Child birth Experience

The birth experience I would like to write about is my own. My daughter was born 23 years ago September and the following is why I remember this event like it was yesterday.

My husband and I was married for over a year when we got pregnant and we were so excited. My first 7 months of my pregnancy went as planned. I gained the appropriate weight and exercised and watched what I ate and everything was perfect ~ until my seventh month. My blood pressure began skyrocketing and swelling and I was put on complete bed rest. The doctor told me I was going to lose the baby if I did not rest and keep my feet elevated. I had to go on long term disability and struggle through migraine headaches. I was at the doctors 2 to 3 times a week checking to make sure toxemia was not setting in. I then was told the baby was due on September 4, the doctors induced me on September 5^th, and I was sent home late that evening. The doctors induced me again on September 12, and again I was sent home after a long day of induction. Then finally on September 18^th, and l laid there all day, being induced and then the nurses began to ask if I needed to push. I asked what they were talking about and they began to explain…..I said that I did not and after examination the doctors determined I was only dilated to 1 ½ cm. I needed an emergency c section. I was then rushed into the emergency delivery room and given a vertical incision and delivered a 9 lb. 1oz 22 in baby HEALTHY girl. I had only gained 18lbs with her so I was completely all baby.

The region of the world I chose to write about was Niger, it is officially the most dangerous place on earth to have a baby. It was reported that in Niger childbirth was “likely to end badly. Dahara is the lady I read about, she was 26 years old and she being from Niger, “had a one-in-seven chance of dying during her reproductive years as a result of a pregnancy-related complication or infection.” The newborn in Niger has a very great chance of not reaching their first birthday and if they pass that there is a one in six chance that they will not make it to age 5. After birth Dahara will only stay for a few hours and then will tie her son to her back and walk approx. one mile to her village and will receive no after care for the baby or herself. The father will not likely be involved in with the child, since “in Niger, birth is considered to be women's work and fathers keep their distance.”

Berger (2012) states that “in the poorest nations, almost all babies are born at home; Doctors are called only for emergencies. This is why I chose to write about someone who had her child in a hospital yet the survival rate for this  child was still very slim.

                                                                  References
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). Chapter 1, “Children  
            and Childhoods”, New York, NY: Worth Publishers. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/oct/03/healthandwellbeing.health