Childbirth In Your Life and Around the World

The birthing experience I would like to write about is the one of middle child.  My senior semester of college I began to have symptoms of being light headed, no appetite, and fatigue .  Upon going to the doctor lab test were conducted that's when I found out I was pregnant. She immediately made an appointment for a maternal specialist.  For the specialist appointment the doctor did an ultrasound the ultrasound determined how far long I was. I was five months pregnant with twins. For four months I had not received any prenatal care at all. At the end of the fifth month I began to lose amniotic fluid so the specialist put me in the hospital and told me I would have to stay until I delivered. My doctor told me I would need to take shots so the babies lungs would develop. I begin to take the shots. The next day my liver enzymes raised drastically and an emergency cesarean section was done. The girl twin weighed 14oz  and the boy weighed 8 oz he did not survive.  My daughter was incubated and admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit. The doctors did not think she would make it, but one thing they told me is that girls have a better chance at survival than boys.  During her  eight month stay at the hospital we faced many complications. There were many times the doctors said she would not make it, but our faith and standing on the word of God brought her and our family through these times. She came home on oxygen and had to see many different doctors.  They diagnosed her as being developmentally delayed.  We had speech, occupation, and physical therapist and early steps teachers coming into our home to help her developmentally.  My family and I work diligently even now to keep focus and stay on task.

The reason I chose this birthing experience is because there are many people that are not aware of what happens sometimes during a premature birth.

Births have an impact on a child's development.  If there are complications during the pregnancy or birthing experience most likely the baby will be born with health or developmental issues. Some issues may be serious and others may be minor , but if you receive the proper prenatal care in most cases you will not have to deal with these issues.

Korean Births
Most Korean births take place in hospitals. It depends on your economic status whether your birthing experience is private or not.  A high percentage of deliveries are by cesarean section.  At hospitals babies are kept in the nursery for the first 24 hours per the doctors request.

The difference in Korea and the United States birthing experiences are that the U.S. has a high rate of vaginal deliveries. After the delivery babies are cleaned up and if everything is fine the parents have an option to keep them in the room with them. Korean babies are kept in the nursery for the first 24 hours. In the U.S. private rooms are provided in most hospitals if you are private pay or use medicaid insurance.  Korean has a higher rate of cesarean birth where as the U.S. or vaginal births.

Similar experiences between the U.S. and Korea are the babies are born in the hospital instead of at home. The hospitals offer the same birthing options to the families like birthing pools, vaginal and cesarean deliveries.