be the russian tundra! the doctors that flew to help spoke russian (i'm a native, for anyone curious). i loved their positive attitudes and seeming respect for the difference of those indigenous cultures, at least as caught on tape. this country could use a bit of that, if i'm honest.
loved MDJ's reactions to puppies and the kid ‘puff ball’. a pleasure!

If you watch the full 2 hr of this it's a series they do it to make sure mom is ok and give her rest because they don't stop working hard.

3:03 i think my ovaries reversed back to stem cells, out of fear. I definitely felt something in my stomach, maybe my fallopian tube made a node 🎀

Did anyone else find it amazing , I didn’t know like when this film has been made so you’re watching them live pretty much the way they probably have lived for 1000 years. And then all of a sudden he pulls out a smart phone.😮 And I realize that they were a lot more connected to the rest of the world than I thought