Project Six

To many, childbirth seems like a scary process but it should not. Child birth is supposed to be a very beautiful gift that Mother Nature gives us females. As to why giving birth is becoming more medicalized, it is because our society becomes more modern day by day. As our sciences continue to expand, so will the methods of delivering babies primarily to provide more comfort for the female. Is more comfort always a good thing? Or does being more comforted during child birth affect the mother or baby in the long run? A lot of premature labor and cesarean sections are being done to young mothers who are physically incapable of having a normal pregnancy. As the number of young mothers increase, so do the numbers of premature and cesarean deliveries.

The story of my birth is one that is moderately unique. When my mother was pregnant with my parents were in the process of building a new house, my dad of course was doing all of the work with help from family and friends(he is a die hard do it yourselfer). They had built our detached garage first and lived in it so they could always be on site while they were building the house (it wasn’t like they were cramped for space I have one of the only garages I have ever seen that is of comparable size to our house). My father happened to be on the roof when my mother when my mother’s water broke so she comes trotting out of the garage trying to yell for my dad who can’t hear her. Since cell phones were non-existent 20 years ago she ended up walking into the lower level of the house and hitting a piece of angle iron with a hammer until he poked his head out over the roof edge to see what all the racket was about. Needless to say he never got down off the roof so fast.

Finding out the truth about Birth

Now days women are more concerned with there looks and the long term effects that the original method of giving birth does to you. These women may think they are saving their bodies from other things than just a scar but there are many risks that come with a cesarean section for both the mother and child. After having a cesarean section the mother can get in infection from the scar, increased blood loss, risk of having to have other surgeries, etc. For the baby some risks include premature birth, breathing problems, and fetal injuries.
I called up my friend Brenda because I knew that she had a very traumatic birthing experience. She had her child in a regular hospital in the town she lived in. During her labor she was having trouble breathing and had such excruciating pain that they had to give her an oxygen mask and pain killers. She ended up passing out from lack of oxygen but the doctors where able to wake her back up. From the very beginning of being in the hospital from she felt that she had no control over the birth. As the baby came out it ended up ripping her vagina and causing her to get one hundred and forty six stitches to fix it. Also, like in most cases of childbirth, she had painful hemorrhoids for the next six months that she still has problems with to this day. Although the hospital was great for helping with keeping the mother and the baby safe she also mentioned that they had actually brought the wrong child and she didn’t find this out until after she had already named and breastfed the child. This is the only real problem that she had with the hospital, which would have never happened with the use of a midwife or at home, but she is able to laugh and joke about it now with her daughter.
When I asked Brenda how she felt about the birth today she replied, “of course I don’t like the pain and mess I had to go through but at least my child is alive and healthy. If I had to go through the whole thing again I still would because it is all worth it in the end.” Brenda also said that she would not have preferred a cesarean section due to the risks for her and the baby.
From just that personal experience and from others I have seen on television I can understand why women would rather have a cesarean section or not choose the method of midwifery. Also on the other hand, due to the risks, I can understand why people oppose cesarean section but everyone is entitled to their own choice. Although it is not my personal choice to use either methods of giving birth I can at least understand why most women might want a cesarean section. I would think, like myself, that mothers would rather risk their bodies then their child’s life. In the long run after looking into the possible risks of a cesarean section it seems that it would be wiser to have the child the way your suppose to.

