Childbirth-In My Life and Around the World

My Personal Story:


My personal story is about the birth of my only child, Emilee.  I found out I was pregnant with Emilee in November of 2003.  After going to my midwife for the initial round of testing, I was given the information that I had the Anti-M antibody in my blood.  Basically, this anti-body can be release and passed through the placenta. It will attack your baby's red blood cells and can kill the child.  Throughout my pregnancy, my midwife worked closely with a fellow obstetrician to monitor me.  Every month (for the first five months), I had blood drawn and my titers in my blood monitored.  At month five, there was a rise in my titer count, which resulted in bi-weekly non-stress tests and bi-weekly titer blood draws. 
At 38 weeks, I went in for an exam.  Due to Emilee's size (she was already almost 8 pounds) and the fact that my doctor didn't want to push our good luck with my Anti-M problem, she scheduled me to go to the labor and delivery unit that evening.  I would be induced.
When we arrived at the hospital, the nurses got me settled and hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor.  The reading was all over the place.  They thought they had a bad machine and moved me to another room.  The same thing happened in the new room.  they asked if I was a smoker, which I am not.  This was cause for alarm because her heart rate would go down to 120, then up to 190 and then spike down again.  They called in my midwife and the doctor she had been working with and after looking through my fetal heart monitor feeds, the doctor had informed me that the Anti-M antibody had actually started attacking the baby.  Within and hour, Emilee was delivered via c-section.  Special care doctors were in the room to be on the cautious side, but Emilee was born at 9:25 pm, July 22nd, 2004.  She was a healthy 7lb, 15 oz.  

I will always be grateful  for the care I was given and the quick reaction time my physicians had.  I chose this example because of how important I feel that it is for mothers to have proper prenatal care.  I believe the care a mother receives during this time can impact the development of their child.  Without care, I would have never known I had this condition and more than likely, Emilee would not be here today.
Reportedly, the seven-billionth person on Earth was born on Monday morning in the Philippines.  This prompted me to research a typical birthing experience in that country.  What I found is that although hospital births are advised in the Philippines, that an average of 62% of women chose to give birth at home.  This is quite interesting to me as that would never be an option I would want.  Many of them do have help from a midwife or a birthing assistant.  For some, this is a choice, but for others, they live too far from a medical facility or cannot afford for a medical facility to help them.  Many of the women do consult a midwife early on in their pregnancy.  If the medical provider finds that a home birth could be complicated, they do try to persuade the mother to give birth in a facility.  However, ultimately, it is the mother's choice.  If a home birth is chosen, midwives will bring a birth kits that provided supplies that might be needed.  Mothers are asked to have a desk lamp to be able to check the  perineum and to have a portable heater on hand.  Once the baby is delivered and the placenta is taken care of, the midwife will typically leave the parents alone with the child for some bonding time ("Homebirth," 2009).  This greatly differs from my story.  As soon as Emilee was born, she was wisked away to be checked by the special care team.  I then went into recovery for an hour and I was unable to hold her.  It was over two hours after her birth that I was able to hold her at all.  I think when possible, parents and babies need to have bonding time.
Comparing the two stories, we are the same in that we both had midwives, however, my pregnancy was also overlooked by a physician.  I believe that many of the mothers in the Philippines chose home birth to make the experience more family oriented and personal.  I applaud this, however I still believe I (if I ever had another child), would still be more comfortable in a hospital environment.  I feel there are more resources readily available if a problem would happen to arise.


Resources: 
Homebirth. (2009, February). Retrieved from http://www.babycenter.com.ph/pregnancy/labourandbirth/planningyourbabysbirth/homebirth/