NOE JEY OCHOA
November 25, 1992
The first birthing experience I was exposed to was at the age of 19. The mother giving birth was myself. Although it was excruciating pain, the thought that I was going to be holding that little creature that had grown inside of me was all worth it. Since I was very young and it was my first time giving birth, I was afraid I was going to "break" my son by holding him when the nurse placed him in my arms. The only one there to support me through the whole experience was my older sister Lorena and my parents outside in the waiting room. Since I was a single mother, I viewed my son as very fragile, unprotected and depending on me for survival. That was were I grew up and I had to do it very quickly too. My son came to the world in November 1992. It was a natural birth and no medication was used. At that time, I was not aware the medication existed to make the birth less painful. All I could keep thinking in my head was that my beloved brave grandmother was able to go through this 15 times and survived, I was also going to come through just like her.
Since then, I had two other girls. So I went through this experience 3 times not 15 like grandma. All of my births were natural so I never knew what a cesarean feels like.
This lead me to research that topic and I came across an article that mentions China as being the Cesarean Nation.
In September 2010, the Chinese Web
portal Netease posted a page titled
“Why Are Chinese Women Afraid of Natural Childbirth?” The headline might have sounded hyperbolic, but
it was anything but. The World Health Organization had just released the results of a survey examining delivery
methods in Asia.
In Chinese hospitals
studied in 2007 and 2008, 46 % of babies were born through cesarean section—the
highest documented rate in the world.
Top reasons why
women in China might opt for cesarean section.
Reasons on the list included “I’d
like to have a natural birth, but I’m afraid it will influence my sex life.”, another reason was linked to culture such as my
mother-in-law is superstitious about dates and wants to pick the time of
birth.The primary reason on the
list was “everybody else is having surgery.”Although these reasons might sound lame, the similarities between the rate of China and the United States when it comes to cesarian births is not that far apart. According to the article; increased
numbers of cesarean births are hardly unique to China. The U.S. rate rose by 53% between 1996 and 2007, according to a recent report from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, nearly one
in three
American babies are born via cesarean section.
I believe this is a very interesting topic and by reading this I learned that cesarian sections can be part of a birth according to culture, peer pressure, and lack of education. I find this interesting because I used to think the only factors taken into consideration were exclusively linked to medical isues.
References
Cesarean Nation
The cautionary tale of
how China came to have the world's highest C-section rate.
Retrieved from
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/01/cesarean_nation_why_do_nearly_half_of_chinese_women_deliver_babies_via_c_section_.html
Wow! Those statistics are astounding! I also, used to think that C-sections were supposed to only be for medical reasons. Do they not understand the impact, even on development, if the baby is not quite ready? Or even the nurturing aspect of a mother, who's body needs to go into labor to start producing milk! How egotistical to worry about your future sex life or a specific date! Look at how many women in the past who had many babies naturally! I applaud your grandmother who had 15 miracles!
ReplyDelete