By Rachael Petua Summersby（烏干達） 譯/孫夢格

我的心跳開始加速，幾乎出汗了。眼淚涌上我的眼睛。隨著絕望、恐懼和焦慮的加劇，日子一天天過去?！拔乙谀睦锷a(chǎn)?”在祈禱和入睡之前，我又忍不住問丈夫?！耙磺卸紩玫?，我們會找到的?！彼届o地回答。第二天早上，我起來聽到一些好消息。

VIP，雙人還是普通？

“鮑勃想和我一起吃午飯，他中午會來接我們?！蔽艺煞蛐老踩艨竦卣f。鮑勃在附近一家婦產(chǎn)醫(yī)院工作，我們和他成為朋友已經(jīng)幾個月了。在微信中，我丈夫彼得詢問了更多關于醫(yī)院的細節(jié)，但鮑勃似乎沒搞明白。中午，我和鮑勃、彼得一起相約吃午飯。我們上了鮑勃的車。一到目的地，午餐就變成了一個多姿多彩的派對活動，有很多孕婦參加，紫色的氣球和白色的絲帶到處都是，從天花板的一角飄到另一角。穿著白大褂的醫(yī)生們坐在座位上，當我們走進來的時候，他們面帶微笑，頻頻點頭，看上去很興奮。護士們穿著紫色的外套和黑色的長筒襪，戴著五顏六色的絲巾，她們的笑容如此燦爛，以至于你都能看到她們潔白的牙齒之間的縫隙。她們看起來更像是飛機上的空姐，但事實卻并非如此。那天晚上大家都在竊竊私語，咯咯地笑著，興奮不已。毫無疑問，他們看到鮑勃、彼得和懷孕的我走進了門也很興奮，也很快就有人要求和我們拍照，微信朋友圈又要被狂轟濫炸了。我看著鮑勃，他笑了，就像我們中了彩票一樣。

主要活動在電影院里舉行。食物、表演和談話源源不斷。雖然我們什么都聽不懂，但懷孕讓我對食物充滿興趣。

坐在我們旁邊的鮑勃很快拿出了一份完全用中文寫的表格。他咧嘴一笑，力勸我們簽字。彼得和我面面相覷。他們似乎忘記了我們兩個既不會說也不會讀中文?！癡IP，雙人房還是普通房?”鮑勃用一種平靜但明顯急促的語氣問道。我們還是什么都不懂?！癡IP，雙人還是普通？”他重復道。我的心跳開始加快。我沒有答應去他的醫(yī)院，但他已經(jīng)(在他心中)默認我們答應了。一個聲音在我心中不停地重復著：“VIP, 雙人還是普通?”他真的這么快就要跟我們簽約了嗎？我問自己。

My heart began to race, I was nearly sweating. Tears nearly springing to my eyes. As desperation, fear and anxiety escalated, so did the days. “Where am I going to give birth?” I told my husband just before praying and finally falling into a deep slumber.

“It’s going to be ok. We’ll find something”, he replied calmly.The next morning, I arose to some promising news.

VIP, double or normal?

“Bob wants to meet me for lunch, he’ll be here at noon to pick us up,” my husband said ecstatically. Bob was a gentleman working at a maternity hospital close by, we had been friends with him for a few months. In our talk, with Bob on We Chat, my husband, Peter, enquired on more details on the hospital, but Bob didn’t seem to understand. At noon, I joined Bob and Peter to their luncheon. We hopped into Bob’s car and off we went.On reaching our destination, the lunch party turned out to be a colourful event where pregnant mothers were being recruited.Purple balloons and white ribbons filled the cool air, moving from one corner of the ceiling to the other. Doctors wearing their white gowns sat at their seats, smiling widely and nodding as we entered, they looked excited. Nurses, in their purple coats, black stockings and multi-coloured scarfs stood straight,they smiled so wide you could see a gap between their beautiful white teeth. They looked best to serve on a plane as air hostesses, but it wasn’t the case. Whispers, chuckles, and excitement was the order of that evening. No doubt, they too were excited to see Bob, Peter and pregnant me walk through the door. Requests for photos of course were made and within minutes,We Chat moments was once again bombarded like a wildf i re. I looked at Bob and of course Bob smiled like he had won a lottery.

