Personal Child Birth Experience

The Birth of my daughter  

1)       I remember the day that I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I was happy but

scared.  At the time I was single, working for a family owned xeroxing company.  I lived in a one bedroom apartment and drove a 1984 blue Monte Carlo. 

As my fetus began to devleop, I became very health conscience.  I wanted my child to grow up healthy and smart so I exercised every day, went to all of my doctors appointments, and read to her each night.   I remember my mom telling me that when I see my baby for the first time that I was going to feel a love that I had never experienced before….And she was  right ((:

The night before delivery, my entire family stayed up waiting patentiently for the little bundle of joy to be born.  Everyone loaded up the car around 2:00am heading to the hospital.  When I got there the doctor gave me an epidural so that I wouldn’t feel the pain from the contractions.  At 6:17am my daughter was born weighing 6lbs 8oz and 17 inch long.

I chose this example because it was my personal experience with childbirth. I feel that birth is an amazing experience that should not be taken for granted.  The development of the child is dependent upon how well the mother takes care of herself throughout the pregnancy.  However, there will be variables that the mother does not have control over  that can lead to abnormal development.                                                                                                                                                                   

2)        Afghanistan has one of the world's highest death rates among women during pregnancy or childbirth. Studies have shown that 2% of all pregnancies end in death of the mother and 1 in 16 women will die while pregnant or soon after giving birth. This is due to the inadequacies of health care.  Most of the health infrastructure has been destroyed, and many people living in remote villages have little or no access to health care benefits.

Currently, only 14 per cent of deliveries are attended by a trained midwife and over one in five children die before the age of five years old. In isolated rural areas, women face a one in three lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth.

After the death of one of the Afghanistan’s women, her sister decided to become a midwife in order to help decrease the death rate during childbirth.  She began working with the Ministry of Health in Afghanistan and local NGO Care of Afghan Families (CAF) to provide essential health care for vulnerable people in some of the country’s most remote and hard to reach areas.

3)       The differences in my childbearing experience and the women living in Afghanistan, is that our government pushes for health care benefits in the U.S. unlike Afghanistan’s Democratic government.  I was given medical guidance and treatments throughout my entire pregnancy. Families living in poverty in the U.S.  are still able to go to local health clinics for assistance; whereas, women in Afghanistan are not. Cultural differences play an important role on the developmental stages of the child.  If the cultural traits don’t soon change, the death of innocent children and women will continue to increase.  I am glad that women are stepping up and taking a stand to educator others on ways to help each other. They are seeking knowledge through trainings and community resources to empower their professional skills and development.

Merlin, F., (2010). Afghanistan. Retrieved from http://www.merlin-usa.org/Where-we-work/Afghanistan.aspx