Walking the Right Path

Chapter 15

Thirty nine minutes forty nine seconds. With each tick of the clock my pencil tapped my notebook furiously and my feet beat the ground in anticipation. The girl sitting beside me had a scowl on her face because I refused to stop after she not so kindly asked me to. The day had been stressful and I longed to be around people who gave me comfort instead of the people around me that looked at me like I'm beneath them.

"We're moving on to the birth process of a baby after it has fully developed in the womb," the teacher turned to write down certain keywords on the board. "After the gestation period the thick wall of the uterus begins to undergo regular powerful contractions. This is when we say the woman is in labour. Now I don't want to see any funny faces as I explain this very important process. You all won't be sitting here if your mothers didn't give birth to you."

Seeing as the clock decided to move even slower today I resigned myself to listening to how women undergo excruciating pain in childbirth. That seemed to make my sitting partner happy because the horrible scowl on her face disappeared.

"The abdominal wall also contracts and eventually the amnion is broken."

Matilda raised her hand to ask a question. "Is that the water that comes out when it's time? I hear a lot of people say the water is broken."

Miss Sandra, my biology teacher, smiled approvingly. "That's exactly what it is. The amniotic fluid flows out through the vagina, and by doing so lubricates the birth canal." Some of the boys behind me snickered as they have been doing throughout the beginning of this topic at the mention of vagina or basically any private female part. "The cervix dilates as well as the vagina, which is now highly thickened and muscular."

"I'm sure this is common knowledge to you all," she moved to the board and drew an illustration of what the inside of the womb would look like during this process, "The fetus with its head lying towards the cervix gradually emerges from the vagina. If the head isn't positioned this way then there is a problem. Usually the doctor or midwife corrects the position themselves which is extremely painful and a delicate procedure."

One particular person scoffed loudly, "This is why I despise my former gender. They're weak and always have to go through painful things. As if menstruations weren't enough. I'm so glad I'm trans so I don't have to deal with all these freaking hormones and nasty baby stuff." Georgina who now identifies as George is one of the few students who are trans in the school. After our summer break she announced that she feels more like a boy or whatever, I can't understand it or even recall the speech she gave but she was done with being a girl. Since then it's been a rollercoaster transformation with pills, hormone repressors, surgeries and a lot of makeup to finally look like who she is now.

I personally had no dislike towards her, the feeling was more of sadness and disappointment because I don't believe she knows what exactly she's doing to her body and how it's going to affect her in the long run. The best I can do is pray for them and if God wills they will see the error of their ways.

The school has also tried their best to support it and always advocate against transphobia no matter how difficult it was to adjust to it. It was these comments that made me lose hope in people these days. Giving birth is bringing life into this world and should be something every woman should be proud of. She sounds so ignorant saying what she did and I could tell Miss Sandra did her best not to say something which would be considered as "offensive" to Georgina. The topic is certainly one that would create a debate among the students after class.

After her input the period went by quicker. "Don't forget to do your assignments..." She was saying before the students started filing out of the class, "Page one hundred and four, answer all the questions there and don't forget your drawings!" I doubt anyone heard her last sentence as she sighed tiredly. Even though I was in a haste to leave I stayed back to speak to Miss Sandra who was busy arranging her papers.