Crane takes the strain for new mum after birth surgery
A woman who hired a crane to lift her daughter-in-law, who was recovering from birth surgery, to the family’s seventh-floor home caused delight on social media.
The younger woman was discharged from hospital at the end of March after a caesarean section, and returned home to Shenyang in Liaoning province, Jimu News reported.
With no lift in the building, the mother-in-law, surnamed Wang, was concerned the new mother would struggle to climb the stairs so soon after surgery.
She asked her son to contact a crane company so they could use the vehicle’s platform.
In a viral video uploaded by Wang on Douyin, a crane worker was seen accompanying the young woman onto the platform while the vehicle elevated them to the balcony of her home.
“I am delighted to have a grandson. My daughter-in-law is discharged from hospital and going home in a crane,” Wang said in a Douyin post.
“I’d like to make my daughterin-law happy and help her stay healthy. I plan to spoil her as much as I can.
“She has married my son and she is one of our family. If we do not take care of her, who will?” Wang said, adding that her daughter-in-law’s parents lived in another city.
The owner of the crane said it was the first call-out of its kind he had experienced in 15 years in the business. “Our cranes’ arms can reach 30 metres high and can bear a weight of hundreds of kilograms. There was no safety issue,” the owner said.
Families going the extra mile to care for women after childbirth often trend on social media.
In 2023, a husband in the northeast offered his wife 100 yuan (HK$110) for every step she took during her painful recovery from a caesarean section.
In 2022, several male members of a family in the southeast carried a new mother in a big basket up to her flat, fearing that she would experience post-surgery pain if she walked.