Child Birth

When July 15th came and past, the due date for my son, I wondered what I should do next and when my baby would be born.  I was tired and hot and ready to be finished being pregnant.  Days soon turned in to weeks and still no sign of labor.  My appointments to the doctor showed that we were both doing well, but no one would know when he would come.  Finally, I was scheduled to be induced on August 1st.  I arrived at the hospital early in the morning, at 5:00am, just to learn that they had too many births the night before and didn't have any room for me.  They sent me home and indicated they would call me when there was space.  They called me shortly after 7:00am and I was set up in a hospital bed with pitocin started by 8:00am.  Everything seemed to happen quickly after that.  I laid in bed while they monitored the baby's vitals and my contractions.  They started an epidural to comfort me through the contractions and promised that it would wear off before it was time to give birth.  I even fell asleep for some time.  A few minutes before 2:00pm they were telling me to bear down and push, but I still had very little feeling from the epidural.  But I did as I was asked, pushed from my laying position with my knees up and hoped that all went well.  Within minutes my son was born.  Nurses swept him away to run tests on him and then brought him to me when they were certain he was well.

I was fortunate to have trained specialists who worked with me and a hospital room that was prepared for the birth of my baby, even though the initial circumstances were not what I had in mind.  In other parts of the world, especially poorer nations, most births happen at home and many times without the help of medical specialist (Berger, 2012, et al).  A story of a birth in Ghana describes the pregnant women as laying curled on the floor in the corner of a dark and hot hut, in labor and going through contractions without making a single sound.  There is a midwife present as well, quiet in another corner of the hut waiting.  A soft sound from the mother and her body positioning moving into a squatting position gave cue to the midwife that she was ready to have the child.  Still with no words or sounds exchanged, the midwife moves over, helps to support the birthing mother's back and catches the baby upon birth.  The baby then is immediately placed in the arms of the mother, a "gentle birth" as it is called.  This may be typical for women in Ghana, however the mortality rate is at least ten times higher than in North America.

Does the gentleness of one birth compared to another have an impact of future child development?  Does the use of medications, such as pitocin have an impact on the development of this child in the future?  Is it less stressful on the unborn child to have the mother relaxed and resting, even if under medication, during those last few hours before birth compared to the pregnant mother who is curled up in pain?   And what about the quietness of birth compared to the women who are loud and screaming as the child journey's through the birth canal?  Does any of this make any difference at all in the long run of the child's health, growth, and development?

Reference:  Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers