Childbirth: In Your Life and Around the World

I am writing about the birth of my first son who is 25 years old and was born February 8. I didn't find about I was pregnant with him until I was about 12 weeks pregnant. I only gained 19 lbs, and I remained between the sizes of 8 and 10 throughout my pregnancy. I was due, however, on March 8 but Kevin came a month earlier. I was admitted into the hospital at 6:00a.m. on February 8 and my labor was induced. I was given an epidural.  After being given the epidural, I felt no pain.  By not feeling any pain, when the doctor told me to push, I could not feel my body and did not know what part of my body to push.  That was very strange to me.  I was in labor about 4 hours and Kevin was delivered at 10:05a.m. Kevin weighed 7lbs and 6 ozs and was 21 1/2 inches long. Now he is 5’7 and weighs about 175 lbs.  He played basketball during his High School days.  Because it was an experience of a lifetime and no one could believe because of his weight at birth, how small I was and that I had only gained 19 lbs. My thoughts about birth and the impact on child development is that it is very important to find out as soon as possible if a woman is pregnant or not, because there could be so many complications and finding out early may help to prevent them.

I chose the country of Australia. Many births are done independently or with mid-wives. There have been some publicly funded homebirth available for a small number of women for many years. There is a policy that is being finalized to take mid-wives from public hospitals and place them in home births. The two reasons homebirth are chosen is to avoid what they previously experienced or what might happen with hospital birth and/or to have their baby with care from just one or two midwives, who they trust and know. Other reasons for homebirths maybe being comfortable with home setting, less risk of infection for baby and mom, less risk of unnecessary episiotomy. If hospital transfer is needed, very low caesarean, and visits with midwives are more personal. There are no inductions or epidurals available at home.  Other ways that are okay with moms maybe use of water, showers, massages, aromatherapy and walking. Midwives carry oxygen, suction or bleeding prevention medicine. A midwife may stay up to four hours after the birth, will come back within 12 to 24 hours, will visit daily until mom is ready for less visits and will be released after moms six week postnatal visit. I learned that moms in Australia have a choice of rather having the baby at home or hospital, just like moms did many years ago. There are a lot of differences, where with most deliveries moms are offered something for pain, where with these home births there are no inductions or epidurals. I believe if I was still in the child bearing age, I would like to try a homebirth because there is just so many infections and diseases out in the world, I feel that a homebirth would be more personal and would be a time for parents to enjoy that special moment.

http://www.homebirthaustralia.org/

http://www.bubhub.com.au/info/articles/birth-labour/homebirth_in_australia.shtml