I think birth is becoming more medicalized because they keep finding ways to make birth less painful and safe for both the mother and child. To me it just makes sense that if there is a safer and less painful way to do something that you should do it. I’m not a woman but I know I wouldn’t want to be going through tons of pain if I can have it reduced.
The first person I asked about birth stories was of course my mom. It turns out she had my older sister naturally because my dad and her agreed to do so. She said she went through a lot of pain because she was in labor for several hours. My mom said that she didn’t really feel in control about the whole situation because she was told exactly what to do to every step of the way.
Well, for my birth of course, my mom used drugs. She said she didn’t want to deal with that pain all over again. She told me there was still some pain, that the medication didn’t take it all away, but that she could tell the difference. My mom was in a labor for shorter time with me and here I am!
My cousin Cindy had her baby a little over a year ago. It was an unexpected pregnancy so there was a lot of confusion and frustration involved with the whole thing. She decided to keep the baby and prove to everyone she could do it. She said she made several visits to the hospital around the time her baby was due but every time it was something different like gas or things like that. Her water finally broke a little over a week when the baby was supposed to come. She went to the hospital and she said they were very nice to her, but they were a little pushy. She decided to take drugs because of all the stories she had heard, and was in labor for about an hour and a half. Everything went well, and my little cousin is a healthy little man that never stops running or talking.
The last person I asked about her pregnancy was my good friend Regina who I have known for 14 years. I grew up with her and she is only a month older than me so when she told me she was pregnant I was in shock. This was also an unexpected pregnancy but what made the whole thing crazy was her mom. Her mom did not like the father, who is still with Regina, nor did she like his family. Her mom told her that she should have gotten an abortion and not told anybody so of Regina was highly upset throughout her entire pregnancy. Anyway, she told me that all the nurses were nice except for this one nurse who seemed bipolar. She said the nurse would be comforting one second and demanding the next. Regina decided to go all natural because would keep teasing her about the pain and telling her that she couldn’t deal with it so she wanted to chump her mom. Well she did and she was only in labor for less than half an hour! She said she didn’t even feel much pain. I was surprised when I heard this because I never heard of a woman only being in labor for about half hour. Everything turned out well and the baby is healthy and is about 3 months old now.

Labinia Aurora Gonzalez, one of my best friends, just had a baby girl named Aliyah Sky Gonzalez; she weighed seven pounds and eight ounces. The baby was delivered via cesarean section at a county hospital in Coney Island on May 27, 2006. The baby was a beautiful sight and was a miracle in Labinia’s life.
Labinia told me that she felt that she had some control over what happened in the hospital room because of everything going on. She couldn’t believe all of the commotion surrounding her while she was sweating profusely. Labinia knew going into the hospital that she would have a cesarean section because her mother had one as well. The doctor told Labinia that she would deliver her baby by c-section because it was hereditary.
Labinia was way past due and had finally made an appointment to induce the labor. She picked a date and was on her way to the hospital, the baby was a week overdue. Her boyfriend, Eddie, called me to let me know what was going on every once in a while. Eddie was just as nervous and worried for Labinia and Aliyah. He would tell me that he felt helpless and didn’t know how to react. “Even though we had the appointment, I felt that I still wasn’t ready.”
The doctor rushed into the delivery room to check on Labinia time after time because they had many patients that day and he was in a hurry. She felt that she was being taken care of, but wished that she was the doctor’s only priority. After everything was said and done Labinia was sent into the surgery room to deliver Aliyah. She was nervous and scared about the whole thing, but “it was in God’s hands after that.” After a couple of hours Aliyah had entered the world, cute as a button. Labinia had spent almost a week in the hospital after her c-section.
Labinia told me that it was hard and very painful even with all of the medication given to her. Her family was so proud of her and prayed for her every step of the way. Labinia had known what was coming and had done her research on the problems associated with c-sections. She had talked to many doctors and her mother about it. Labinia made the decision herself to do what she thought was best. She heard all of those gruesome stories about how women die on the surgical table after a c-section because of blood loss and so on. Eddie didn’t know what was going on and just did as he was told. He had no say in the delivery room or before that, he said, “I know nothing about this whole thing! I’d rather leave all the decision making to the doctor and Labinia because she is going through the delivery and whatever is best for her is best for me.” Eddie took his stand and it was very commendable because he allowed Labinia to make the decision since it was her body. He make any judgments or say anything negative about her choice, he just gave her support. Even though she had been through a crazy and hard experience she said, “I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!”

Don’t think for one minute that I don’t believe every child is a miracle because I do. However, some babies struggle and fight simply to get to be born.

Two years ago, my friend became pregnant after using fertility intervention. To say that she and her husband were devoted to this process is a huge understatement. For a year before the time she became pregnant, she truly regarded her body as a birthing vessel. She ate right, worked out, cut out all alcohol … you get the idea. When she wasn’t able to get pregnant “spontaneously” as the medical profession calls, it, she began seeing a fertility specialist. Long story short, after fertility drugs and several in vitro fertilization attempts, she learned she was pregnant. What a blessing! The waiting was over! Nine months and we’d have a baby or two to love and nurture.

