I was really taken back today to hear Andy’s main critic on the AWOB. I never thought of Americans to be the type to get a cesarean just to shorten the pain. I disagreed when I first heard the statement; Americans couldn’t be that selfish but when I saw how many people in class looked like they would actually do it to shorten the hours of pain I was so shocked. Having a cesarean is so brutal; I would never pick it over a natural birth any day. But as far as accepting drugs from the hospital to numb the pain that seems acceptable to me, it’s not as brutal to me and the baby. Natural vs. Normal In my personal opinion I think normal over weighs what’s natural. Although Americans base lots of their decisions off of what is trendy I think when it comes to the operation part of having a baby they would go with the natural option. But as far as having drugs to numb the pain every woman would go with the normal part of birth. It’s become so “natural” to go into labor and receive drugs that when we think of a woman actually going through the pain it seems unnatural to people. I would love to have a baby naturally without pain but after so many I have heard that birth is the worst pain a person could go through the fear of experiencing that makes me want to accept the drugs without any questioning. I think as time progresses the generations to come will eventually turn lots of things that are natural to unnatural.
My Group: 1.What tools do doctors use? Backhaus Towel Clamp Buxton Uterine Clamp Clark Artery Forceps Davajan Cannula Keyes Dermal Punch http://www.thomasmedical.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=26
2.What happens to babies after birth? (what do nurses do with them) The cord is cut by the father or significant other. The nursery nurse has turned on a timer and begun to assess the baby. With a warm blanket, the baby is dried of blood and amniotic fluid, heart rate and breathing effort assessed with a stethoscope while observing baby's tone, response to us, and color. Each of these five areas is assigned a value of 0-2 at one and five minutes of life. http://www.helium.com/items/1036792-what-nurses-do-with-newborn-babies-immediately-after-birth
3.When do doctors decide to have a cesarean? Doctors often perform a cesarean as a matter of course when the baby is in a breech position. A breech is when the baby's feet or bottom enter the birth canal first instead of the head. This makes a vaginal delivery particularly risky because there are more chances of a prolapsed cord or fetal injury. http://www.indiaparenting.com/articles/data/art06_005.shtml
4.What drugs to people take during, after and in-between labor? The two types of medications commonly used to encourage labor are prostaglandins and Pitocin (oxytocin). Both of these are copies of hormones naturally produced by the body.Once labor actually starts, women have a new set of needs. Above all else, they may need some help coping with the pain. The most popular choice for pain relief during delivery is an epidural block, also called simply an epidural. In this procedure, an anesthesiologist injects a numbing medication such as ropivacaine (Naropin) or lidocaine (Xylocaine) near the nerves in your lower back. This will block the pain but keep you alert and able to participate in the baby's birth. http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/drugslabor
5.What percent of woman get diabetes during pregnancy? Diabetes that develops during pregnancy is called gestational diabetes, a condition in which a woman without previously diagnosed diabetes exhibits high blood glucose level during pregnancy. This condition develops when the body is unable to meet the extra insulin demands of the pregnancy. Two to four percent of all pregnant women have gestational diabetes. http://www.hipakistan.com/articles/art227.html
Abortion/ Adoption group: 1.What percentage of women got pregnant on purpose? 10 to 20 percent chance http://parenting.ivillage.com/ttc/0,,toniw_469k,00.html
2.What percentage of pregnant women had abortions? Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Forty percent of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended.Each year, about two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
3.How available is birth control to people of all ages? I couldn't find any facts but from personal experiences and stories that I have heard from my friends Birth Control is handed out like complementary candy. I know people of all ages that say how easy it is to get a hold of birth control these days.
4.Percentages of teen pregnancy? How has it changed? Nationally, nearly one million young women under age 20 become pregnant each year. That means close to 2800 teens get pregnant each day.( Facts in Brief: Teen Sex and Pregnancy, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, 1996). Approximately 4 in 10 young women in the U.S. become pregnant at least once before turning 20 years old.( Facts in Brief: Teen Sex and Pregnancy, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, 1996). Teen childbearing alone costs U.S. taxpayers nearly $7 billion annually for social services and lost tax revenues. (Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, Prebecca Maynard (ed.), The Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 1997).
