Childbirth Experiences

The birthing experience is personal, joyous, and a blessing. I love witnessing childbirth; I have attended six live births and I have given birth three times.  My last childbirth experience was eleven years ago with the birth of my daughter. It was very impressionable because although I had delivered my son four years earlier I was not mentally prepared for the pain I endured. My feelings were so hurt that the pain was much worse than I remember. I was induced and the labor progressed very quickly. I basically went from not being dilated to 10 within four hours. I wanted a natural birth but I didn’t think it would be possible because I was in so much discomfort.  I constantly asked my doctor to check my progress so it would be over; I recall he told me it wasn’t up to him that my body determined that. I looked at the clock saw it was 11:40 am and told him to come back at noon that I would be ready then.  Needlessly to say my doctor did not listen to my prediction and my mother had to grab a doctor from the hallway because she saw my daughter’s head coming. I delivered exactly at twelve o’clock. My doctor was right- it was up to my mind and body.  

That experience has made me realize two things: 1. a woman can greatly influence her childbirth experience, and 2. Epidurals can be a wonderful thing. I have seen the difference in labor with an epidural and without. It seems inhumane to suffer through labor without medicine to ease the pain.

In Ghana, W. Africa many women choose the former because of superstitions. Most births are at home or at local clinics. The women of the family are very involved in the birthing process; the mother giving birth does not have much control in the childbirth process. It is very important that only the family is around and that the mother (or anyone close to her) has not harmed or offended anyone so nothing bad will happen. The actual delivery could be in the tub, on the bed, floor, or squatting. In contrast, all my births were conventional in a hospital bed with medicine to progress my labor. One similarity between my childbirth experience and the Ghanaian childbirth is that afterwards my children were not named until the naming ceremony two weeks later. Until then the baby was only exposed to my parents and close relatives like Ghanaian tradition.  

I believe that birthing experiences can be a positive interaction that excites the family to help the baby develop into a happy and healthy person.