Child Birth In My Life and Around the World

 As I think about the birth of my three daughters (ages: 12, 4, 2), the most memorable one would be of my oldest where I was in labor (assisted by pitocin) for 21 hours. I was 19 years old when I had my first child and I can still feel the pain of every contraction! I had never felt anything like that before and although the contractions only lasted a minute, that minute felt like an hour! My water broke around 7:30 AM on March 28, 2002 but it was a slow leak. I eventually made it to the hospital, after being advised by my OB/GYN "to take my time getting to the hospital", around 11:19 AM and that's were the fun began! Some hours passed and the nurse said I wasn't making any change in my cervix so she told me she was going to start giving me a medicine called Pitocin which was "suppose to make my contractions stronger"...what an understatement that was! I labored well into the evening hours, using Stadol and another drug for pain relief until I couldn't take it anymore. I labored for about 2 more hours before I received my epidural. Thank God for Epidurals!!!! But, then I kept feeling this pressure as if I had to use the bathroom! I remember telling my mother and the nurse I had to use the bathroom and when they checked me, it was time to push. I pushed for about 10 minutes to get her head out and about 3 more pushes for her body. On March 29, 2002 @ 4:24 AM, I was the proud mother of a 7 lbs. 3 oz baby girl! My first born! 

I chose this birthing experience because at that moment, my life changed for the better. This is when I discovered who I really was. My strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, my mindset before and after her birth, what really mattered in life, etc.  I got pregnant with my first born 2 months after graduating high school and it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. My first born MADE me grow up and realize that every decision I made from this moment forward affected her and I had no choice but to get it together. I became serious about school and ended up transferring from my local community college to one of the universities in town with a 3.09 GPA and received 2 scholarships and 3 grants towards my education and..."the rest is history"!

Pregnancy and birth are beautiful experiences and one I wish all women could experience at least once in their lives. Child development begins at birth with the developing embryo. Working in the early childhood field, I am very familiar with the understanding that certain circumstances pertaining to pregnancy and birth can affect child development such as premature birth, the child being born with various physical ailments, the child experiencing trauma in the womb or during birth, etc.

 I actually googled "birthing practices around the world" to see what the Internet had to offer and found an intriguing article (10 Strange Customs Surrounding Birth and Babies) at http://listverse.com/2013/12/25/10-strange-customs-surrounding-birth-and-babies/ which included different customs surrounding birth. One birthing custom I thought was interesting was from Great Britain and is known as "Groaning cheese and Groaning cake". In this custom, new fathers had to offer a wheel of cheese and cake for the family. The "groaning" in Groaning cheese and cake came from the complaints and pains associated with the delivery of the child. The cake and cheese were part of the celebration of the new child and were eaten as part of a meal. The doctor would cut the cheese and cake after the birth of the child and it would be eaten by everyone who came to see the new parents and extend happy wishes. The similarities with this custom and my experience is the celebration that comes with the successful birth of a child. However, the differences are obvious! It is not very common (to my knowledge) that American fathers practice such a custom!