Childbirth-- In my life and around the world

I found out I was pregnant while visiting  my family in Ohio for Christmas in December of 2001.  I can't even begin to describe the excitement I felt at realizing I had a little baby growing inside of me.  I told my family after I had seen the doctor at my 9 week check-up and had the internal ultrasound completed.  I was in awe at looking at my little "bean" on the screen, and that is what we called him until he was born.  I went through all the typical prenatal care visits.  I was teaching 1st grade during my pregnancy and due to many illnesses in the classroom including Fifths Disease and shingles, I had numerous blood tests done to make sure that "bean" was developing ok and that I was not carrying the viruses.  When I reached the 9th month of pregnancy I started to see the doctor weekly.  She assured us that all was well and that baby was head down and ready to go. 

Here is a picture of me during the last month of my preganacy.

My due date was September 3 of 2002.   I finished the school year and taught summer school but was not scheduled to teach the 2002/2003 school year.  I woke up on August 28, 2002 unsure if I was having bladder control issues or if my water had broken.  I called the doctor and she said to go to the hospital and they could check for me.  She was pretty certain that my water had broken because the leaking was continuous.  We packed the car with my large exercise ball, suitcase and baby carseat...just in case.  They admitted me to the maternity ward..  The doctor came in to examine me and said she'd be back after I had progressed but she was going to her office to see other patients.  The nurse came in to hook me up to all the monitors.  While hooking up the baby monitor she commented that she had to place it high on my stomach which made her feel the baby was not properly placed for a natural delivery.  She got the ultrasound machine and sure enough "bean" was breech.  She called the doctor back and they prepped me for a c-section delivery.  I had called my family in Ohio to let them know I was at the hospital at about 8:00 am (West coast time).  Aaron James Hoffman was born at 11:45 am on August 28, 2002.  My parents were so surprised to get a call only a few hours later.  I then explained that Aaron was born by c-section because he was breech.  I went to the hospital expecting to have hours and hours of labor, only to have my baby shortly after arriving.  I never experienced any contractions and in fact they were going to start a pitocin drip to start my contractions but luckily the nurse realized the baby was not head down. 

Here is a picture of Aaron right after delivery.

He was perfect!!!!!  I am not upset that I missed out on the experience of labor and a natural delivery.  I didn't know Aaron was breech so I still got to experience the unknown date as to when he would actually be born.

Here is Aaron and I in recovery.

I will never forget the experience...the feeling of being pregnant, the anticipation of waiting to meet the "bean" that had been growing, developing and moving in me.  Aaron was in constant motion while I was pregnant and he hasn't stopped moving since he was born. 

My pregnancy with Alex was uncomplicated as well.  The biggest difference in his arrival was I knew when it was going to happen.  My doctor had suggested since Aaron was c-section that I should do a c-section delivery as well for my second child.  It was nice knowing when we were going to get to meet Alex.  It was also nice because my sister flew out from Ohio to California and took care of Aaron for me while I was in the hospital with Alex.  I think she was pretty excited to get to be there the day Alex was born. 

Here is a picture of Alex...born January 16, 2004 in Mountain View California.

I will never forget the birthing experience of either of my sons.  I treasure those memories, pictures and even the videos.  Our doctor was nice enough to allow video of each birth from beginning to end.  I watch them every year on their birthday. 

Both of my children were born in a hospital setting with proper prenatal care, prenatal vitamins and nutrition.   My sons were both born in California.  There are many midwife options in CA as well but I chose the traditional route of using a doctor and a hospital.  My friend, however chose a water delivery.  She used a midwife, doula and went to a birthing center that specialized in water delivery.  The baby was born but experienced difficulty breathing shortly after.  He was rushed to the hospital and admitted.  He had a hole in his heart that was later fixed with surgery.  Wilder is fine and healthy now.  A few years after Wilder's birth they moved to Costa Rica.  They did not have a hospital near their village.  They debated on coming back to The States to have their second child or having him in Costa Rica.  They opted for Costa Rica but decided against a home birth or water birth.  After experiencing complications with their first son they chose to have their second son in a Costa Rican hospital.  They stayed at a hotel a few weeks before their second son was born and had him in a sterile environment. Sage was born with no complications and perfectly healthy.  Had they not experienced complications with their first son's health right after delivery they would have opted for another water or possibly a home birth.  Being in a different country, far from a hospital, they chose to be safe and start everything out in the hospital environment.

I chose Costa Rica as the region to study regarding prenatal care and birth.  According to World Bank 89.9% of women in Costa Rica received prenatal care in 2008.  They consider prenatal care to mean the women saw a doctor at least once during their pregnancy.  When I talked about my prenatal care, I saw the doctor every month for the first 7 months, then twice a month for 2 months then weekly until the baby was born. According to the tradingeconomics.com website 98.5% of births in Costa Rica in 2005 were conducted by skilled health personnel.  They define skilled health staff as "personnel trained to give the necessary supervision, care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period; to conduct deliveries on their own; and to care for newborns" (tradingeconomics.com).  That does not mean by a doctor, that could be a midwife or doula as well.  Greg Connelly cites very similar statistics in his work for the Global Health Council.  He states "in 2001 the average life expectancy at birth in Costa Rica was 76.6 years.  In 2000, 97% of births were attended by skilled professionals, 89% of the pregnant women were given prenatal care, and 93% of children under 1 had health insurance (Connelly, 2002).  Costa Rica is working to improve the life expectancy, prenatal care, care given to women during births as well as continued health care for children after they are born.  This is very similar to what I experieced as a prenant woman in the US and what my friend experienced as an American woman giving birth in Costa Rica.

References:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/costa-rica/pregnant-women-receiving-prenatal-care-percent-wb-data.html

Connelly, G. (2002).  Costa Rican health care a maturing comprehensive system. Global Health Council. Retrieved from http://www.cehat.org/rthc/paper5.htm