A Birth Story

The birthing story that I have chosen to write about is that of my now ,six-year- old Godson, Asa. I have chosen this story because, unfortunately, it’s the only one I have to write about.  Early in my marriage my husband and I become pregnant but before the second trimester we miscarried   It was a pretty traumatic experience for me.  It was my first pregnancy and it all happened seemly without cause. After reading an article in this week’s resources: ‘Dad’s Hidden Influence” I have come to believe it’s very possible that we suffered this miscarriage due to my husband’s profession as a chemical engineer.   I have never liked the idea of my husband working with chemicals and have asked him in the past to reconsider his profession and after presenting this article to him he seems more open to my request.

Anyway, back to my Godsons birth!  Asa’s mother, Amiee and I have been friends since undergrad and when she found out she was expecting, it wasn’t the best of circumstances.  Amiee grew up in a Christian home and culture that frowned upon having children out of wedlock.  This initially caused a lot of stress for my friend and she didn’t always make the best choices as far as diet and proper rest was concern. We were all somewhat concerned of the impact this would have on her developing fetus.  Reading this week’s materials on prenatal development we were right to be concerned.  Nutrition, diet and physical health are essential in helping to fight off teratogen, “agents and conditions that can impair prenatal development and result in birth defects or even death.”  (Berger. 2012)

Needless to say our concerns were not realized and for this we were all thankful and relived.  Aas was born healthy on June 28^th, 2005.  I had the pleasure of experiencing my friend’s water break after coming from a greasy dinner meal at Friendly!  As soon as we entered the parking lot gushes of a water like substance began to flow down her legs!  We all looked at each other and knew what was happening.  We rushed her to the hospital where a host of family and friends huddle in the waiting room to offer support.  I remember people joining hands in prayer; praying for safe and a healthy delivery.  Everyone was excited and there was an air of joy as we all prepared to welcome a new life into the world!

At one point, during my friend’s labor the doctors thought they were going to have to perform a C-Section because of the baby’s heart beat signaled that he was in distressed.  I was called to the bedside of my friend along with several other close friends and family and we began to pray and lay hands on the tummy of our friend and ask the giver of life to bring the baby’s heart beat back to normal so that the mother could have the child vaginally.  To our joy our prayers were answered within in min. of our prayers!

In looking back on this experience I remember their being a woman in the delivery room that took great care to tend to the needs of my friend. She helped her breath through her contractions and offered words of support and encouragement, “good job amiee…we are almost there”. From reading this week’s materials I learned that the woman was my friend’s doula or midwife.   According to Berber, a doula is a woman trained to support the laboring woman by timing her contractions, doing massage, providing ice hip or whatever will be helpful” (p 104).

From this birthing experience I saw firsthand how important the bioecological systems that Urie bonfenbrenner perported were in the life of my friend.  For Urie children are born and raised in a ecosystem that includes the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem (pg. 16).   I witnessed how my friend’s micosystem which, included her family and friends come around her and provided the support she needed to counter the disappointment she was receiving from her mesosystem, which included  those she worshiped with to the ministers who counseled her.  I also see how her systems of support worked to counter the negative influences of her exosystem and macrosystem which includes mass media and her social setting.

Through my reading, I learned that birth experiences range depending on where you live on the planet!  For example, in “sub-Saharan Africa, where only one-third of all births are attended to by a doctor or a trained midwife and the age women has four children, about 1 and 16 women dies from complications.”  The clip below gave me a hint of the diversity of birthing experiences in the world and the perils many women in the developing world face. This has made me more appreciative  of the western birthing experience and yearn for it for other moms around the world!