Essay on Birth: The Beginning of Life

Motherhood was an expected part of the wife’s life. Woman would have a large number of babies right after each other although some babies would not survive. “High mortality rates must have overshadowed the experience of motherhood in ways difficult to

In order to have a normal birth, both the mother and the child need to prepare for birth. The mother needs to acquire knowledge regarding what to expect, information about the baby and its special care and attention. Both need to prepare themselves with time, so that at the end of pregnancy the mother just has to sit unstressfully for the baby to arrive. The child start preparing his departure from the mother’s womb by the end of the seventh month. The child starts protecting his body from external viruses and microbes by accumulating antibodies from the mother. Also he starts absorbing extra iron, because he knows that the mother’s milk lacks iron needed for the production of red blood cells. The child rotates his body, locating his head towards the birth canal. And the baby starts accumulating fat under his skin, preparing his body for life in the external

Giving birth to a baby is the most amazing and miraculous experiences for parents and their loved ones. Every woman’s birth story is different and full of joy. Furthermore, the process from the moment a woman knows that she’s pregnant to being in the delivering room is very critical to both her and the newborn baby. Prenatal care is extremely important and it can impact greatly the quality of life of the baby. In this paper, the topic of giving birth will be discussed thoroughly by describing the stories of two mothers who gave birth in different decades and see how their prenatal cares are different from each other with correlation of the advancement of modern medicine between four decades.

There were numerous powerful testimonies and striking findings noted throughout the and first two chapters of the book Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin. As a health care provider, and therefore someone who is entrusted to care for individuals during their most private and sacred times, I found Gaskin’s statements regarding the environment and care surrounding birth experiences very impactful. According to Gaskin (2011), the “women’s perceptions about their bodies and their babies’ capabilities will be deeply influenced by the care they recieve around the time of birth” (p. 22). The statements made by Gaskin in Birth Matters not only ring true, but inspires one

Robin Yates’s paper, “Pregnancy and Childbirth, The 1800’s vs. Now: What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting,” was filled with many clear points on the advancement of labor and medicine since the 1800s. This essay was filled with interesting and grabbing facts; however, the structure of the essay needs more support.

The theory I selected to apply to the above situation is the Birth Territory theory. This theory was created from empirical data collected by the authors who serve as both midwives and researchers. It has a critical post-structural feminist undertone and elaborates on the ideas of Michel Foucault. The Birth Territory theory predicts and elaborates on the relationships between jurisdiction (use of authority and influence), terrain (the birthing environment), and personal emotional and physiological experience by the mother. This nurse-midwifery theory was chosen because both of the major concepts directly correlate with the incident and are critical aspects of labor and delivery situations. MAYBE ELABORATE A diagram of the Birth Territory theory can be seen in Appendix A.

Midwifery has been practiced in several communities of the world since time immemorial. A midwife is a trained person, mostly a woman, who assists in the pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care of an infant. In most countries of the world, the act of midwifery has been neglected for more modern and westernized medical practices deemed safer. In the First nations community, midwives have always been an integral part of the health system assisting expecting women during delivery. In the mid nineteenth and twentieth century, midwifery was outlawed in many communities and reserves ‘for the sake of the health of the country’ (Parkland Memorial Hospital School of Nurse Midwifery). With the outlaw of midwifery in First nation reserves, expectant mothers were transported to hospitals and clinics in urban centers for delivery. With this came several new challenges for expectant first nations women and mothers including, ‘increased maternal newborn complications, increased postpartum depression and decreased breast-feeding rates’ (O’Neil et al., 1990, Smith, 2002 and Klein et al., 2002a. The relegation of first nations midwifery has done more harm than good because it makes the birth process more medical, has led to the inflict of new post natal diseases and has led to the neglect of the traditional and spiritual roles in child

The baby begins to breathe through its nose and use its lungs. The hole in the heart begins to close. The digestive system boots up with the baby beginning to feed.

For hundred of years, women have wrestled with their womanhood, bodies, and what it means to be a woman in our society. Being a woman comes with a wonderful and empowering responsibility--giving birth. What sets us aside from other countries is that the process and expectations of giving birth has changed in our society; coming from midwifery, as it has always been since the early times, to hospitals where it is now expected to give birth at. Midwifery was a common practice in delivering babies in

Taking all these pieces into consideration there could be issues of traditional Indigenous birthing practices being appropriated, but with the work of Indigenous midwives it can be seen that it will most likely be incorporated into more birthing options in a respectful

The evolution to bipedalism resulted in the narrowing of the pelvis. This narrowing was necessary for locomotion, but it increased the difficulty of childbirth for women. In other primates, birth is relatively easy. Babies come through a straight birth canal and are born facing their mothers. The mother can pull the baby out during birth without causing injury to spine of the baby. The human female pelvis is now smaller and babies are forced to be born facing away from the mother. Assistance is needed during birth to prevent injury to the baby's spine. The birth canal is curved and there is barely enough room for the passing of the head and shoulders. (Ackerman).

According to “Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America,” women and couples planning the birth of a child have decisions to make in variety of areas: place of birth, birth attendant(s), medication, preparedness classes, circumcision, breast feeding, etc. The “childbirth market” has responded to consumer concerns, so its’ important for prospective consumers to fully understand their options. With that being said, a woman has the choice to birth her child either at a hospital or at home. There are several differences when it comes to hospital births and non-hospital births.

Although the process of giving birth and recovery is different for every woman, the human body must withstand many physical and psychological changes after having a baby. The federal

This is what potentially creates the baby. After 3 weeks of being fertilized, the embryo is less than 1/10 of an inch. The heart of the baby is now beating. At 4 weeks it is about 1/5 of an inch long. It now has a tale that is its back bone that will disappear in a few weeks. Genes are being turned on and cells are able to talk through chemical messages. 18 weeks after being fertilized, the baby is able to be viewed through an ultra sound and in some cases, able to determine the sex of the baby. The embryo is enabled with two sets of gonads and two sets of tubes which is what can make the baby either a male or female. One pair of chromosomes determines which sex that baby will be. After 29 weeks, it is now a fetus and just over an inch long. The fetus heart beats about twice as many times as an adult heart. There is a 50% increase in blood supply for the mother. Now the mother is ready to give birth. Human births are actually more dangerous than any other mammal. The baby preforms many contortions to fit through the mother's opening and if not able to be born through vaginal birth, the mother will undergo a "C" section. After nine months of carrying another human being inside her stomach and going through labor and painful child birth, the mother is blessed with a beautiful child.

Birth of a child can be such a happy time, especially when the little one is very healthy. We all have seen the movies when a new child is born, some of us are lucky to see it first hand. Some of us do get goose bumps, me being one of them. It is just so exciting to see that little life come out of what has been in that big belly for nine months. We sometimes refer to the birth of a child as labor. If only it was as easy as the name sounds. However, it is not. There are three main stages in birth. The first stage is the longest stage that can last 12 to 14 hours with the first birth, and later births are shorter. Dilation and effacement of the cervix take place here. That is when the uterine contractions gradually become more frequent and