5.What are the reasons for abortion? In 2000, cases of rape or incest accounted for 1% of abortions. Another study, in 1998, revealed that in 1987-1988 women reported the following reasons for choosing an abortion: 25.5% Want to postpone childbearing 21.3% Cannot afford a baby 14.1% Has relationship problem or partner does not want pregnancy 12.2% Too young; parent(s) or other(s) object to pregnancy 10.8% Having a child will disrupt education or job 7.9% Want no (more)children 3.3% Risk to fetal health 2.8% Risk to maternal health 2.1% Other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States#Reasons_for_abortions
Ways to give birth? 1.What percent of people have cesarean? Preliminary data for 2005 indicate that 30.2% of all live births in the United States were cesarean deliveries, marking the highest U.S. total cesarean rate ever reported. Since 1996, the total cesarean rate has increased by 46%, driven by both an increase in the percentage of all women having a first cesarean and a decline in the percentage of women delivering vaginally after a previous cesarean. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5615a8.htm
2.what percent choose to take drugs during pregnancy? As labor progressed, fewer than 22 percent of the women requested supplemental epidural doses of more concentrated local anesthetic. http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=3157
3.What percentage of women have duals? SF General is the only one of its kind to offer this service free of charge. Of the total births at the hospital, 30-40 percent have been assisted by a labor coach. http://www.journalism.sfsu.edu/www/pubs/prism/may95/help.htm
4.What percentage of women squat? Prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on 412 pregnant women to study advantage of modified squatting position, over conventional lithotomy position during delivery. Trial showed shortened second stage of labor in modified squatting. Ventouse was applied only in 3.43 percent of women in squatting versus 7.73 percent in lithotomy. http://medind.nic.in/imvw/imvw14436.html
1.What tools do doctors use? 2.What happens to babies after birth? (what do nurses do with them) 3.When do doctors decide to have a cesarean? 4.What drugs to people take during, after and in-between labor? 5.What percent of woman get diabetes during pregnancy? 6.What complications occur during pregnancy/ labor? 7.What do doctors do with babies who mother have an STD? 8.What is the abortion process of a mother who has found out that her child will be disabled? 9.What is the percent of woman who get abortions? 10.How many people are required to deliver a baby? 11.What do they do to still born baby’s? 12.What percent of baby’s are circumcised? 13.Can the doctor take the child away if the mother is on drugs? 14.If the baby is a hermaphrodite can the doctor choose the sex? 15.Can doctors force you to have an abortion if the baby is disabled? 16.How significant are doctors when it comes to pregnancy when it can be done at home? 17.What happens to the doctors when med Mal practice happens? 18. How much insurance do the doctors get for med Mal practice? 19.How much money do doctors receive for each baby they deliver? 20.What happens to the mother if she can’t afford the medical bill?
Questions: Mother: 1 1.How do you feel about birth? My experience was very joyful, excited, funny, weird and I was scared out of my mind. 2.What was the best and worst part about your birth? The worst part of my experience was the long hours of pain during labor. Best part was seeing and finally getting to hold my baby. 3.Was the birthing process what you expected? I expected my birthing to be speedy, having a safe delivery and there being very few hours of pain. I thought the baby was going to come out a lot faster. 4.What was your experience of giving birth? My experience was very educational. Learning what it felt like to have a baby was eye opening. Feeling the baby moving was unbelievable. The growing process was cake compared to the birthing process. Giving birth to something that my body created right inside me was indescribable, I couldn’t wait to just engulf myself with its presence.
Mother: 2 1.How do you feel about birth? Birth is an extremely overwhelming feeling. 2.What was the best and worst part about your birth? The worst part of my birthing experience was the pain it’s a horrible feeling one of the worst feeling I ever felt. But the best part was giving birth to a beautiful healthy baby. 3.Was the birthing process what you expected? I expected to have less pain. It was really horrible as if someone was punching me in my stomach and ripping my insides out. When I first woke up I didn’t expect to wake up to such strong feelings. It didn’t even dawn on me that ii would be giving birth that day I was just focused on the horrible pains in my stomach. 4.What was your experience of giving birth? To be honest I didn’t feel anything because of the medication that I was given. So it was a fast experience. I was in labor for an hour and gave birth in 34 minutes.
