Chapter 151
In the twenty-first century, mothers almost never die during childbirth.
They say the death rate is about one in 100,000, which means that unless someone is extraordinarily unlucky, dying while giving birth is practically unheard of.
In Joseon, however, it is said that the chance of a mother dying during childbirth exceeds 10 percent.
Thanks to the improvements I made to hygiene, Winter’s odds of dying would be far lower than that...
So I hurried home, took hold of the servant girls assisting with the birth, and made them thoroughly check the preparations and repeat the precautions they had to observe.
“Before assisting with the birth, wash your entire bodies with water and lye right now, then change into clean clothes that have been boiled thoroughly in lye! A mother’s and a child’s bodies suffer many wounds during childbirth, and if dirt gets into them, both their lives may be in danger.”
“We have already washed ourselves with water and changed into clean clothes, but...”
“They say forewarned is forearmed. Only by preparing as thoroughly as possible can you safely get through a serious event when it occurs. If something bad happens while you are delivering the baby because you failed to observe the cleanliness I ordered, you will answer for it.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Thanks to my constant emphasis on hygiene, the custom of bathing has apparently been gradually taking root among the people not only in Hanyang but throughout all eight provinces.
As a result, people who once washed only twice a year, on the two major holidays apart from the hot summer, now wash at least once a week, even if only with cold water, and infectious diseases seem to have decreased considerably...
By my standards, though, they are still unbelievably filthy.
If only they washed their bodies once a day, they would not smell, and they could prevent all sorts of illnesses.
New mothers and newborn babies are especially fragile immediately after childbirth, and can lose their lives from even a slight bacterial infection.
I had no choice but to be even more sensitive about hygiene.
“If the baby comes out safely and the mother is healthy as well, I will give you all a handsome reward.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And have one of the male servants fetch a physician.”
“A physician? How could we allow a physician into the lady’s birthing room?”
“If she develops even a fever after giving birth, she will need to drink a restorative decoction. I am preparing for that possibility.”
If Joseon had obstetricians, I would have summoned one without hesitation, male or female, and asked them to oversee the entire process from beginning to end.
I would have persuaded Winter in advance that this was what we needed to do.
But Joseon had no obstetricians.
And even if we admitted a male physician, he could not provide any help during the birth.
Because he was a man, he had never taken part in the process of childbirth even once, making him a complete novice.
Still, the decoction to bring down her fever after childbirth had to be prepared and administered immediately.
No one was a match for puerperal fever.
“The thing to be most wary of after childbirth is a fever. If our preparations are inadequate and we fail to control it in time, Winter could die.”
In the twenty-first century, mothers almost never died of puerperal fever, but in premodern societies, puerperal fever—which struck when an infection caused a fever in a mother weakened after giving birth—was the leading cause of maternal death.
Difficult labor and breech births—when the baby tries to come out upside down—were serious problems too, but there was nothing I could do about those.
Doing my best within the limits of what I could do was all I could manage.
“You servant girls must wash your own bodies first and change into fresh clothes, then clean my lady’s body thoroughly with boiled water and help her change into fresh clothes before assisting with the birth.”
“Yes, my lord. Then as for you, my lord...”
“I will wash my own body and change my clothes before going to see the mother.”
Comforting Winter was one thing, but more important was maintaining strict hygiene in the place where she would give birth.
I soaked towels in water that had been brought to a rolling boil and then cooled, wiped my body with them, sprinkled lye over myself, and wiped myself down again.
Then I changed my clothes and was about to go straight to where Winter was, but...
“Her waters have already broken, and the birth has begun. You must wait.”
“Damn it.”
There was absolutely nothing I could do by entering that room right now.
What good would it do Winter to have a useless man standing guard at her side?
“Gapseok, go to the market right now and buy a generous amount of seaweed and beef.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“She will eat it if she gets hungry after giving birth, so do not worry about the price—buy only the very best.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Just as I finished giving my instructions, I heard Winter’s groans through the wall.
There was only one thing I could do.
Sit in the men’s quarters, stamping my feet anxiously, and wait. That was all.
No, there was one more thing I could do.
Find the talisman Prince Hyoryeong had given us at our wedding and pray to Buddha.
I did not know how much Buddha could help, but at the very least, it had to be better than not praying at all.
If it worked, all the better; if it did not, there was nothing I could do about it.
“Great and compassionate Buddha, please let our Winter have a safe delivery. If you do, I will somehow use my influence to restore Buddhism in Joseon.”
All religions were like that.
When priests blinded by money became the mainstream, a religion became trash worse than radioactive waste; when they pursued the ideals and goodness their religion sought rather than money, it became a teaching that benefited the world.
