Birthing Experience

Birthing Experience

I have four children. I just recently gave birth on July 19. I gave birth in a hospital with doctors and nurses assisting me along the way. For the first time I also opted to utilized an epidural. With my first three children I also gave birth in a hospital, but to be honest I was too afraid of the epidural to try it so I went natural. My first three birthing experiences went smoothly and honestly quicker than most. With this last child I went to the hospital at 4 in the afternoon and was given Cervidil to open my cervix. When I was at 4 cm I was then given an epidural and never felt a single labor pain. When I was finally at 10 cm I couldn’t feel a thing in order to push. I did attempt to push however it was not long before I said to just shut it off so that I could push. This is when the pain began at full force, 10 min after it was shut off I was ready to get her moving. I knew that there was something wrong by the looks on their faces but they kept assuring me that she was ok. After very hard and painful laboring she was born at 2:15 AM and that is when they informed me that she was posterior (face up). She was a very healthy baby girl who weighed in at 8lbs 1 oz.

One week later a very good friend of mine gave birth to a baby boy. She had a healthy pregnancy and had kept up with her doctor’s visits just like everyone else would. When he was born he was covered in meconium. He was whisked away to the NICU and battled for his life. They believe that he had his first bowel movement within the past week before delivery. There were no warning signs that this was going to be the case in her delivery. He is doing better but is still in the NICU and will be for a while.

My sister in law and a few friends of mine are firm believers in natural childbirth including birthing at home. I had a difficult delivery that could have potentially gone bad, and my friend did have a delivery that needed immediate attention. I know that the argument of people such as my sister in law would be that it is healthier to go without drugs and be in your natural home environment. However, what happens when your delivery goes wrong? For example, I live 35-40 minutes away from the closest children’s hospital, would that be close enough? I personally would never chance it, just my opinion. I do understand some of the points of those who chose to stay at home, but how do you weigh the possibilities.

My son (second born) was born in a very fast and easy delivery. However when he was given to me I immediately knew something was wrong. He was born 4 weeks early and weighed in at 7lbs 1oz. While everyone ooohhhed and aaahhhhed over him I knew that he was suffering. I was younger and the nurses just attributed my worries to ignorance. He was blue, not pink. I continued to complain for a half hour before they told me that they would take him for his bath and shots and be right back. 5 hours later they came back with the head nurse of the NICU. I lost all control. I tried to tell them. No one would listen. My son was not getting oxygen and could not breathe. He had to be intubated and given medicine for under developed lungs. He only spent 10 days in the NICU, but to this day I believe that the lack of oxygen is a factor in his learning disabilities. He is slow to learn, has been on an IEP for speech, and continues to have cognitive delays. I would swear to it that his birthing experience had something to do with his delays. What if I was at home when I gave birth to him? Would he have lived? If he did live would he be worse off now? Even though I am not happy with how they handled things then, at least I was at the hospital and they could immediately take care of him.

During child birth there are so many different events that can affect the development of a child. Loss of oxygen is one of the most damaging. Procedures are in place in the hospitals to make sure that they can handle any scenario that should arise in order to prevent possible developmental delays. In other countries they do not have the luxury of nearby hospitals or even doctors to help them through a most important part of the developing child. In the movie Babies http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020938/ the mother from Namibia delivers without a hospital or doctors. Her delivery goes fine and she has a healthy baby, but what about the many mothers out there who do not have perfect deliveries? Her delivery goes as planned and her baby grows and develops, in my opinion, faster than some of our children here in the U.S. What is it about the way this child was born and raised compared to a child here that helps this child develop faster? It seems to me that he crawls and walks faster than the other three babies in the movie.

Women have been delivering babies since the beginning of time. Have we made it easier for woman or more difficult? Are the children now developing faster or slower? Children are diagnosed more and more with disabilities such as Autism. What is different today? I have been blessed with four beautiful and healthy children, but I have met parents that have had all of their children diagnosed with a disability. For example, in my previous place of work, I knew a woman that had three children and all three were severely disabled. One child was wheelchair bound, nonverbal, blind and had life threatening issues. Another legally blind with mild MR. And then another who is legally blind and severe MR. What was different about her pregnancy and delivery compared to mine? She took all the precautions.

So tell me what do you think? Should deliveries happen in the home or in the safe environment of the hospital? How much does the environment affect the delivery and the development of the child?