Farewell to a Village Folk's Midwife

From the early 1960s up to 1971, she was the midwife of almost every family in Poblacion, Kibungan and in neighboring villages. All of my younger siblings who were born from 1963 up to 1971 were delivered at home with the help of Flora Wachina-Lagdao, the municipal midwife my relatives and town mates would never forget for her dedicated service.

I still remember those times when we had to knock at the door of the Lagdaos even in the dead of night when my expectant mother was in labor. Like a girl scout, Auntie Flora would immediately pack her black rectangular leather bag, which contained a stethoscope and other medical gadgets, and we would hie off to our house to help my mother deliver another “visitor” (as my lolo and lola called a newly born member of the family).

To my big family and to my village mates in Poblacion, Kibungan, Auntie Flora was the midwife of every home who helped deliver a new child into the world to the delight of parents and grandparents ready to celebrate the coming of another blessing. In Kibungan, children are considered blessings from the heavens. Auntie Flora had helped ensure that these blessings would successfully arrive with their loud, shrill cries amidst the night's sound of silence.

Auntie Flora was well-loved even by former pupils of the Kibungan Elementary School. During the regular vaccination for school children, many of us would hope and pray that Auntie Flora would be the one to administer the vaccination and not the other Rural Health Unit personnel. For most of us then, the vaccination injection was less painful and less scary through Auntie Flora than through the others.

A doctor rarely visited our upland town. But we were lucky to have Auntie Flora, who, along with the late Hencio Monte, our municipal sanitary inspector, were always on call to help attend to our health and medical needs.

A native of Natonin, Mountain Province, Auntie Flora was married to my uncle, Pepito Lagdao, a public school teacher who rose to become a principal until he died of a lingering illness in the 1980s.

In 1971, Auntie Flora went to Germany where the pastures for midwives were greener. She worked and lived there until she retired, coming over to the Philippines from time to time to visit her children and relatives. Finally last April in Germany, Auntie Flora succumbed to a heart ailment. She was 70.

Auntie Flora's remains were cremated in Germany and brought home here last April 29 before the ashes were interred at the Pyramid Memorial Park in Kias, PMA, Baguio City last May 1.

From the wake until the burial, not only Auntie Flora's relatives from Natonin, but many of her late husband's relatives and town mates from Kibungan came over to pay their last respects. They came to thank the midwife who helped secure the lives of home-delivered babies in a town, which used to have only an RHU (rural health unit), which we called a dispensary.

Auntie Flora is survived by her children – Jeryl Marie, Jurgenson, Rhea Joy, and Leilani; daughter-in-law Eulina; and grandchildren – Samantha, Yvonne, Yorg, Liam and Desiree.

To the well-loved midwife who became part of our lives in Kibungan, goodbye. But we'll continue to thank you as we remember you through every shrill, loud cries of the babies of parents, who used to be the babies you helped deliver into the world.