Childbirth here in the US and in Hati

As I thought about this assignment and researching an area other than the US for how childbirth takes place, I thought about Hati. The reason I thought about Hati is because I currently sponsor a child from Hati. What I found in my research was alarming. Through an article on msnbc, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29706995/ns/health-pregnancy/t/giving-birth-fraught-danger-haiti/, I learned that health care for most in Hati is not affordable or not accessible. Therefore women in Hati are giving birth at home with 'the highest maternal death rate in the western hemisphere - 670 women out of 100,000 live births die from pregnancy related causes.' With lack of health care, regardless of the reason, these women lose their children to death, die themselves, and do not receive adequate care prior to or during their pregnancy. While this article makes me feel for these people, it makes me grateful that my birth turned out differently because my mom had access to good quality medical care here in the US.

The only birth story I can communicate since I do not have children of my own, although I have had several cousins born during my lifetime, is my own and my sister's as a comparison. My mom and dad told me years ago that I kept my mom (I was her first) in labor for 36 hours. My mom said that is why I have what they call a strawberry on the top of my head because she was so tired that the doctor had to go in with forceps to finish pulling me out because my mom could no longer push. On the other hand, when they called the doctor to say my sister was on the way, 2 1/2 years later, the doctor jokingly said (as I have been told the story goes) have dinner, take a shower, go to bed and I will see you in the morning. My parents headed to the hospital immediately anyway and from what I have been told over the years, the doctor almost missed my sister because she was coming before he entered the room. I think about the birth story of myself and my sister and how my mom had access to care before and during her pregnancy as well as during my birth and my pediatric care after my birth, and can't help but think how differently the stories could have been if we lived in Hati.

All women, whether planned or not, should be able to have some type of access to medical care to insure themselves and their unborn child receive adequate care. Without adequate care or knowledge, women may intake elements that are harmful to their unborn child, illnesses the woman may have will affect the unborn child, and the environmental elements the woman lives in will affect the unborn child. There are too many factors that affect the development of a child even before birth.

We as educators need to go back (as I have this week), sometimes to the initial development of a child, which starts before birth to find the source or cause of children we teach being as they are.