hw 42 pregnancy and birth project

so why do we do it? Why is it that we choose tho go to hospitals instead of having midwives. Do we as Americans feel safer being in institutions rather than being in the hands of one woman who uses no special tools. Midwives have been around for many years, but why have they not been publicized more as a safer alternative to hospitals? I feel that as Americans we choose hospitals because they are all we know. We only go to hospitals for anything that involves crises in our lives. Whether we are hurt or giving birth. Even though midwives provide mothers to be with a very interesting birthing experience that may hurt or be orgasmic, we choose to be surrounded by men and women in gloves and masks ripping babies out of the ones we love. WE are so use to this because we feel security for those moments when we feel unsafe.

In America we see birth asa an experience that is too scary because of the fact that a life is coming out of someone and it is scary for some What if one cannot afford a a hospital, what do we do? It is hard to make decisions but i feel that it is as easy as asking yourself if you are getting a midwife for yourself or for the baby. Sometimes i feel that a person wants to go to a hospital because we want to feel ok for ourselves first and then the baby. Also the same thing with a midwife but that may be so that the baby is ok and then you come next. People view midwifery as dangerous and unsafe because we feel that a women coming to help you in stretching and other exercises are bad. Even though they are trained almost as much as doctors are. I want to look at the idea of midwives through latin perspective and how midwifery is a taboo for us.

In my family nobody i know of has ever given birth by a midwife. I asked my mother why and she said because she never knew about a midwife. She first got pregnant at the age of 18 and she really had no idea what to do so the traditional hospital birth was the only option she had. As for my brother and I, we were born the same way, through a hospital. My family doesn't belive in midwifery birthing because it seems akward to us. We dont like the idea that a woman comes to our home and helps us out, it just seems weird and unecessary. I feel that in American society hospitals are the route to go because a hospital has the security in case things go wrong where it can be fixed. Also because hospital births are very common, almost as common as seeing a Mcdonalds within walking distance of us. Midwifery on teh other hand is seen as strange and funny to us. I asked my Aunt who is currently pregnant and asked her if she would ever think about getting a midwife and she said," haha are you crazy, how do i look stretching my fat belly in front of chris?" She has another son and she wouldnt want a midwife because her family will see her doing these things and think she is weird. Also she has this idea where something may go wrong. If something went wrong like we saw in the cnn clip, i dont think my aunt would be able to handle it, conisdering what happend last year. On wham.com i read an artical fdetailing three reasons why having a midwife was not good. It stated that midwives are not trained for high risk births and carry only basic childbirth tools. The idea of this is iffy to some because they always have a thought in the back of their mindws that what if their baby is at risk, will the midwife be able to help. As we saw in th "business of being born" the mother who had a pound baby. The fact that this happened and the midwife didn't see was pretty scary. The mother at 5 months old was very small and that was even pointed out by her freind and if her friend can spot that but a trained midwife can't then there is a problem. In latin culture having a midwife isn't an option because many latin women don't like the idea of having a lady rushing in at many hours of the night checking on the mom. Also from what i see from my life and other people, Latin women are very preocupied so they find no time in the whole midwife movement. ALso many spanish women don't know about midwives. Latin women tend to follow norms and tradition so any other research that ma be beneficial is never discovered.

Along with researching the idea of midwifery as a taboo, I looked at the pros of having a midwife in relation to spanish people. I found that a midwife can cost much less than a hospital and this is always good and not only for spanish women but for everyone. Another advantage that i found on wham.com is that a midwife is fully attentive to your baby. Doctors are very busy and have many other things on their mind but a midwife plans their schedule based on your needs. What latin women like to do is that they like to not feel pain and they like the security that a doctor provides. When i asked my family what they thought about the idea that doctors sometimes tell us lies just to get more money and everyone was surprised. Sometimes doctors use drugs because they get more money since the shots cost tons of money. The doctor fuels the ideas that women are going to feel pain. A hospital enviroment sweats out the aura of pain. People sick, people dying, people giving birth. It is all scary and when my mom told me how the doctor kept reminding her about the drugs when she was pregnant with my brother, it didn't shock me. The hopsital is made as a capitalist institution like a Mcdonalds or fast food joint. We are offered a menu of operations and procedures just like a restaurant. It is a factory of get in get out.

I also looked at teh idea of latin women getting pregnant at younger ages. 52 percent of latin women got pregnant at least once before the age of 20. Why is this valid? This shows that latin women are too young to understand birt. Many times the birth is unexpected and the woman goes throuh with it because they do not like the idea of getting an abortion or any other idea. Some women are babies themselves giving birth. When we are that young and giving birth, one doesnt take time to read a book on midwifes and there isnt alternatives to a hospital. It is hard to understand what they want when they do not know themselves. That statistic from the nationalcampaign.org was not shocking either because birth is very common at early ages in latin culture and it is common for hospital birth because we are naiive or sometimes uneducated about other options.

It is not tradition to seek a midwife in my culture and the fact that sometimes a person is uneducated doesnt help. Latin women choose their path because they can be afraid, or they just don't know any better. I feel that an education about these things are imprtant. Many women want children but the fact that we do not learn about these things in school, it is very hard to decide on what is best. It is time to change that and also the way that latin women have birth at young ages.