DAYUDE'S PREDICAMENT

First some CORRECTIONS: 

The Baby Naming ceremony does not take place after 42 days but as soon as the umbilicus falls off, four days or so after birth.  Which day of the 5-day week in the Balinese Pancawara calendar the baby is born determines the number of names and palm leaves to be offered.  If the baby is born on day:
Manis - 5
Paing -9
Pon - 7
Wage - 4
Kliwon - 8

I wrote that the palm leaves with the names get burned.  Wrong.  This is how it's done.  Each individual palm leaf is tied to a slender bamboo stick with a length of thread.  A cotton ball soaked in coconut oil is fastened on top of each stick and lighted.  The cotton ball that burns out last is the one that determines the baby's unique personal name.  The bamboo sticks and palm leaves stay intact.

Dayude and Ketut 

Throughout the pregnancy no shaving or cutting hair is allowed. 

Usually clean-shaven, by now Ketut is sporting a full beard.

DAYUDE'S PREDICAMENT
Dayude's husband Ketut belongs to a lower caste.  Although Balinese, his family lives on the neighboring Muslim island of Lombok, a 2-hour boat ride from Padang Bai.  From Ubud it takes one hour to drive to Padang Bai.  Once in Lombok it's another 3-hour drive upland on bad roads to Ketut's family home.  That's just driving time.  It does not include waiting for the ferry to take you across the ocean.  It's a long journey, especially if you're in your last month of pregnancy, and dangerous as well.  But that's exactly what Balinese custom dictates.  Babies are birthed in the husband's family home because that's where the placenta is buried, therefore Dayude will have to make the trek to Lombok before the baby is born.  When I heard this, I nearly jumped out of my skin.  No!  No way!!!  Stupid men that make these stupid rules.  If men birthed babies, you bet they'd make it easy on themselves. 

Phil suggested to have Dayude's doctor write a letter forbidding Dayude to travel.  But because Dayude and Ketut live with Dayude's parents, she cannot have the baby born at home either because the baby will be of a lower caste - Grrrr! - and the placenta can therefore not be buried on their land. 

Dayude consulted a priest who advised Ketut to go to Lombok and fill a earthen pot with soil from his family's land, bring it to Ubud, and bury the placenta inside it.   42 days after their baby's birth, Ketut, Dayude and the baby could then travel to Lombok and bury the placenta where it belongs.  That seemed an okay solution until Dayude's family brought up the possibility of theft.  A pot of dirt with a placenta inside is an invitation for black magic and a serious threat to the baby's life. 

Ketut left Ubud to spend three days with his family in Lombok to figure out what to do.  After consulting with their village priest they finally came up with a solution.  Dayude will give birth in the hospital.  Immediately after birth, Ketut will take the placenta to the ocean, swim out until he can't reach bottom, and drop the placenta there.  Hopefully it will not be midnight.  I plan to give him money to rent a boat instead.  The idea of him in the water with placenta shark bait tied around his waist is just too gruesome for me.  Stay tuned.