Margarita said that the physical part of her pregnancy didn't change her body image but it did scare her because she had never felt another life insider her before. She did several mental preparations such as reading a lot about pregnancy, birth and babies, these books relieved a lot of fears because they answered questions that had been lingering between her and her husband. the books also had also answered question that the couple hadn't yet came up with. Along with the books the couple looked at different places for the mother-to-be to give birth. They considered birthing centers and home birth as two options. But they excluded hospitals because the woman felt that hospitals are meant for the sick, injured and dying and weren't an appropriate environment to give birth into, because giving birth is neither a sickness nor death. my discussion with Margarita was interesting because it allowed me to make some connections with the death and dying unit, it also informed me of different types of preparations that are done. This led me to wonder statistically ceteris paribus how many women would prefer home births/birthing centers to hospitals if given the choice.
Rachel, my second interviewee thought that "it is necessary for people in our country who are pregnant to read the birthing books in order to have a birth with the least number complications" I had asked why she thought this and she responded by saying that people who read the books are more aware of what is happening inside their bodies and are therefore more prepared to give birth and to handle a new born. Rachel said that she thought this specifically about the United States because the United States has the learning resources available and also has a lot of luxuries that can cause harm to the developing child, such as coffee and heavily processed foods. After my interview with Rachel I still question the importance of the knowledge preparations, I mean if a women is pregnant eventually she is going to give birth, so I don't believe personally that knowledge about birth is necessary in order to have a successful birth.
The third interviewee, Sam talked with me about the over preparation done in the United States surrounding birth. Sam said that PLANNED interventions such as cesarean sections (planned births), show a lack of knowledge of birth and the processes of pregnancy. She thought that if women were more aware and involved in what was happening during pregnancy and what was going to happen during birth then they would be more willing to "trust" their bodies. "Its important to be prepared, to an extent but it is more important to trust the process [of giving birth], because its natural." I felt that this was very important because its typical to hear about under preparation but less common to be concerned with over preparation. She and I discussed the uses of drugs and labor inducing procedures and she supported the position that the outcomes of the drugs and procedures are still an unknown factor in birth.
After conducting the interviews, which felt more like discussions I still am curious to why people have babies, and why unintended birth is not as common in the United States?
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
HW 35- Other People's Perspectives 1
For this blog post I interviewed my friend Alina, Sarah and Gabriel, who are all 16. I conversed with Alina while we were sitting by the east river in the sunshine; she and I talked about our thoughts on if birth is beautiful. She said that she didn’t think it was because it’s a lot of pain. I mentioned that just because something is painful doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful and she told me that the bad things outweighed the good. I had briefly discussed with Sarah about her thoughts on having kids and she thought it was selfish that people keep making new babies when there are plenty of already produced children in foster homes. I assumed that genetics wasn’t very important to her, but having a child is mainly about taking care of another human and giving them room to grow. Children shouldn’t be considered as reflections of the parents but rather as their own individuals.
I asked Gabriel if he thought birth was beautiful and he said “birth isn’t beautiful because the vagina is stretched out and lots of liquids are coming out of it and so is a crying baby” he based this experience off a video he saw at school in 7th grade. He agreed that pregnant woman should be treated differently because they are carrying a baby, by being given seats on trains and buses for example. I guess this makes sense because back in the day when a women was to get pregnant in a small fishing village (where the villagers are dependent on one another) the woman would be put out of work for some time, therefore the village would need to make the sacrifice of losing a worker in order to bring a new baby village member in to the world. I’m sure that births were highly respected as a pure and natural process, but now a days it seems like a women who decides to have a baby is more like a martyr. Based on Gabriel’s explanations for his answers it seemed as if he had been more exposed to birth and pregnancy at school than anywhere else, except for when his nephew was born, Gabriel told me that when his sister in law was pregnant the whole family knew what was going on, expressly Gabriel, since he shared a room with his pregnant sister in law and brother.
Overall it seemed as though people’s opinions were created based on experiences and family values. I didn’t ask many questions that had to do with factual information because whenever I did the answers were questions themselves. So people have many strong opinions about labor and delivery but not much knowledge, which I found to be interesting, I probably fall into that group myself.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
HW 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth
As far as I know nothing about birth was hidden from me as a child. My mother was working as a mid wife from 1993 to 2002. Along with my momma being a mid wife several of my friends mothers were also mid wives, so pictures of births and birthing dolls and learning interments were usually visible and assessable to play with, around the house. I don’t know if I think birth is purely beautiful or horrendous, there are certainly aspects that are remarkable like the experience of seeing your baby for the first time. But there is also physical pain, and fear that there could possibly be complications. I guess after all the time and energy invested in preparing for the baby the woman feels although it’s her responsibility to make sure they can handle giving birth. They possibly feel pressured as if they have a choice to give birth or not and they may chicken out, even though that is not the case.
Along with birth I think pregnancy has its miraculous times and its ugly times. Morning sickness certainly can’t be good at all! Whereas maybe the realization that your pregnant could be delightful (of course that is for those who are expecting.) I think no matter how much someone studies birth they won’t really understand or feel any strong connection unless they can experience pregnancy and birth if for themselves. I therefore think that most women who have experienced it have a much better idea of the feelings/emotions and stresses that are involved. On the contrary that doesn’t mean that all women who have given birth understand what is actually happening physically as well as men do.
-What are the different physiological sates that women go through when pregnant and how do they affect labor delivery and postpartum?
-How necessary is medical intervention when giving birth? (In order to have a healthy baby and mother)
-How important is diet and nutrition in birth outcomes?
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