Birthing Experience

My Experience

I was a teen mom with my first child.  I got pregnant during my senior year of high school.  I was so scared that I did not tell anyone until I was almost 3 months pregnant so I did not receive prenatal care until I was almost 4 months along.  Since I was a teen mom, in school, and unmarried, my experience was not optimal.  I went to a clinic for the pregnancy test and then went to a local doctor for the duration of my pregnancy.  I finished high school and then married the father during the pregnancy and it was comforting to have him by my side during the labor and delivery.

During my 6th month I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  This was very hard for me to control.  Since we were young and broke I didn't have the best diet and that constantly contributed to my high glucose readings.  I was finally able to control the diabetes with diet and medication.  My son was born, 3 weeks late, on December 4th, 1983.  He weighed 9 pounds and 13 ounces and was 21 inches long.  My labor lasted about 7 hours and the nurse actually delivered him because the doctor did not make it to the delivery room in time.  He was the loudest and biggest baby in the nursery.  Although I was very worried about becoming a mom, it was love at first sight.  He was, and still is, one of the biggest miracles to ever occur in my life. 

I talked with one of my co-workers about her birth experience and prenatal care.  She is from Mexico and has been in our country for 4 years.  Her first child was born in Mexico and her last 2 children were born in the US.  She told me that she did not receive any prenatal care for her son in Mexico because her family could not afford it.  Her mother and her cousin, who is a midwife, delivered her son at her mother's house.  She did take him to the doctor when he was 10 days old because he had a fever.  She said that the birth of her son was as sanitary as conditions would allow but not as sanitary as she would have liked.  She told me that she much preferred the births of her 2 daughters in the US and that she received regular prenatal care with both of them.  She worries about her sisters who are still in Mexico and hopes that they will be able to relocate to the US before they have their children.  She says that our medical system is much safer and cleaner.

Mexico is pushing for safer births by training midwifes to work in the more rural parts of Mexico.  Mexico is ranked 91st in the world in infant mortality.  Please see the link below. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/09/22/mexico-pushes-for-safer-births.html