The only childbirth experience I
have is my own and I do not necessarily remember but have stories from family
about my early years of life. When I was born my brother was very sick with
leukemia and I was passed off to different family members from birth. Being
moved around from family member to family member early on in my life has helped
me be able to adapt and except change through out my life. I think it also
contributed to my easy going and go with the flow personality. I was born at a
very well known hospital in Boston and my mother and seemed to be treated very
well.
I feel birth has a very big impact
on a child’s development. The first few hours is where the parent-infant bond
develops, this is a crucial moment for children to develop trust and comfort
with another person (Berger, 2012).
Looking at other countries and how
births happen there I thought it was interesting where Russia was when it came
to childbirth. Russia seems to behind on western technology and advances in the
medical field due to the Soviet era. Some mothers discussed the different
conditions the experienced during labor and birth from women being put on beds
in the hallway while in labor, multiple woman sharing the same bathroom,
bribing obstetricians for better care, and children being injured during child
birth (Barton, 2014). As I kept reading
it seemed that there are big strides to improving maternity care (Barton,
2014). Some first steps were just improving the environment by adding flowers
and trying to give each mother a room (Barton, 2014). Russian births do not
have much emphasis for quality prenatal care the way the U.S. do but do hope
that the improvements they look to make include prenatal care as well as the
labor process.
Resources:
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing
person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Barton, J. (2014, March 10) Russia’s
looking to improve the quality of maternity care- but it has a long way to go. PRI’s TheWorld. Retrieved from http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-03-10/russias-looking-improve-quality-its-maternity-care-it-has-long-way-go
Wow, I'm surprised to know Russia's labor/delivery procedures and/or conditions are that horrible. If I lived there I think I would rather take my chances with a home birth. I wonder how bad their infant mortality rate is.
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that moving from family member to family member has helped you to adapt to change. That is a good thing. I am sure that it was a struggle for your mom to take care of your brother and you as an infant togther. At least she had the support of your family to help take care of you both. : )
Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteYour development as a child being fueled with family support is a testament of how beneficial it can be for a child's first few years. I am shocked to know that women in Russia have given birth under such awful conditions. I wonder what affects these birthing experiences have on mother's emotional state going through these extremes, so very horrible. I am pleased to hear however that things have and will continue to improved.
I have never expected that the Russia has still a long way to develop their birthing practice. It makes me wonder what aspect of their culture affects this mindset as there seems to be less support in the promotion of health and safety of mothers and children.
ReplyDeleteAlysse, thank you for sharing your experience. I have always believed that it is important for children to have many people in their lives who care about them. It sounds like it was a positive experience for you to spend time with many different family members as a baby. I'm sure it was hard on your family, it is amazing how much difficult experiences shape who we are!
ReplyDeleteAlysse,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your personal story. Often times people tend to focus on what happened or happens in their lives instead of looking at how you can use situations to impact and improve your life. Our childhood definitely helps to makes and shape us into the people that we are today. It can be for better or worse. I am glad that you are able to adapt to change and had such a supportive family to help with your upbringing.
My mouth was wide open when I read about childbirth in Russia. Even though I have never given birth before or been in the delivery room I am baffled to think that some women would be on a bed in the hallway in labor. I am glad that Russia is headed in the right direction to improve their methods of delivery.