Pros And Cons Of Hospital Birth

Every year about 15 million babies are born prematurely (“Preterm Birth”). About one million of those babies die every year (“Preterm Birth”). Those babies are cared for by neonatal nurses. Lori Loan, a neonatal nurse, once said “For parents, having a baby is one of the best times of their life.” (“Neonatal Nurses”). The Nurses do everything they can to help out the doctors and the families of the babies. This is why neonatal nurses are important, and why I want to be one.

Hmong birth practices are very interesting and very different from American culture. Their births are usually at home and sometimes the woman is alone. Women labor in silence and catch their own babies as they are being delivered. Mrs. Lee delivered all of her babies by herself before coming to America. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down after birth practices are also different. Hmong families will bury the placenta below the home after delivery with the smooth side facing upward. If a woman is unable to give birth in her home or a family member’s home an evil spirit, also called a dab, may injure her. American births traditionally take place in the hospital. Although, home births are starting to become a growing trend in American these births are almost always assisted by a midwife.

Neonatal nurses play an important role in health care providing devotion and love for newborns, whether infants are born with birth defects, premature, critically ill, or perfectly healthy. A few tasks neonatal nurses are required to do is to feed, change, watch the infants closely, and help provide support to the new families (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Many choices or experiences in life could lead someone to this career; such as, babysitting seeing a sick child who needs help, or even personal experiences. All types of nursing require some type of degree; the smallest would be a two year associate degree. Although people can stop there, some nursing careers prefer more education and experience. There are also four year bachelor degrees,

In the last ten years, more and more women are going the home-birthing route because it is safer and more natural. This can be seen as a mini revolt against the stigmatized and dehumanized view of mothers and birth. Using a midwife and having a home birth allows for the body to naturally go into labor, a labor that could last hours or even days. The female body is designed to naturally produce oxytocin, a hormone that causes labor. In this process, a mother goes through contractions where the baby is turning around so they are facing head first. The mother has complete control over her body and the position in which she chooses to give birth. There are no drugs used in a home birthing and the mother can feel every ounce of pain. Not only are they letting their bodies handle the process naturally, but they are also able to form an unbreakable bond with their baby. This can also be seen as a revolt against the modern technologies and views on women. In the hospitals, mothers do not produce oxytocin at the right times or right levels, and their babies do not get this hormone when feeding on breast milk. This causes a lack in mother to baby bonding. In a home birth, the baby receives the hormone through the breast milk because there was no interference in the birthing process. The mother and child form a different and more passionate relationship going this route as opposed to the hospital route.

As expectant women seek non-pharmacologic methods of pain management, hydrotherapy is a good start. The practice of using submersion in water for alternative pain relief is referred to as hydrotherapy. Hydrotherapy can help provide an environment optimal for a gentle, physiologic birth. This paper will explore the efficacy of hydrotherapy as a pain management tool in labor and how hydrotherapy influences the outcomes of deliveries.

There are more techniques and strategies for births today. The mother’s are taught to plan ahead and what to do in the event of their water breaking. The doctors today are more skilled to deal with complications if any occur during the birth. Medicine is also a key factor to the advancement of pain management for the mothers with pain during contractions. Epidural and Natural births both have advanced since my Nana’s birth the medicines are more advanced with helping with pain. There are different methods of caring for babies especially those born with birth defects. The main idea is that the medical field has progressed since my Nana’s birth and will continue to progress as the years go

In the early 1900s, women’s health was non-existent. It was not taught in school, it was never spoken about in the media, and many women themselves had no knowledge about reproductive health. During this time it was common to see women with ten, fifteen, even twenty pregnancies throughout their lives. Men and women both were often unaware on how to plan or prevent a pregnancy and birth control was pronounced illegal. Consequently, this was also a period of high childbirth mortality, as well as a time where many women were dying due to self-induced or “back-alley” abortions.

A midwife assisted homebirth is proven to be more secure than one at a hospital. As stated in the CMAJ article, Outcomes of planned home birth,” Women in the planned home-birth group were significantly less likely than those who planned a midwife-attended hospital birth to have obstetric interventions or adverse maternal outcomes”. The CMAJ articles presents numbers from previous study from January of 2000, spanning over four years, showing that midwife assisted births are less likely to have complications. However, one reason that the homebirth numbers are lower, are that midwives will only work with low-risk mothers. Due to midwives only working with low-risk mothers, the likeliness of complications during childbirth is decreased.

Shah addresses the reader with caring motives and understanding of how physically demanding and life-changing pregnancy can be. ‘’I am acutely aware that even women with healthy pregnancies can develop life-threatening hemorrhage, fetal distress, or other unanticipated emergencies during labor.’’

“What is best for the mother and the baby?” - “What may save the lives of the mother and child?” are the mainly questions to decide even to perform a CS or not. Numerous indications exist intended for executing a Cesarean Delivery.

An abortion is the act of the terminating a pregnancy deliberately. This is the suspension of a fetus before it’s possible to survive on its own. This often happens before 24 weeks of the pregnancy (Brown, 2013). Abortions is a sensitive topic to some, and it rises a tense argument in some debates. Pro-life and Pro-choice arguments both have their valid arguments. The Pro-life argument is the belief of a fetus being an actual human being and should have the right to live their life. Pro-choice brings up that the mother of the child is in all control of what she decides to do with her child because it is in her body. Although society frowns upon the act of ending pregnancies, there are many cases in which abortions are beneficial.

Unlike doctors that only have one agenda when it comes to a woman giving birth, midwives provide women with individualized care uniquely suited to their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs. In the course of developing that relationship, midwives provide personalized and thorough care at many levels that empowers the soon-to-be mother in her ability to give birth and care for her baby. The maternity care practiced should be based on the needs of the mother and child and not the caregiver or provider; therefore, interventions should be avoided with the natural birthing process unless complications arise. Until 1940, midwives used to deliver most babies; however, there was a cultural and social shift that made women believe that the hospital provided a safer, pain-free birth without risks of hemorrhage, infection or death (Connerton). This movement has “grappled with economic, political, religious and racial differences” (Craven). Midwifery has been able to survive mostly through rural and low-income populations in the United States that is culturally entrenched in the belief of natural birth. The “right to choose has been transformed into a message of consumer rights” which is often distinguished among racial and class lines (Craven). The perception among wealthy women that it is their “right” to have control within their childbirth experiences is not shared by all low-income women, who often express their support for midwives in terms of affordability (Craven).

Iron is the most important element of hemoglobin, which is the protein in our Red Blood Cells and carries oxygen to our body’s tissues. Iron is present in each cell of the human body. It boosts the immune system of the body and so is a very crucial for fighting against infections and diseases. It helps to produce WBCs and aids in producing energy. Iron deficiency is called anemia. A person who is anemic gets tired very easily and may faint at times. The face of an anemic person is often pale and the person always feels weak. They have frequent hair loss and suffer from lack of concentration.

The arrival of a new baby, especially the first always marks a new beginning for a mother. It comes with a lot of challenges more so if the mother is less knowledgeable about baby care. Take such as cleaning the baby for the first time, or feeding, it is not easy. The baby is still fragile and slippery and needs a special care. But if the mother is not ready for all these, or maybe, does not have any knowledge on what to do, the baby’s life might be endangered since the baby needs a special care which only the mother can give.