I have witnessed two births besides the three that I had. All of them were different in the length and intensity of the labor. The one I want to tell you about is my eldest daughter’s birth. I was in the military and single. During my pregnancy I received prenatal care through the military and I lived with a civilian family that lived on post. I was in California and my family all lived in Arkansas. At 3:39a.m. I started having contractions. I woke the family I was living with and told them it was time. I guess I should tell you that the first birth I experienced was their daughter giving birth to their grandson a month before I gave birth. Her labor was 36 hours long. Okay to get back to mine. They thought that they had time for coffee and told me that my water had not even broke. As soon as that was said my water broke and I was on my way to a military health clinic. Cassandara was the second baby ever born there. When I arrived I had to request help getting on the bed and taking my pants off. Her crown was out and I was told not to push. I informed them that she is coming and I had no control over it. An inexperienced military EMT got to catch my daughter as I delivered her at 3:54 a.m. 15 minutes after my contractions began. The military doctor arrived afterwards to help put the IV in my arm. Cassandara’s first vehicle ride was in the back of an ambulance for an hour ride to Reno, NV. We spent the night in the hospital so that the doctors could exam Cassandara then went home the following day. My other two children were born in a hospital but none of them had a doctor catch them.
I chose to explore the birthing process of the Netherlands. Dutch women become pregnant, “have a baby, and go home without seeing a gynecologist once” (Passionate Parenting, 2009, para. 2). Home births with a midwife are common, but they do have the option to go to the hospital. They believe that child birth is natural. They do not use medications for pain. They receive four months of maternity leave, six weeks before birth and ten weeks after birth Passionate Parenting, 2009). Your partner gets two days of paternity leave. Everyone is authorized to have maternity care. This is where a nurse comes to your house to care for you and your baby for eight days after the birth. They may do light housekeeping, laundry, cook, and care for other children. This paragraph was written from Passionate Parenting, 2009.
Child birth is more natural in the Netherlands, but they seem to have less prenatal care. They do offer prenatal classes. Their doctors give less information and there is less screenings then is done in the United States. You have to request pain medications if you want them otherwise you will not receive it. I did not have time with any of my children for pain medicine.
Reference:
Passionate Parenting. (2009). Having a baby in the Netherlands. Passionate Parenting.nl. retrieved on February 26, 2012, from http://passionateparenting.nl/pregnancy-and-birth/having-a-baby-in-the-netherlands.php
4 months of leave! I would've LOVED to have had that! Literally the day I had my daughter we had phone calls at the hospital from the owner of a center. NUTS! Having the weeks off would def. help the fear of going into labor at the office!
ReplyDeleteYour personal experience giving birth 15 minutes after contractions is a HUGE fear of mine! Goodness, you obviously had no meds or anything! Impressive.
Hi Shelly,
DeleteI did not have meds for any of my children. They all came fairly quickly. Cassie was 15 minutes, Devlin they put hour and a half, and Ashton they put hour and forty five minutes. My children got bigger the more I had as well.
No thank you! :) I have every intention of being put out again with this one I'm carrying and never having to experience pregnancy again. I just can't take it. I'm a strong woman, just not medically!
DeleteHi Lucinda. I see you mentioned you witnessed two births. I don't want to witness another birth because people say different things about child birth. The mother I witnessed was amazing during the delivery and I was shocked and afraid at the same time. It's a true eye opener!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Tomekia,
DeleteThe first birth that I witnessed was a month before I delivered my first born. She was in hard labor for 36 hours. She told me that she thought I was going to give birth because I would push when she was told. She said that focussing on me was what helped her. It was a wonderful experience to the beginning of life.
Every child birth is different as every person is different. So the stories you hear about the birth of a baby will be different. Mine was quick. After the birth of my son, my husband's first experience, my husband said is that it it doesn't seem that bad. You said ouch twice and that was when they were stiching you up.
I agree though the delivery of a baby is a real eye opener.
Lucinda,
ReplyDeleteTo hear about the birth of your daughter Cassandra was both scarey and amazing. I agree every birth experiences are different. To hear how quickly your labor was is amazing to me. We women should all be as lucky as you.
To hear about the important role that the midwives play in Netherlands, is one that should be commended. I would worry as a mother, about having children without the support of a physician and without medication available.
This was an interesting and enlightning story!
Thank-you for sharing,
Millie
Hello Ms. Lucinda,
ReplyDeleteWOWWWWW! what a birthing experience you had with your first child. It went by so fast. I said on someone esle post about birthing everyone's birthing experience is going to be different even for the same person that may have two or three children each experience is definetly different.