Birth Experience

I have had the gift and privilege to be at four different births. Each time is a new experience and an amazing miracle. Each one of my friends faced their deliveries differently. One of the most memorable was when my friend Betty was giving birth to her first daughter. Most of the labor took place at home as she was in labor for a total for 56 hours. We played card games, watched movies, and had long talks in-between contractions. When her labor progressed to the point when she felt like she needed to push we went to the hospital and within two hours her baby girl was born. This process just seemed more relaxed, and more bonding with her husband and myself. We all have memories of those hours that are special and dear to us. This truly was a wonderful and long birth experience but I feel that because of the type of labor and birth the baby was more relaxed as were all of us.

I looked into a few other countries and their birth experiences. I was interested in Ireland and how births happen there. Women in Ireland usually give birth in a hospital with 97.3% of births taking place there. However, there are other options such as home births and Doulas. Doulas are becoming more common in Ireland to assist with childbirth. Even as of 2010 Ireland was fighting for birthrights to be aloud to have homebirth with a midwife without the midwife facing criminal charges. It seems like that Ireland and the US have a lot of the same challenges and options when it comes to women’s rights and labor and deliver.   

This was an interesting research experience and one I would like to do for other countries. I am interested to read other blogs to see what regions and countries others chose.

Comparing birth plan preferences among Irish and Nigerian Women. (March 2011) Retrieved March 2, 2012, From http://www.nurse2nurse.ie/Upload/NA6911comparing%20irish%20and%20nigerian%20birth%20plans.pdf