How exciting! It is time for a new class, and I’m very thrilled about this particular class. Early Childhood Development is something that I am eager to learn more about because I am less familiar with it and I find it so interesting. For our first week’s blog assignment, we were asked to write about a personal birthing experience. Since I do not have children of my own, I’m going to have to take a different approach than most of my colleagues. The only birthing event that I was privileged to take part in was the birth of my second niece Caroline. It was very exciting and nerve wrecking. My sister had been in labor for several hours before going to the hospital and by the time we got there, Caroline was on her way out. From the time we got to the hospital to the delivery time, it took a total of 8 minutes. This was somewhat of a relief because I had always heard stories about women in labor for 22 hours and I all I could think about was holding my baby niece. Because my sister was so far along when we got to the hospital, the nurses were unable to give her and medicine to help with the pain. Watching my sister go through that was difficult. I couldn’t even imagine what that would feel like other than extremely painful and uncomfortable. Lucky for her, it didn’t take very long. Before this experience, I had always heard people talk about giving birth and the birthing process as something really beautiful. I started to feel bad and wonder if something was wrong with me because I didn’t find it to be any of those things. It looked painful and uncomfortable and almost unnatural. My niece, on the other hand, she was absolutely perfect once she arrived. It definitely opened my eyes and allowed me to see, first hand, the gift of life. The birthing process is so crucial on child development because this is when a child in brought into the world for the first time. From birth, this is when we shape the lives of the little ones in our lives.
Finding information about other countries and their birthing customs was very interesting. I chose to research Europe and more specifically Germany. I spent a great deal of my life living in Germany. 16 years to be exact. As a child, I always noticed their birthing practices to be somewhat different than American practices based or stories from my childhood friends. One custom that is very popular in Germany and most parts of Europe is the use of a mid-wife during pregnancy and the birth process. It is actually common to make a bigger deal about your mid-wife than your doctor. In Germany, you don’t even need to have a doctor present during the birthing process; you can choose to have one in addition to the mid-wife. I suppose I acted as my sister’s mid-wife in a sense when she was giving birth to my sister. I was there giving her support and talking her through the process, until I looked under the cover and began to feel a bit queasy.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I wanted to let you know I was very excited to see that we are in another course together. Your passion for children from our previous course didn’t dawn on me that you did not have children of your own. I think it is interesting that you chose Germany as your country. In addition to your post I also lived in parts of Germany until I was about eight years old and my brother was born in Germany. I found out later in life that as a newborn baby boy Germany they did not believe it was custom to circumcise boys. My brother had to wait until we reached the United States to receive this procedure and they believed when he was a lot older the procedure would be better for him. I experienced taking care of my brother afterwards which to me then (at eight) I didn’t understand anything about what circumcise was and why it had to be done but thinking back now the picture of how much pain my 5 year old brother was in afterwards makes sense. I can understand the similarity of watching a sibling in pain for an event that is supposed to be one to celebrate. I have a 4 ½ year old daughter and from her birth experience I remember just about everything that happened on that day. Besides the pain and the hours, what I remembered most is immediately after she was out she was crying and such they laid her on my chest and I looked down to see her at her brown eyes and she just stopped wailing. She became calm. I just started to cry. It was just an amazing feeling that somehow she knew that I was someone that immediately comforted her.
Amanda-
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your blog post because it wasn't until my son's birth that I actually felt overwhelming feelings about birthing and pregnancy. Before Baron, I didn't realize how important those first minutes of life are, but they are crucial. I, also felt like you in that the birth process seemed a bit unnatural to me, and for this reason, I didn't want to read too much about it. I took on the mentality that this was normal, women were doing this for a while, and I could go through it as well.
I am glad that you researched Germany because a close friend of mine from England spoke to me throughout my pregnancy. She had raved about her mid-wife, and explained how common they were in the U.K. The German customs sound very familiar to the ones from England.
I think the most amazing part of the birthing experience is that the moment the baby comes out from the womb, he/she recognizes his/her mom/dad almost immediately. At least this is how I felt about Baron. It truly is a beautiful process!!
My son was born in Germany except I was able to make it to a military hospital to give birth. So my experience with giving birth overseas differs greatly from others that I have read or heard about. German customs when it comes to prenatal care and delivery do primarily rely on the mid-wife. Germans also do not give the privacy that Americans receive when going to the doctor when it comes to changing. There is nothing that compares to giving birth and holding that beautiful baby.
ReplyDelete