Childbirth

Personal Birthing Experience

I have never had children, and do not have siblings or close friends who have given birth; therefore I do not have a personal experience with birthing. However, I have seen many births on television or in movies, so I chose to discuss a birth from the famous tv show "LOST" and the effects that birth had on the child's development. If you've never seen the show, sorry in advance for the spoilers!

The character who gave birth on the island was Claire Littleton. Claire had just been through a traumatic plane crash and was then forced to live on an island with a low supply of medical resources. After many weeks on the island, she eventually gives birth in the middle of the jungle with no doctors or medical supplies. While this was her only option, it was a risky procedure compared to the way births are handled in cultures around the world.  

As I learned from my research this week, prenatal stress can have long-lasting effects on a child (Mulligan, D'Errico, Stees & Hughes, 2012). Since the mother had been through significant amounts of stress and lacked proper medical attention, the child could be developmentally affected. Since the birth was done untraditionally and in a deserted jungle, the child will develop in a different environment than other children in its cohort. The child will have diverse experiences that shape his characteristics because of the instances of his birth. 

I chose this example because it is rare that a child will be born under these circumstances in this day and age. However, many cultures around the world may be forced to give similar births due to their lack of a facility and resources. Birth has effects on a child's development because of the many factors that go into delivery. Medical accessibility is essential is there is a complication, such as if the child is premature or has low birth weight. If the child is not appropriately helped and survives, those prenatal medical complications can affect the child for the rest of their life.

Peru vs. the United States

I chose to research births in Peru compared to the United States. It is a custom in United States culture to give birth in a hospital. According to a study done in 2012, only 1.36% of births are done out-of-hospital, meaning nearly 99% of births in the United States are done in a hospital or medical facility (MacDorman, Mathews, Declercq, 2014). As we have seen in person, movies, or TV shows, women in the United States give birth in a hospital while laying down on a bed surrounded by a medical team.

In Peru, most births are still performed in a hospital or medical facility, which is similar to the United States culture. However, it is not part of the standard Peruvian culture to give birth while laying down. In Peru, they use birth stools, which are seats designed for a laboring woman to sit on and give birth with the assistance of a medical team (Gomez, 2016). When I think of the difference in birth, I typically believe that births may not always be done in a traditional hospital setting as we are used to in the United States. In certain countries like India, it is not common to go to a hospital for birthing because of health care and accessibility (Bhowmick, 2012). After my research of Peruvian culture, I noticed that the location of the birth might not be different comparatively, but the way the birth is executed is.

It's interesting to read about births in other countries because there is no "right" way to do it. The birthing experience illustrated in "LOST" does not resemble a typical birth in the United States culture or many other cultures. While it is not suggested to give birth in an unsanitary environment with no medical resources, this was how women gave birth for hundreds of years before hospitals were an option. Birthing is a natural process that is performed in many ways depending on the culture.

References

Bhowmick, N. (2012). Why India is still one of the most dangerous places to give birth. Time. Retrieved from http://world.time.com/2012/06/08/why-india-is-still-one-of-the-most-dangerous-places-to-give-birth/

Gomez, C. (2016). Giving birth upright with maté- Peru clinics open arms to indigenous women. United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/news/giving-birth-upright-mat%C3%A9-%E2%80%93-peru-clinics-open-arms-indigenous-women

MacDorman, M.F., Mathews, T. J., Declercq, E. (2014). Trends in out-of-hospital births in the United

 States, 1990-2012. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db144.pdf 

Mulligan, C., D’Errico, N., Stees, J., Hughes, D. (2012). Methylation changes at NR3C1 in newborns associate with maternal prenatal

stress exposure and newborn birth weight. Epigenetics, 7:8, 853-857. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/epi.21180?needAccess=true