Giving birth was the most amazing experience, though the whole day is kind of a blur. I was in labor for 15 hours, 2.5 hours of pushing to finally deliver an 8 lb 13 oz beautiful little girl. Even with bouncing on a ball and walking, my daughter was extremely stubborn and did not want to come out so after 9 hours I got an epidural. I almost had to have a c-section because she was not making progress, but they turned off my epidural and I was able to feel the contractions better and push her out. I was impressed with the hospital staff because they were not in a rush for a c-section and made every effort so I could have her vaginally. However, after all the pain and the exhaustion I will never forget the moment when I finally learned if we had a boy or girl (because we wanted it to be a surprise). When they placed my daughter in my arms she didn't cry she just looked around with the biggest eyes. She was so precious.
After reading the article Birth and Maternal Health Around the World, I was surprised at how some countries vary greatly and many still practice traditional customs. This also means some countries still face high mortality rate during birth such as Nigeria where 1 in 18 women will die in labor (Davis). In Korea the mother is not supposed to express pain because they believe negativity will have an adverse impact on the baby (Davis). After reading this I am extremely grateful I did not give birth in Korea because I definitely expressed pain during labor and had a few choice words for my husband.
Reading about the different customs and beliefs surrounding childbirth was interesting. I feel for the mothers who experience labor alone and in primitive conditions. I was grateful for everything modern medicine had to offer when I gave birth.
References
Davis, Lisa Selin. Birth and maternal health around the world. Parenting. Retrieved from http://www.parenting.com/article/birth-maternal-health?page=0,0
Hi, I see we are in the same group again.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't imagine being in labor for that long, the few hours of labor that I experienced before having both of my c-sections was more than I could stand.
Hello Jennie,
ReplyDeleteI have a very similar story; with the birth of my second child. When I went in for a doctors visit I was told that I was in labor around 9 am in the morning. My husband was 3 hours away at work and had missed the birth of our first baby. I was determined to hold off as long as possible to give him time to make it to the hospital. It was so funny because even though I was in pain and they were trying to help me deliver faster I keep going to sleep. Any way to make a long story short I didn't deliver him until 4pm and his dad got there just in time.
Hello Jennie,
ReplyDeleteChild birth is so amazing, I never really realized that hospitals try hard to encourage a C-section if the smallest problem surfaces until I had to experience it myself. But you were lucky that you did not have to go through the C-section experience. Thanks for sharing such a great experience.