Childbirth in Your Life and Around the World

 

I remember the day I got the call that my niece Cassaundra was born.  I was not there for the event but this is the most memorable birth I know.  We called Cassaundra our miracle baby.  She was not sick and there were no complications to her delivery.  My sister and her husband went to all her appointments and took all necessary precautions during her prenatal care.  What makes her a miracle is she was someone’s reason to live. 

The reason I was not there is because our grandmother was sick and I was there with her.  My grandmother had lost foot to diabetes and had had several strokes. A few days before Cassaundra was born I was changing the bandages on my grandmother’s foot and noticed some green discharge with an order coming out.  I called my aunt’s and they rushed over and we rushed her to the hospital.  The doctors rushed her into surgery and removed both her legs.  After surgery the doctors came out and said it’s not looking good and we should call in the family.  I was only seventeen at the time, I remember my aunts putting me back on the bus and sending me home to my mother.  Ounce home I begged my mother to go back.  My mother called to check on my grandmother to see if she had improved, with no improvements we pack up and went back down to Ashland, Ky.  When we arrived my mother begged the doctors please let her see her first great granddaughter.  At first they were hesitant but after many prayers and pledging they let my sister take Cassaundra in. 

The doctors told us that my grandmother probably would not make it through the night.  My grandmother lived for another 15 years before she passed.  I believe that in my heart when she saw Cassaundra it gave her a reason to fight and she choose to fight.

I didn’t pick this birth because of watching the birth changed my life but because Cassaundra changed all of our lives.  She gave us hope in miracles. She strength our faith and if there was someone in our family that didn’t believe they now believed. 

As I stated my sister did everything the doctors told her.  She went to all her appointments.  She did what we do in America get what we call proper care and she gave birth to an angel that saved my grandmothers life for another 15 years. 

I believe that child birth has a huge impact on how children development.  If there are complications at birth this can slow a child’s development.  The way the child comes into the world will not determine what type of person the child would be, but can determine if the child will have obstacles to overcome.  I was a premature baby weighing 2lb.  There was a lot of things I had to overcome but I survived.  

 

Every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five years’ olds and 145 women of childbearing age.  This makes the country the second largest contributor to under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world (UNICEF Nigeria-The children-Maternal and child health).  Comparing Nigeria to the US is like oil and water.  Americans have the resources to prenatal care and quality health care.  The women and children of Nigeria are not awarded that opportunity.  Most children in Nigeria die within the first week of life.  In America we take for granted that our child will live past the first week of life.  Complications during pregnancy and delivery are the main cause.  A woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is 1 in 13. (UNICEF Nigeria-The children-Maternal and child health).  The majority of these deaths can be prevented is there was quality health care there.  This is another effect that economy has on child development.  If these women and children were in a well-developed country the rate of death would be lower.  The main comparison here is rich and poor.  Where there is money and resources there is less loss of life, with less money there is more loss in life.  We as people the human race, need work together to fix this problem.  Why are there children dying after a week for being born, why are women dying after child birth if they had the proper care they would normally survive.

 

Nigeria, The Children, Maternal and child health

http://www.unicef.org/nigeria/children_1926.html