Inside the cinema, where the main event was held; food, performances and talks were being made. Even though we didn’t understand anything being said, but being pregnant I was more interested in the food I was given.

Bob, who sat next to us, quickly pulled out a form written completely in Chinese characters. With a huge grin, he urged us to sign it. Peter and I looked at each other. It seemed that they had forgotten that neither of us could speak or read Chinese. “VIP,double room or normal room?”, Bob asked in a calm but noticeably hurried tone. We still didn’t understand anything. “VIP,double or normal?” he repeated.My heart started to pace fast. I hadn’t committed to going with his hospital, but he had already(in his mind) recruited us. ‘VIP, double or normal,’ a voice kept repeating within me. ‘Is he really signing us up this quick?’ I asked myself.

本文作者（左五）生產(chǎn)后與護士和醫(yī)生合影

鮑勃指著表格上的房間價格。價格看起來好得令人難以置信，但等等……一大堆問題在我腦子里冒了出來：貴賓是什么？雙人是什么？普通又是什么？這家醫(yī)院在哪里？然后鮑勃提到了一個詞，我猜他是在說“折扣”。當然，這也是我想聽到的。我讓他把他想說的話在微信里打出來，你瞧，他說的就是折扣。我的心怦怦直跳，我又笑起來，并且越來越健談，我想知道更多的信息。所以，我又問他我們是否可以去醫(yī)院參觀，但他那粉紅色的表格又在我面前跳來跳去，懇求著我簽字。

活動結束后，鮑勃和一位護士開車送我們?nèi)メt(yī)院。他帶我們?nèi)チ穗p人間。它的確又大又寬敞，干凈又舒適。他們好像在說“你不會想錯過這個的”?！胺块g里有尿不濕、肥皂、涼鞋、嬰兒服、毛巾等等用品?！彼麄冋f?！安粫??！蔽译y以置信地說。“這一切都是給你的，你留著吧。”鮑勃說。“不會吧！”我倒抽一口氣，驚訝道。鮑勃笑了，他不明白我的“不會吧”到底是什么意思?！巴郏@太厲害了！”我說?！安?，這不算什么。這是給你和你的孩子的?！蔽覍ξ以诜块g里看到的一切感到震撼。在我看來，事情已經(jīng)談成了!

他又把我們帶到另一個房間?！斑@是單人房間?！彼f?！芭?，不用了，我們對這雙人房很滿意?！蔽艺f。然后他把我們帶到走廊中的另一個房間里。他打開門，這個房間很漂亮，它內(nèi)部的裝飾風格與醫(yī)院其他房間都不一樣，家具金光燦燦，房間明亮寬敞，帶著現(xiàn)代化的廚房，一個房間是準媽媽的臥室，另外一個房間是為助產(chǎn)士準備的。這兩個房間都很好。這個房間簡直太豪華了?！斑@是貴賓間。”他說“等等，你是認真的嗎?”我震驚地問道。

Bob pointed to the prices of the rooms on the form. The prices looked too good to be true, but wait... What is VIP? What is double? What is normal? Where is this hospital? Bob then mentioned a word that led me to guess he was trying to say‘discount.’ Of course, that’s what I also wanted to hear. I asked him to type what he was trying to say in We Chat and lo and behold, he indeed was talking about a discount. My heart started to dance within me, I grinned so wide and became very chatty,I wanted to know more. I asked him again if we could have a hospital tour, but his pink forms were dancing in my face pleading to be signed. After the event, Bob and a nurse drove us to the hospital. He took us to the double room. Undeniably, it was large, spacious, clean and welcoming. By welcome I mean it looked like they were saying ‘You do not want to miss this.’ The room came with pampers, soap, sandals, baby clothes, a towel and so much more. “No way,” I said.

“All this for you, you keep,” Bob said. “Nooooooo ,” I gasped.

