Both of my pregnancies and births were very different from
each other. My first pregnancy was relatively easy. I did not have morning
sickness at all and the only thing that made me even a little nauseous was the
smell of McDonalds. Though my pregnancy was deemed high risk due to my heart
condition there were no complications and the birthing process took only a few
minutes once I was fully dilated. However, my second pregnancy and birth of my
son was very different than my first.
First of all, my son was born in August, meaning that in the
last months of my pregnancy (when I was at my biggest belly wise), were the
hottest months of the year here. This pregnancy was also considered high risk
due to my heart condition and I ended up having to be placed on a beta blocker
as well in the last month of my pregnancy. The birthing process started out good,
it took a bit longer than my first child but pain wise was about the same until
the end. When my 9lb 3oz, son finally came out and the nurses took him from me
to get him cleaned up, I began to convulse due to a high amount of blood loss
and went unconscious. I woke three hours later to my screaming son and husband that
was doing everything he could to soothe our son. I was able to assist my husband
when I woke and soothed and fed my screaming son. Though this birth experience
was very traumatic for both me and my son, we both came out healthy and good to
go home in just three days.
I chose to discuss this pregnancy and birthing because even
though it was a traumatic experience I came out of it with a beautiful,
wonderful baby boy. I do believe that the pregnancy and birthing experience are
significant for child development for many reasons. The health of the mother
often determines the health of the child, the first moments of the child’s life
occur during the birthing process and it
provides the mother and baby those first instances to build that lifelong bond.
The region that I chose to discuss about birthing
differences from the U.S. is Italy. I found an article from a mother that was pregnant
and gave birth in Italy, and her remarks about “The things you need to know
about giving birth in Italy”. From reading the article I discovered some major
differences between giving birth in the U.S. and giving birth in Italy. In
Italy hospitals, “will not charge anyone for giving birth or for any emergency
procedures that may occur during labour or delivery” (Bowden, 2016), but here
in the U.S. you need to have some form of insurance to avoid accruing very high
hospital bills. Another huge difference for parents in Italy includes the paid
time off that they get to take after having a child. In Italy, “working mothers
get five months (or more in some cases) off at full pay” (Bowden, 2016); and
here in the U.S. mothers are lucky to get 6-8 weeks maternity leave at partial
pay. I was lucky enough to not have to work the first year of my both of my
children’s lives to build that bond and relationship with them.
The article contains more information about giving birth in
Italy including the amazing Italian food you are served, doctors encouraging you
to scream while giving birth and the government offers a subsidy to parents within
a certain annual income range for having a child. If you would like to read
more I have listed the link below.
It seems that the most important difference between giving
birth in Italy and giving birth in the U.S. is the allotted time given to
fulltime working mothers to build a positive, trusting bond with their newborn
child. It is those first relationships that are the most vital to any child’s
healthy development and for a mother to be able to have that much time with their
newborn and not have to worry about how the bills are going to be paid is
wonderful.
