My Personal Birth Story:
On May 3, 1993 while my Mom was at work, her water broke. My father picked her up and drove her to GBMC hospital. At the hospital she was hooked up to pitocin to ensure I was delivered within 24 hours of her water breaking. Labor lasted for 6 hours and I was born at 4:11(6 pounds, 6 ounces) in the afternoon by a natural birth. During labor, my Mom was not given an epidural, but was given a drug for pain management. Due to the fact that it was given while she was in transition, once I was born, I had some difficulty breathing. The doctors vigorously rubbed my back, and in return I was fine. My Mom and I were sent home from the hospital within 24 hours of my brith.
I chose this example because this is the only birth experience that I have (my own). Birth is very important and has a huge impact on child development. Everyone's birth experience is different and can impact everyone differently. If there is a complication during birth, that complication can truly impact the development of a child.
A study from Brisbane Australia on African refugee women giving birth in Australia show that women were fearful and felt alone during their birth experience. This study explains that these women had little or no knowledge of their rights that related to their experience in the hospital (Murray, Windsor, Parker and Tewfik, 2010, pg. 463). This sense of "not knowing" was often because of a language barrier. The lack of knowledge also lead to fear, distrust, and suspicion when it came to their child's birth. The longer these women lived in Australia they became more comfortable because the language barrier was not as big (Murray et al. 2010, pg.463).
The African refugees experience compared to my Mother's experience was very different. Living in the United States and speaking English, there was not a language barrier. In addition to this, my Mother was well educated throughout her pregnancy of what was to come. These refugee women were unsure of the process and the steps that took place in order to birth their child. These women did not trust their doctors until their child was born, but my Mother had trust in her doctors from the time she found out she was pregnant. These African refugees have a very different experience from my mother and it is hard to determine a similarity between these experiences other than both the African refugees and my mother gave birth in a hospital.
After reading this article, I can imagine how terrifying this experience must be for these women, and how not knowing, or trusting the process could truly impact the child development of their new born. Not having trust in the doctors could result in complications with the birth, which could result in complication with the child's development. My Mother's birthing experience in the U.S was smooth without any unforeseen complications. She was aware of what was happening and what was to come.
Reference
Murray, L., Windsor, C., Parker, E.,
& Tewfik, O. (2010). The experiences of African women giving birth in
Brisbane, Australia. Health Care For Women international, 31(5), 458-472.
doi:10,108/07399330903548928