鮑勃幾乎顧不上說話，他只專注于帶我們?nèi)⒂^貴賓間，與其說是貴賓間，它其實更像一間皇宮，溺愛著你，讓你忘記所有的煩惱。這間房間的水準完全上升到了另一個等級。

離開貴賓間，我們跟著鮑勃一起去參觀了醫(yī)院的一堵照片墻，墻上掛著所有醫(yī)生的照片。與我們隨行的護士看著我們，臉上露出微笑，告訴我們每個醫(yī)生都是專家。

“這位，她有25年的專家經(jīng)驗，她擁有學士碩士學位……”她滔滔不絕地說了起來，“這位，她有40多年的專家經(jīng)驗了，她是整個余杭最厲害的醫(yī)生，還有這位，也是位專家……”她還在繼續(xù)說著?？吹剿露Q心要我們在那些文件上簽字，我們笑了。為了減輕她的壓力，我們插話告訴她，不要再費心介紹其他的專家了，因為我們已經(jīng)對之前所看到的感到滿意了。

“好的，好的?！彼贿呄蛭覀儽戎鳲K的手勢一邊說道，“沒問題，這間醫(yī)院很好，沒有問題。”我們繼續(xù)笑著，她也笑了。我們簽了合同，并付款完成了交易。

檢查

沒有一個醫(yī)生會說英語，我也不會說中文。所以我經(jīng)常感覺很沮喪，雪上加霜的是，有時候微信的自動翻譯功能會“自作主張”地翻譯，讓雙方之間的互相理解更加困難。

我開始擔心和懷疑，在分娩過程中如何順利溝通。我開始感到緊張和不安，在這段時間里，也許我的寶寶也感受到了我的擔憂，他踢我的頻率也變高了，這也許是他給我的特殊回應。

不管怎樣，我們還是決定用微信來相互交流，看看到時候最終情況會如何，但事情似乎一直沒有進展。我們給鮑勃打了電話，鮑勃就像我們在醫(yī)院里的一個救星。盡管他只會一點英語，但他知道自己仍然是翻譯，并且很享受自己的這一角色。

“鮑勃，我們要去醫(yī)院了。”我們通知他?！澳悻F(xiàn)在來？要來的話叫我?！彼偸切老踩艨竦鼗卮鹫f。當我們到達醫(yī)院時，我們向鮑勃解釋了我們的擔憂。他帶了一位能試著說英語的護士過來。

“那在產(chǎn)房里怎么辦?”我問，“如果醫(yī)生們想和我交流，讓我用力，我怎么知道他們在讓我用力呢?我們還能通過微信交流嗎?”

Bob smiled, he didn’t understand where my ‘no way’ was coming from.

“Wow, this is spectacular,” I said. “No, no”, he said, “this is nasing nasing, is for you and for your baby.”I was in awe with everything I saw in the room. In my mind the deal was closed! He took us to another room.”Single room,” he said.”O(jiān)h no, we are happy with the double,” I said.

He then led us to another room down the hallway. He opened the door. The room was elegant. Its interior architecture was like no other in the hospital. The furniture was a gold-like, it reflected the light in the room, the room was spacious and came with its modern kitchen, another bedroom for the pregnant mother stood on its own in a corner and next to it was a room for the midwife. Both rooms were well catered for. This room was simply rich.”This VIP,” he said.

“Wait, were you serious about the VIP room?” I asked shocked.

Bob was silent, all he was focused on doing was taking us on a tour of the VIP that looked more like palace and to be pampered and forget about all your worries, than a hospital room. It was another world all together.

We left the VIP and he completed the hospital tour by taking us to a wall with photos of all the doctors. The nurse who tagged along, looked at us and with a smirk began to inform us on how each one of the doctors is an expert.

“This, she is expert 25 years, she has Bachelors, Masters in... ”she began, “zis she is expert 40 years, she is the leading doctor in the whole of yuhang... this one, she is expert for... ”, she continued. We smiled and chuckled away seeing how determined she was to make us sign those papers. To ease her fear, we interjected and told her not to worry about the rest of the experts,for we were already happy with what we had seen.”O(jiān)K, OK.”she said giving us the okay hand sign, “no problem dis hospital very, very good. No problem,” she finished. As we continued laughing. She smiled. Papers were signed, payments were made the deal was done.

Check ups

None of the doctors could speak English. I couldn’t speak Chinese either. Many a times I was frustrated because there were days when We Chat decided it wanted to translate its own way making life even more difficult for both parties.

I began to fear and wonder how communication would be during delivery. I began to feel nervous and agitated and during these times I felt my baby kicking a lot perhaps in response to what I was feeling.

