Childbirth in My Life Compared to Around the World

As part of our Walden Coursework this week, we were asked to write about a personal birthing experience in comparison to other birthing experiences from a different country or region.

I am the mother of four amazing children - all born with modern, traditional american medical practice.  All of my children were delivered vaginally by medical doctors in a hospital setting.  In southern countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America, women seldom deliver in a hospital.  Most deliver at home or in a specially prepared hut in their village.  Instead of a doctor, many of these women are attended by a traditional birth attendant who are part of their local culture and are personally acquainted with the women and their families (Legeber and Voorhoever, 1997).  These birthing attendants follow culturally specific rituals but are not necessarily trained in medical practice.  Common practices during birthing stages include massage of the abdomen with herbs,  and use of oils to lubricate the perineum.  During prolonged labor, vomiting is induced by inserting a spatula into the woman's mouth.  The article I read did not mention if the baby's father also attended the birth.  My husband was able to attend the births of all our children, which was an amazing experience.  I found it very interesting that after birth, women from these other countries were kept indoors for 8-40 days and are provided herb infusions to drink.  I didn't stay in the hospital longer than 2 days (which was long enough!).  The placenta is often buried in a special place in the village.  "In all three continents, Africa, Asia and Latin America, taboos are placed on 'protective foods' (food products which contain vitamins and minerals) during the Antenatal period for fear of miscarriage.  At the end of pregnancy there are taboos on 'food for growth' (food products which contain protein) and 'energy producing food' (food products which contain carbohydrates and fats) for fear the infant may grow too big and cause delayed or obstructed labor" (Legeber and Voorhoever, 1997).  While I was pregnant with my first baby, I attended a Bradley Method Birthing class which encouraged mothers to eat a lot of protein - and I did.  My first son ended up being 8 pounds (with a huge head) and was very difficult to deliver.  I also gained more weight with my first pregnancy then with any other.  Although I don't agree with avoiding food packed with vitamins and minerals (in fact I took prenatal vitamins throughout all my pregnancies), I do think there is wisdom in avoiding excesses in food that are high protein, high carbohydrate and/or high fat.

All of my children's births were exciting and had unique experiences, but I would like to tell about the birth of my firstborn son who truly had a unique birth.  My older sister, Chanon, and I were pregnant with our first babies together.  I was due a couple of weeks before Chanon, but she developed a rash (basically an allergy to being pregnant) and was medically started to deliver a few weeks early.  I happened to go into labor the same day that Chanon was started.  We both had married men named James (her husband is called Jim and mine is James).  We both had the same wonderful doctor.  We now had the opportunity to deliver these little cousins in the same hospital on the same day.  It became a race and my parents had a great time going back and forth between our rooms waiting to see who had the first grand-baby.  We made a bet who would deliver first (loser had to buy pizza!).  Chanon ended up delivering her little guy, James Logan Peterson first without any complications.  My labor went quickly, and approximately one hour after Logan made his appearance - I was ready to deliver.  I mentioned above that my firstborn, Josh, was a very big baby and I had a very difficult delivery.  I ended up having to have two nurses push on my abdomen to try to get Josh through the birth canal - causing me to vomit multiple times during the delivery.  Because he was so big for my small frame, I tore quite a bit during birth and lost a lot of blood.  I later passed out twice and ended up being very sick for several days after the birth.  I was thankful to have a wonderful doctor who stayed calm during this delivery and could address my medical needs in a professional way.  My son, Joshua James Curtis, was delivered healthy and we were thrilled with our perfect little man! Both of Josh's grandmothers got to be in the delivery room with my husband and I.  It was special to have them there.  Our local newspaper ran a story about these cousins being born with the same name, born on the same day, in the same place.  The newspaper article mentioned that we had lost the bet and now had to buy pizza, so a pizza restaurant called us and said they would donate the pizza to us!  I recovered and barely remember all the traumatic parts of Josh's delivery - what I remember the most is the amazing experience that I was able to share with my husband, our parents and my sister.  These "little guys"are now 19 and are very handsome young men!  Love them!

Logan Peterson and Joshua Curtis - Buddies since Birth!  Born May 20, 1993

Resource Cited:  Lefèber, Y. and Voorhoever, H. (1997), Practices and beliefs of traditional birth attendants: lessons for obstetrics in the north?. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 2: 1175–1179. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-219.x