Birthing Experiences

In 2005, I had my own first-hand encounter with the birth of a child.  Prior to that I had never been privy to a live birth experience and had only witnessed it second hand by way of television.   Yes, I had been prepped by an experienced Lamaze teacher and was of the view that I was ready and rearing to go.   

It was 4am in the morning.   I felt the contractions and diligently timed them, as I was taught.   At 5am, I proceeded to my pre-selected hospital’s maternity ward and was checked by the midwife and nurses present.   At 7am, by Ob/Gyn was called and further tests were done.   I was calm and collected and breathing accurately.  My Lamaze teacher would have been so proud.  Then it went all downhill from there.

The contractions that hit after 8am, revealed a new side to my personality that my mother and good friend who were present had never seen.   I screamed, grimaced and can I say ranted, raved and went on like a complete banshee (not something I am proud of).   Thankfully, my bundle of joy arrived at 11:50am, as I am not sure if I could have survived much longer.  What with the excruciating pain (I refused painkillers and an epidural) and the pushing, it was quite an experience.   Would I do it again?  Definitely YES.  

I chose my own birth experience with my child, as it is the one that I know, I went through first-hand and I can relate to.  I cannot speak about anyone else’s experience.   The experience for me was memorable.   However, to examine it analytical, I do realize that in Jamaica (although considered a developing nation), we are privileged as we have advanced birthing centres in the traditional sense (normal births, caesarean sections, vacuum or forceps extraction).   There are no water births or Le Boyer births, but the majority of our babies are delivered safely.   Over 95% of all births occur in formal birthing centres, the majority being in hospitals. 

My thoughts regarding birth and its impact on child development, is that if it is a pleasing and memorable experience for the parents (despite the mother’s labour pains) then the baby should be loved and appreciated from birth (all other things considered being equal).   The birth experience can be the start of a happy childhood for the child.  When a mother is traumatized at the birth, it may not augur well for the future relationship of mother and child.  In addition, if there are complications at birth, the development of the child can be impeded, thus the need for trained personnel at the time of birth.

I wanted to choose Jamaica as my example regarding birth in another region, but then realized that the stories that I reviewed were similar in the sense of the use of a formal birthing centre.  So, I traveled across the globe to the country of India, to review how births happen there. 

This is what I found:

Thousands die needlessly giving birth in India

Oct 07, 2009 01:00 PM

The deaths of tens of thousands of Indian women during pregnancy, childbirth or soon after, could be prevented, says a report just out. A healthcare system wrought with poor planning, caste discrimination and limited emergency care is to blame says The Human Rights Watch (HRW), which wrote the report. And these women are dying in spite of government programmes guaranteeing free maternal health care, it points out.

One out of every 70 Indian women who reach reproductive age will die because of pregnancy, childbirth or during unsafe abortions, the findings show. "For an emerging global economic power famous for its medical prowess, India continues to have unacceptably high maternal mortality levels," the report said. Aruna Kashyap, a lead researcher on the report, summed it up simply: "Seventy-five per cent of maternal deaths in India are preventable." The problems range from badly trained healthcare staff to crippling fees poor villagers simply can’t afford — $10 for a delivery in some clinics, plus $1 to cut the umbilical cord and $1 for the delivery room cleaner, according to Associated Press news agency. Those costs might not seem like much but many Indian villagers support their families on less than $2 a day, and are just not able to save.

The study, No Tally of the Anguish: Accountability in Maternal Health Care in India, focuses on the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India's most heavily populated. The state has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country and is among the most backward in India with abysmal health care systems. Only about one in 100 community health centres in Uttar Pradesh have storage facilities for blood. In many smaller hospitals, even minor complications often mean that mothers have to be driven more than 60 miles over bad roads to larger hospitals.

Caste discrimination is another problem. Sixty-one per cent of maternal deaths in northern regions were among Dalits — as "untouchables" are now called — and the indigenous people known as tribals. Both communities are at the very bottom of India's complex social ladder, and are far more likely to live without equal access to jobs, education or health care. Cutting maternal deaths is one of India’s major health priorities, which have made maternal health care free for poor women. Even though the country classes it as a health priority, monitoring is so poor there is no reliable record of how many women dying each year, and whether these initiatives are reaching those who need it the most, the report says.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children

Retrieved from http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/archive/2009/10/thousandsdiegivingbirthindia

Labour gains: Mothers take home-birth route

TNN Dec 21, 2003, 12.37am IST

MUMBAI: Her delivery refuels the debate. Vrinda Natesh's recent decision to homebirth her fourth child has once again sparked the argument for and against hospital labour for expectant mothers. Natesh acted against the advice of city gynaecologists.
They were pressurising her to undergo a Caesarean section operation just two days past her due date. Not only did she and her husband wait without induced labour, they even had their older children witness the event.
This is exactly what Navina Venkat-Sondergaard, daughter of nutritionist Vijaya Venkat, preferred as well. As she puts it, Birth is a climactic experience. It has to happen in a warm, loving environment.
Eleven members of my family and friends gave my baby a warm welcome. Why does medical opinion question only what could go wrong, instead of creating supportive practices that raise awareness to welcome new life into the world, naturally?"
Predictably, the Kandivli-based Natesh's case has caused consternation in medical circles. Cautions Dr Nikhil Datar, president of the Association of Fellow Gynaecologists,
"Let's be balanced about an issue with dangerous implications. The classic dictum that obstetricians practise internationally is hospital-backed deliveries, potentially safe for mother and child. While birth is an essentially normal phenomenon, it is not fair to dwell on 95 per cent of examples where all goes well.What of the five per cent that may not? We owe it to our patients to warn them about problems at home, which hospital infrastructure could take care of.
Apart from mortality, we must consider morbidity, ensuring that every baby is delivered with faculties and functions intact."
On the contrary, it is the maternity ward routine that is the real shocker, feels Rashmi Palkhivala, who conducts pre-natal classes.
"A woman is so vulnerable, prepped for delivery in hospitals, with a drip, enema, etc before being strapped to a bed or knocked unconscious for scheduled surgery. Such humiliating procedures supposedly help something flowing instinctively in every woman's body. A perfectly natural situation is made pathological by a system that has become interfering rather than nurturing."
Ms Palkhivala recalls an instance where a woman requesting a hot water bag in midcontractions, was instead administered an epidural (a kind of local anaesthesia).
For those bent on denouncing home births, she recommends a redesigned hospital setup conducive to natural delivery.

Retrieved from http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-12-21/mumbai/27192050_1_maternity-ward-mother-and-child-labour

On reading the foregoing articles, it appears that giving birth in India (an emerging global power) can be a traumatic experience.   Although, both India and Jamaica could be considered developing nations (as opposed to developed nations), the health care system in relation to pregnancies is more advanced in Jamaica.  In Jamaica, there is adequate emergency care even for the less fortunate in society.   Also, health care is accessible to the majority of society.  Expectant mothers are not forced to have caeserian sections and do not undergo humiliating procedures.  If I were in India, I believe that I may be afraid to become pregnant because of the high maternal mortality rates.