這就是我對即將到來的我的大日子的預測，我們的談話可能會是這樣的：“用力！”醫(yī)生會說?！澳阏f什么?”我問?！笆裁?？”醫(yī)生會問?！奥牪欢?！”我看著醫(yī)生說。

特殊翻譯

每次我們到醫(yī)院來，我們都會給翻譯鮑勃打電話。在整個過程中，他都很高興地幫助我們。

“不，你們只說英語就行?！泵看挝覀兿胗弥形母f話時，他都會對我們耳語。

然而，當我們用英語和他說話時，他盯著我們的眼神透露出他一點都不知道我們剛剛說了什么。然后我們又把剛才所說的重復了一遍?！芭?，哦，我明白了……”他答道。

有時候，當他把故事翻譯給他的同事聽時，我注意到他翻譯出來的意思一點也不對。一轉眼，就有大概5個護士和4個醫(yī)生不知道什么原因來到我們身邊試圖幫助我們。我們轉向鮑勃問道：“鮑勃，你跟他們說了什么?”“好吧，好吧，我知道了。”他一邊回答，一邊讓我們放心。

醫(yī)生和護士都會用中文說話，試圖解決翻譯鮑勃造成的問題，這時我和丈夫會微笑著讓護士和醫(yī)生知道一切都好，他們沒有什么好擔心的?！拔抑溃抑馈边@是鮑勃一直在說的話。

他喜歡讓所有的病人和他的同事把他看作“外國人”的救星。我們非常愛鮑勃。他一直是一個特別的朋友，一個做好事的人。

生產(chǎn)

我被帶到產(chǎn)房接受剖腹產(chǎn)手術。孩子出生時，我盡量保持鎮(zhèn)靜。剛聽到他第一聲哭聲，我就看見護士們紛紛拿出手機與嬰兒拍照。接著，我原本以為的完全不會說英語的這些護士，都在說著“photo”。我通過反光看到她們與嬰兒在拍照，并擺出剪刀手大笑。我的心開始怦怦直跳，因為我擔心他們會忘記我還在那里，但謝天謝地，還有另外兩三名醫(yī)生繼續(xù)為我進行后續(xù)處理，而其他人則在產(chǎn)房里不斷發(fā)著微信。

每天早上，有二十到四十年工作經(jīng)驗的專家來看我。我發(fā)現(xiàn)更有趣的是他們的人數(shù)——這是一個8到10人的團隊，有老有少。他們包圍了我的床，好像這是我在地球上的最后一天。他們包括主治醫(yī)生、副手、英語翻譯（也可能是鮑勃的翻譯助理），還有穿著粉紅色衣服的護士、“食品女士”(她總是興奮地給我食物)，而其他護士只是站在那里，每當其他人說了什么他們就點頭和微笑。

We decided to use We Chat, anyway, to communicate and see how things would be done then but still there seemed to be no way of help. We called Bob. Bob was like our saviour at the hospital. Even with the little English he knew he was still ‘the translator’ and he enjoyed his role. “Bob we are coming to the hospital,” we informed.

“You come now? When you come, you call me,” he always replied, ecstatically.

When we got to the hospital, we explained to Bob our concern.He brought over a nurse who tried to speak English. “What happens in the delivery room?” I asked, “If the doctors are trying to communicate and tell me to push, how will I know they are telling me to push? Shall we still communicate over We Chat?”This is exactly how I was thinking the big day and our conversation would go like: “Tui,” the doctor would say. “Sorry?” I would ask.

“?” the doctor would question. “Ting bù dng!” I would look at the doctor and say.

Special translator

So, whenever we got to the hospital, we called Bob the translator. He happily assisted us throughout the entire process. “No,you speak me in English only,” he would whisper into our ears,every time we tried to speak to him in Chinese.When we spoke to him in English, he would stare right into our eyes signalling that he hasn’t a clue what we just said. We would then repeat what we had just said.“Oh oh, I understand...” he would reply.

Sometimes when he would translate back to his colleagues I noticed he would translate an entire different story and before you know it, there were like five nurses and four doctors all coming to our rescue surrounding us for reasons we didn’t even know.We then would turn to Bob.”Bob what did you tell them?” we asked. “OK OK, I know,” he would replied, assuring us.

