HW 36 - Pregnancy & Birth Stories

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?