My Aunt Theresa had her first of three boys at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights (near Pittsburgh) when she was 18 years old. She never even heard of someone giving birth at home at the time and the closest thing to a birth center was birthing rooms within hospitals.

Her experience was not the “normal” birth by any means. During her 26th week of pregnancy, she woke up with cramps which only got worse as the day continued. After her spotting turned into hemorrhaging, her mother took her to the emergency room (her husband was at work). There, the doctors told her she was in full labor. Even though she was only 18, she knew that 26 weeks was way too early to have the baby. When asked if she felt she had control over the experience her answer was no. This she explained was only partially because of her age and was mostly because it was too early in the pregnancy to have the child.

My sister’s birth, which was the most recent in my nuclear family (1991) was also the birth where my mother felt she had the least control. My sister is my mother’s third child and she is not a huge fan of being in the hospital and neither is my Dad. So, when her water broke, she didn’t rush to the hospital right away. After twelve hours she had still not gone into labor and the doctors they talked to convinced my mom that she had to go to the hospital. They told her that there was a risk of infection or something if she did not go into labor in what they considered a reasonable amount of time. After being in the hospital for eight hours, she had still not gone into labor, and the doctors convinced her to let them induce labor. This involved giving her some kind of hormone shot.

My birth story isn’t a direct account from a mother, but rather what I witnessed at my job. When I am at home, I work the night shift in an inner-city hospital’s emergency department. I’ve seen my fair share of gunshots, stabbings, pit bull attacks and the like. None of this could prepare me for the horror that occurred last July when I witnessed birth up close and personal. Since my job is in registration, I see every patient that comes in to the ER. Usually if a woman comes in in labor, she is sent upstairs to labor and delivery almost immediately. When this particular woman came in with her husband, I told her to wait while I went to find a nurse to take her upstairs. When I came back to get her, she was lying on the floor of the waiting room...in front of all the other patients mind you...screaming and writhing in pain. I had to scream for the doctor, scream for more nurses, and make frantic phone calls to maternity to get someone down here NOW. The doctor and nurses scooped this poor woman up, put her on the litter, stripped her from the waste down, and begged her not to push before getting upstairs. Unfortunately for them, she delivered a baby girl while waiting for the elevator. Now, our fine hospital has a midwife group associated with one of the obstetricians. I found out later that this woman was one of their patients. Apparently, the midwives encourage not coming to the hospital until the last possible minute. She had wanted a nice, calm, empowering delivery for her baby, but instead had absolutely no control and was humiliated on the waiting room floor, yelled at by an ER doctor who hates delivering babies (it isn't his specialty and the liability is too high, I don’t blame him), and scared me into never having children.

For information on a birth story I contacted my mom since she had some experience having 2 boys. We are from the State College area so my older brother and I were both born here at formerly known Centre Community Hospital. We were both born by Dr. Klingler, a well known doctor in the State College area. For my brothers’ birth, the labor lasted about 20 hours. My mom said she recalled a feeling of “Is this ever going to be over?” She felt like she had more control over that birth because she did not ask for any drugs (Oytocin, Demerol) to push the labor along because she knew about the problems that could occur if she did so. My mom grew up taking Human Health and Development classes in college so she was very familiar with the troubles in the 60’s and 70’s that women were having if they requested natural childbirth. I also asked her about her mom’s experiences with childbirth and she said that back whenever she was having kids, at home labor was more common because of the lack of medicine and technology. There wasn’t any use of midwifes, and children were often lost because of problems before and during birth. My grandmother lost one child because of these complications. As far as my birth, she said that she felt like the doctors had more control during the labor than my brothers. After my mother had her first contractions, I was born only 9 hours later. She said this was because she decided to use a drug to help with the pain, enabling her to push more and do more of what the doctor wanted. She said it was much easier and a much shorter labor than the first. These days she feels good about both births because she said she had 2 completely different experiences, both which turned out good. I then asked her why she thought that birth was medicalized in our country compared to Japan who has the lowest child birth mortality rate. She said exactly the right thing, the media. She went on by saying that we believe everything else in the media, why not the questions about child birth? The media is such a strong business and it has so much control over our society. With shows like ER, H.O.U.S.E., and Grey’s Anatomy we see labor on television as a painful, and something that we would not want to go through. We then see the doctors giving these women drugs to induce labor and reduce pain, no wonder 99 percent of births are done at hospitals.