The doctors and nurses would all be speaking in Chinese, trying to resolve something that Bob the translator caused and at that point my husband and I would smile and let the nurses and doctors know that it’s alright and they had nothing to be worried about. “I know, I know...” was all that Bob kept saying.He enjoyed getting all the patients and his colleagues to see him as the saviour of ‘the foreigners’. We love Bob so much. He continues to remain a special friend and a man of good deeds.

The birth

I was taken to the delivery room where I had a C-section. I tried to remain as calm as possible while the baby was being born. As soon as he was taken out, and heard his first cry, I saw nurses rushing to get out their phones for a photo with the baby and all of a sudden, these nurses whom I thought didn’t know English at all were uttering “Photo, photo, photo, photo,” and through the reflection I saw them pause with a photo with the baby as they held their ‘peace sign’ with huge grins on their faces. My heart began to pound as I was afraid that they had forgotten that I was there but thank goodness there were a couple of other doctors who continued to work on me while the rest continued to bombard We Chat moments in a delivery room.

Every morning the doctors-the experts with twenty to fortysomething years of experience- came to visit me. What I found more interesting was how many they came as - a team of eight to ten, old and young. They surrounded my bed like it was my last day on earth. There was the head doctor, probably her deputy, her English translator who was probably Bob’s translating assistant, there were nurses dressed in pink, the food lady(who was always excited to bring me food) whilst the rest of the nurses just stood there nodding and smiling every time a statement from the rest were mentioned.

The last day of our stay was filled with tears and joy. Our joy constituted of the great times we had at the hospital and the tears spoke of my sadness to leave such great people. Of course,the experts returned with a bang- they came for photos with me, my husband, new born baby and my mom.

As I was packing the midwife told me in Chinese that most of the stuff in the room was mine. She pointed at a beautiful baby’s blanket and said it was mine.

“Really?” I said.She nodded and then pointed to three glass bowls.”Really? These too?” I asked.She nodded and pointed at even more exciting items that came in a huge bag. She told me they were for me. “No way,” I said.She nodded again.”Noooo waaaaaay,” I insisted.She nodded and this time with laughter.”Are you serious? All these?” I then pointed to the very big hospital baby bassinet, asking her if that too was mine. This time I couldn’t see her smile, she shook her head vigorously.”Bù bù bù bù,” her hands raised in the air as though she was ready to fight.

After we completing our packing, we were escorted to the gate with Bob the translator and our midwife who refused to pass the baby on to me to hold. I asked her if I could hold the baby as we went to the gate and with a serious face she looked me in the eye, and very quickly said “bu bu bu” waving her hand. What could I do, but accept? She had bonded so much with the baby that I believe if I gave her permission to take the baby with her,she wouldn’t even blink! By the way, she was also very lovely!

I loved giving birth in China!

我們逗留的最后一天充滿了淚水和喜悅。我們在醫(yī)院度過了一段美好的時光，我們的喜悅由此而生，淚水也訴說了我為離開這些可愛的人們而感到的悲傷。他們來和我、我的丈夫、新生兒和我的媽媽合影留念。

在我打包行李的時候，助產(chǎn)士用中文告訴我，房間里的東西大部分是我的。她指著一條漂亮的嬰兒毛毯說那是我的?！罢娴膯?”我說。她點了點頭，然后指著三個玻璃碗?！罢娴膯?這些嗎?”我問。她點了點頭，指著一個大袋子里的更令人興奮的東西。她告訴這些都是給我的?！安恍??！蔽艺f。她又點了點頭?！安恍胁恍??！蔽覉猿值?。她點了點頭，這次大笑著。“你是認真的嗎?所有這些嗎?”然后我指著醫(yī)院里一個很大的嬰兒搖籃，問她“那是不是我的”。這次我看不到她的笑容了，她使勁搖了搖頭?！安徊徊唬　彼e起雙手，好像準備好了要戰(zhàn)斗。

收拾完行李后，我們和翻譯鮑勃以及助產(chǎn)士一起被護送到大門口，她好像并不情愿把孩子交給我抱。我問她，我是否能抱著孩子，她嚴肅地看著我的眼睛，很快地揮手說：“不不不?！背私邮埽疫€能做什么呢？她和孩子的關系如此密切，我相信如果我允許她帶走孩子，她連眼睛都不會眨一下就會照辦的！不過她也依然很可愛!

我喜歡在中國生孩子！