Birth story #1
My first interviewee described her birth as "bliss" because she had a c-section and never had to feel any pain because it numbed her...until the next day when the epidural wore off. She described her body's changes as she gained a lot of weight and had a very large baby (10 lbs) hence the c-section. She spoke about needing a lot of help after having the c-section since she couldn't hold the baby for the first week, which didn't make her feel "self sufficient". She felt she was treated well by family and friends whose support and love helped her get through the pregnancy being that she is a single parent. It helped to have their help and support and wish she would have know how much help she would have needed the first week after giving birth and would have probably gotten a baby nurse, knowing what she knows now.
It seems that the pregnancy experience can be a little harder for single expecting mothers. They require a lot more help and support being that it's only the mom and the baby ,so having people through the process is a big plus.
Birth Story #2
For this interviewee, she described her all three of her births as "easy". She spoke of working right up until the day before giving birth to one of her children. She was in labor for only two hours and remembers laughing the entire time the doctor instructed her to push the baby out. She required no epidural because she wasn't in pain for any of her births. She had all natural births , including a premature birth which was unexpected. She spoke of her husband missing the birth of one of her children because she wasn't in labor for long and by the time he showed up , she had already given birth. Sidenote: The father feels really bad about missing the that birth and wishes he were there for it. The nurses also felt bad so they allowed the baby to spent the night with the mother and father which wasn't allowed.She also spoke of having her children in private hospitals , where she didn't have to share a room with anyone.
It seems like births are special and not to be missed. The pregnancy and birthing experiences are different for every women in terms of the hours of labor and whether or not it's a painful ordeal. Also having a premature baby can be a very scary thing and unexpected thing.
Birth story # 3
This interviewee described her baby as a "surprise" . She also spoke about having the "baby blues" after giving birth. Noting that she cried a lot for first few weeks and had lots of ups and downs in terms of her mood. She also had a lot of doubt through out the pregnancy , wondering if she would be a good mother or if the baby would be healthy. She became very paranoid and remember reading a lot of baby books and stuff off of the internet on nutrition and what to expect with the baby. She also remembers having conversations with other expecting moms and mothers who already went through pregnancy and birth. She also took prenatal classes.
It makes me think that it doesn't hurt to tap into all of your resources while pregnant. It can help to prepare and know what to expect while for the birth and having first hand accounts of people who have gone through the same experience can make the process easier.
Your post was well written and well structured. The part that I found insightful was "She spoke about needing a lot of help after having the c-section since she couldn't hold the baby for the first week, which didn't make her feel 'self sufficient'." It draws on our conversation in class about how we might demean women by helping them too much, this shows that maybe women don't want ALL of the help that they get. This would be an interesting thing to look into.
ReplyDeleteYour style of writting was graceful, particularly in the way that you began each chunk. Begining with one word to sum up your interviewee's feelings gave me a sense that you were truly interested in what they had to say and made me interested in what other things the person may have to say. The most insightful part to me was "She also had a lot of doubt through out the pregnancy , wondering if she would be a good mother or if the baby would be healthy." To me, this is not a feeling that would dominate my thought if I was in that situation, i may be fearful of the future however I would be optimistic. I would look forward to the future and try to find ways to make the whole process easier, rather than adding stress that can be avoided.
ReplyDeleteLarche,
ReplyDeleteYour style of writing was very fluent and it really showed me that you got a good understanding of what you were writing about. I really thought that your interviewees responses were great and it kept me very interested through out your post. I think your most insightful lines were, "For this interviewee, she described her all three of her births as "easy". She spoke of working right up until the day before giving birth to one of her children. "