Confucianism, too, had benefited the world greatly before it became “Confucian Taliban” and stagnated into rot.
It was thanks to that, after all, that human-sacrifice practices such as retainer burial disappeared from the Korean Peninsula.
As I prayed like this, my father-in-law came rushing into the room and let out a sigh first thing.
“Son-in-law, no matter how much this is your first time facing childbirth, isn’t it a bit improper for a scholar-official to pray to Buddha?”
I could not think of anything to refute him with.
But what else could I do when my insides were burning with anxiety? I had to pray even to Buddha.
“When Queen Wongyeong Mama was suffering from a serious illness, His Highness the Grand King summoned the monks of Hoeamsa and had them pray for her.”
“......”
“I heard it worked and eased her illness somewhat, so I am trying to put my hopes in this as well.”
“Then I will do it with you.”
“You too, Father?”
“I used to pray to Buddha whenever I was anxious while my wife or concubine was giving birth. I never took out a talisman and prayed like you, though.”
The people of Joseon were just like twenty-first-century Koreans.
Though they pretended to be strict, solemn, and serious on the outside, some grandfathers would merely chuckle when their grandchildren tugged on their beards and played with them instead of stopping them.
Some people would proudly boast that their young child was an incredibly rare prodigy if they happened to learn letters a little early, to the point that those around them would comment on it.
Speaking of boasting about one’s children, I had heard that my parents, who lived in Yanggu County, bragged about me quite a lot.
‘My child is Magistrate Kim Daebung!’
With those words alone, they proudly claimed that everyone in this Confucian society, where raising one’s children well was one of life’s most important tasks, expressed awe.
What is this, did they go to some kind of child-boasting contest in Yanggu County? Honestly, what are they doing?
“Even Magistrate Kim Daebung, famed throughout the land, cannot keep his composure when faced with his wife’s childbirth. If the Minister of Taxation had seen you like this, he would probably have laughed heartily.”
“Considering how I behaved at the Ministry of Taxation, he might well have.”
Whenever I worked at the Ministry of Taxation, I handled everything Minister of Taxation Jo Gye-saeng assigned me, regardless of how much work he gave me.
I even reviewed matters beyond the scope of what he had assigned, pointed out potential problems, and proposed solutions for them.
As a result, some people who saw me would whisper that I was such a workaholic that not even a drop of blood would come out if I were stabbed.
Recalling those days eased my tension a little.
“Pray to Buddha if you wish, but try to relax a little. Winter is not sickly, and she is young too. There is almost no chance anything will go wrong during childbirth.”
“Father-in-law.”
“What will fretting accomplish? And when Winter shows you the child and asks you to hold it, what good would it do for the husband to show nothing but a flustered, frantic spectacle?”
A married husband should strive to be the finest husband in the world in front of his wife, and a wife should strive to be the most beautiful woman in the world in front of her husband.
Without such effort, a marriage is highly likely to end in ruin.
Winter would probably want me to show a composed and dignified side rather than see me flustered and panicking in front of the baby.
“Thank you, Father-in-law. Thanks to you, I have come to my senses a little. In that case, you should wash yourself thoroughly as I did, change into fresh clothes, and come back as well.”
“...... Must we really go that far...”
Saying that, Kim Mandeok went straight off to wash himself, following my words.
As I always say, there is no weapon more powerful against grandparents than a ‘grandson, granddaughter.’
Before long, Kim Mandeok returned after changing into fresh clothes as well.
“If I do this, can I hold my grandson now?”
“Yes, Father-in-law.”
“You really are relentless. Still, I suppose it is because you are this relentless that you managed to make Hanyang’s streets, once filled with filthy refuse, so clean that not even a speck of dust can be seen.”
While I was doing my best to relax by chatting with Kim Mandeok, I heard the voice of a servant girl waiting outside the door.
“Congratulations on the birth of your son.”
“More importantly, what of the mother? How is her condition?”
“She is healthy!”
Hearing this, I flung open the reception-room door as if I meant to kick it down and hurried straight into the birthing room.
In the birthing room, Winter had fallen asleep after completing the difficult delivery.
The baby lying beside her was bundled in a swaddling cloth, wriggling with its eyes still shut, and to me looked more beautiful and adorable than anything else in the world.
“Your name is Jangsaeng. Kim Jangsaeng.”
They say other people give their children names wishing them to rise in the world and bring honor to their family...
But to me, more important than that was for my child to live a long, healthy life.
Rising in the world and bringing honor to the family would all be meaningless after death, after all.
“Just live a long, healthy life.”
And I took nearly a week off because my child had been born.
Minister Jo Gye-saeng of the Ministry of Taxation hated my taking leave, but when I gave him a few roots of ginseng as a gift, he approved it immediately.