Stories: Mother: 3 Her water broke at home and she went straight to the hospital. She called her mother in law to spread the news when she got her first contraction. She went to the hospital that she had attended all her checkups in. The nurse that was going to assist the doctor turned out to be one of her friends she didn’t know that she worked there at the time. Because of her new found connections she got a big room. Lying in bed waiting for the cm to increase and waiting contraction after contraction was too much. She walked around and sat on a birthing ball to ease the pain from the contractions. Her husband was there the whole time with lots of support. She was overwhelmed and couldn’t think straight but decided unlike lots of people to treat her husband nice and tell him she loves him and isn’t mad with him. Labor was really strong and the urge to push was strong even though she wasn’t ready. She didn’t was screaming for medication but they couldn’t give it to her in her situation a t the time and now that she thinks about it is happy that they didn’t. Holding back from pushing was uncontrollable. Everyone screamed with joy when they saw the baby’s head. The cleaned the baby off right next to her and let the mother and baby hold hands the whole time. She held the baby is her arms while the doctor fixed some tearing down there. The baby was passed around and everyone was happy. A disappointment that she didn’t know was going to happen was that she thought her stomach was going to go down the next day but it didn’t.
Mother 4: She got contractions but her water didn’t break yet. She went to the hospital because of the pain. The doctor broke her water, and she became fully dilated fast and got the epidural shot as soon as possible but she continued to feel pain. While trying to cope with the pain her husband stood there stroking her leg because he didn’t know what else to do with himself. After all the pushes the baby finally was born, head first left shoulder second. The husband began to cry right away he also go to cut the cord. The baby (a boy) got handed to her right away. What was strange was that the cord blood was collected so that it could go to donation. He was exactly 7 pounds. The baby was taken away from her and given a shout of vitamin k. The third person to hold the baby was her first son his older brother.
Mother: 5 This is her second child. Her previous child needed a cesarean so the doctors advised her to do the same with this child. When the 9 months came around she picked a date on the calendar and they scheduled an appointment and that was going to be the day her daughter would be born. When the day came her sisters came over her house to watch her son and she and the father went over to the hospital to get the operation done. Once the operation was done her daughter was taken away and she stood sleeping because of the medication. When she woke up she saw the baby and a nurse came over to try and teach her how to change a paper and feed her but she didn’t want to hear it. The woman wouldn’t leave until the mother cooperated so the mother had to listen. After 2 days the mother and her baby got to leave and go home. When she went home everyone was excited and welcomed the new baby girl Lauren Ashley Coen with open arms.
All this talk about birth and babies makes me happy and excited to have my own children one day as well. It seems beautiful at the moment and all because it makes me think about the future and how having a child can change my life hopefully for the better. Even though birth is an extremely painful process I think you get so much joy from the baby being in the womb to the baby in your arms that it makes the couple of hours in labor worth all the pain compared to the years of happiness that you could get from being a mother. Although people associate birth with happiness I’m just one of those people who focus on the worst, having a child is an extremely big responsibility and I know that. The chances of me messing up are too high and that scares me so I usually like to just baby sit or take care of them for a little wile but being the parent is too much for me. Birth gets me excited but not that excited because reality always comes to me and scares that idea away.
Another thing that always comes to mind when I hear of birth or children is how I’m going to treat them. I constantly hear people say “well when I have kids there going to respect me, I’m not taking any of their bull shit, they already know.” It makes me laugh to hear this because I can already see that these people are just ready to have that power they want what their parents have over them. So I’m going to say the same thing as everyone else just a little different, When I have children they will get punished when they do something wrong but unlike other people my children will have tons of freedom because that’s how I was raised and appreciate the way I was raised it was very balanced so I’m going to do the same to my children.
In the future when I’m grown I know that my perspective is going to change, I will have more of a foundation to be confident in, and when the time comes I know I’m going to be excited for so long, excited to try for a baby, excited to be pregnant, have the baby shower, give birth and then watch them grown up. Overall I think birth is a wonder full experience just when the time is right and there is less of a chance for anything to turn out bad.
posted by Lauren at 
