The birthing experience that I choose to write about is my own birth. The information I have about my birth is very limited because my father was stationed in Thailand when I was born. Unfortunately, my mother passed away when I was 10 years old and no one knows the complete medical history of why I was born early.
I was born October 5, to Arthur and Louise Cooke. I decided to enter the world early at 7 1/2 months. I weighed only 2lbs and 6oz. As a preterm baby I had a few complications with my breathing, my right eye is underdeveloped and I had a hernia. As of today I have asthma and wear glasses.
It is very hard for me to believe that I was a preterm baby. I can not imagine weighing only 2lbs. Besides the issues I have with asthma and wearing glasses the only distinguishing marks I have is on my hand were the I.V. was placed at and scars from the hernia operation.
I choose my birth as an example because I do not have children of my own and because we have read information about premature babies and I was one. From what was told to me my mother did not smoke or consume alcohol so I was wondering what caused me to be born early?
For the second part of our assignment I asked my coworker for her help. She is from Sierra Leone. She gave birth to her first born in Africa and her second was born the United States. She basically said that her childbirth experiences were the same. In Africa, she was from the city so she had prenatal care. She gave birth in a hospital with a physician present. My co worker stated that while she was pregnant she would take daily walks and did her normal house work. After giving birth to her son she had to stay at home for a week. During that week she had to keep her body covered, including her ears. Also, she had to "band" her stomach with a piece of cloth. The cloth was to help you get back in shape. After 8 days the baby was introduced to the world. That was when the baby was named in a ceremony. This ceremony was done in the morning. She also stated that she did not have a baby shower.
It is always good to hear stories about preterm babies. Because of our technology today it increases the chance of the baby surviving. It is amazing!! Thank you for sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteI guess sometimes there are exceptional cases that medically cannot be fully explained. Women in Africa still tie their belly with band to keep in shape, women are usually ask to stay at home for 7days before bringing out their baby but people have violated it in the case of medical emergencies. I guess most of the traditions are still in place even though some people give birth in the hospital
ReplyDeleteSome preterm babies are find when they come into this world. I know two preterm babies that are 2 and 4 and they are very smart. I was glad to hear your story.
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