Childbirth In My Life and Around the World

A Birthing Experience-

I do not have children yet so I chose to write about a dear friend's experience

Our very good friend gave birth 10 weeks early. I can remember when my fiancée called his buddy to see if they wanted to hang out that afternoon and he told us that they have been at the hospital all night and that Parker has arrived. They had to do an emergency delivery due to complications of preeclampsia and they could not get the moms blood pressure under control. It all happened so quickly because she was feeling great until that night and she was in severe pain and discomfort. After the delivery, everyone was doing much better and was under great care. Parker was in the NICU for over a month and received services from the Infants and Toddlers Program for the first year. He is doing great now and is a thriving little boy!

I chose this example because prenatal care is so important and this first time mother followed everything the doctors told her to do but this was something that happened out of their control. Due to the mother having these health complications, it has had an impact on the overall development of their little boy because he is preemie and was developmental delayed in all domains of development.

How births happen in Ethiopia-

In Ethiopia, only 26% of pregnant women give birth in health facility ( Mehretie Adinew, Abera Assaefa, 2018). Ethiopia has a maternal mortality ratio of 412 per 100,000 live births ( Mehretie Adinew, Abera Assaefa, 2018). Home delivery is the main factor for high maternal death among rural women  ( Mehretie Adinew, Abera Assaefa, 2018).  According to the article "Why Do Some Ethiopian Women Give Birth at Home after receiving Antental care",  women give birth at home for many reasons. Some reasons consist of (Mehretie Adinew, Abera Assaefa, 2018):

1. poor counseling during antenatal care services
2. traditions and beliefs
3. early pregnancy symptoms
4. lack of planning in advance for childbirth
5. sudden onset of labor
6. financial constraint
7. lack of accessible and reliable transportation 

As you can see if it vital that you build a relationship with your doctor and regularly visit your doctor throughout your pregnancy. Prenatal care is so important for the expecting mother and the baby. Maternal health needs to be improved in developing countries.

Reference: 

Mehretie Adinew, Y., Abera Assefa, N.(2018) Why Do Some Ethiopian Women Give Birth at Home after 

                      Receiving Antenatal Care? Phenomenological Study. BioMed research international, 2018, 

                        3249786.doi:10.1155/2018/3249786