Poverty causes stress on everyone involved. The constant feelings of not having enough money, unhealthy living conditions, and the feelings of not being in control of one's life can cause chronic stress for adults and other family members (Leonard, 2009). I have firsthand experience as to how poverty or lack of money can affect all members of a family including children.
My parents were teenagers when my mother found out that she was pregnant with me. They were not married, did not yet have high school diplomas, and were not ready to support a family. However, they did what they thought was right and got married. They were working minimum wage jobs and living with family in the beginning. The stress of not having the money to support a family caused my parents to fight a lot. They were teenagers trying to live like mature adults. Two years later, my sister was born. The lack of money continued to cause my parents extreme stress and eventually they ended up divorcing. My mother was 22 years old with a 4 year-old and a 2 year-old with nowhere to go. We lived with my grandmother for years, and my mother was not around very much. I remember missing her at night the most. We lived with seven people in a small trailer. I recall not being able to have friends over, never having new clothes, feeling insecure and worried, and wanting my childhood to be different. Poverty definitely caused me a great deal of stress as a child.
As I became a teenager and an adult, I decided to let my experiences with poverty lead me in a different direction in life. I decided that I did not want to continue to live my life in poverty, so I made choices that lead me in a new direction. I found a way to get a college education and have established a family with an amazing man who wants the same things in life as I do. Fortunately, Americans have opportunities to rise above poverty that people in other countries to not.
Unfortunately, poverty affects millions of people all over the world. One in two people in Sub Saharan Africa survive on less than a dollar a day. Less than 50% of Africans have access to a hospital and one in every six children die before they are five years old. Only approximately 50% of children go to primary education and only one in every three children finish school. 33% of the African population suffers from malnutrition and 300 million do not have access to safe water. So, although some Americans struggle to support a family, we have wonderful government assistance as well as organizations to help families in poverty. Many other countries do not have these benefits, so there families are in severe poverty with no way out.
References:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/3880
http://www.food4africa.org/index.asp?pgid=42
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Anyone who has children has heard about the many benefits to breastfeeding. What they don't tell you is the many complications that you may experience. A new mother's decision about breastfeeding depends a great deal on her experiences during the first few weeks (Berger, 2009). There are studies that show that many women in the United States want to breastfeed, but it sometimes is not always practical due to early difficulties. However, in countries like Sweden and Norway 98% of new mothers begin breastfeeding and 70% are still doing it after six months times. In these countries, the social acceptance, supportive medical practices, and extended maternity leave help women to experience success (Boston Women's Health Book Collective, 2005).
The benefits of breastfeeding are endless. Babies that are breastfed are less likely to get sick because of the antibodies in the mother's breast milk. Breastfeeding decrease risks of many illnesses and diseases such as: childhood asthma, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and heart disease (Berger, 2009). Additional benefits include easier digestion because the fats and sugars in breast milk make it easier to digest than prepared formula. Also, breastfeeding helps to create an immediate bond between mother and infant. A survey found that in the United States parents of babies that are breastfed are more likely to be married, educated people (Berger, 2009). Most doctors worldwide highly recommend breastfeeding an infant for the first four to six months (Berger, 2009).
Once again, this topic is really important to me because of the decisions I have made and will make as a mother. When my first child was born, the delivery was extremely traumatic. Breastfeeding was difficult from the beginning, but I tried to hang in there. I breastfed him for the first six weeks of his life before beginning to supplement formula. When my second son was born, I was determined that he at least deserved the same. However, he had trouble with acid reflux, and it was scary at times. I also managed to make it six weeks before beginning to supplement formula. To many people this is probably not long enough, but for me I had to make the best decisions for my family. I had to go back to work after a short maternity leave with both of the boys. Teaching is definitely not an easy job for breastfeeding mothers. So, this was a determining factor for me. However, as many of you know, I am expecting my third child in May. This course, along with other factors, has encouraged me to see if I can breastfeed six months this time. I am planning to stay home for a year or so after having the baby, so it seems more practical this time. A part of me feels guilty for not allowing my sons the continued benefits, but I am thankful to have healthy, happy children. Breastfeeding was not a pleasurable experience for me in the past, so I am planning to stay positive and hoping for an easier experience this time around. Wish me luck!
In the future, I could use my knowledge of breastfeeding to support mothers of children in my center. I would try to make it as easy as possible for them to bring a supply of breast milk and make sure their babies received the breast milk when needed. I will also make sure that I support other employees in my center that are breastfeeding as long as they need it.
References:
Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Excerpted from Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era, Copyright © 2005, Boston Women's Health Book Collective. Retrieved at http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=31
The benefits of breastfeeding are endless. Babies that are breastfed are less likely to get sick because of the antibodies in the mother's breast milk. Breastfeeding decrease risks of many illnesses and diseases such as: childhood asthma, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and heart disease (Berger, 2009). Additional benefits include easier digestion because the fats and sugars in breast milk make it easier to digest than prepared formula. Also, breastfeeding helps to create an immediate bond between mother and infant. A survey found that in the United States parents of babies that are breastfed are more likely to be married, educated people (Berger, 2009). Most doctors worldwide highly recommend breastfeeding an infant for the first four to six months (Berger, 2009).
Once again, this topic is really important to me because of the decisions I have made and will make as a mother. When my first child was born, the delivery was extremely traumatic. Breastfeeding was difficult from the beginning, but I tried to hang in there. I breastfed him for the first six weeks of his life before beginning to supplement formula. When my second son was born, I was determined that he at least deserved the same. However, he had trouble with acid reflux, and it was scary at times. I also managed to make it six weeks before beginning to supplement formula. To many people this is probably not long enough, but for me I had to make the best decisions for my family. I had to go back to work after a short maternity leave with both of the boys. Teaching is definitely not an easy job for breastfeeding mothers. So, this was a determining factor for me. However, as many of you know, I am expecting my third child in May. This course, along with other factors, has encouraged me to see if I can breastfeed six months this time. I am planning to stay home for a year or so after having the baby, so it seems more practical this time. A part of me feels guilty for not allowing my sons the continued benefits, but I am thankful to have healthy, happy children. Breastfeeding was not a pleasurable experience for me in the past, so I am planning to stay positive and hoping for an easier experience this time around. Wish me luck!
In the future, I could use my knowledge of breastfeeding to support mothers of children in my center. I would try to make it as easy as possible for them to bring a supply of breast milk and make sure their babies received the breast milk when needed. I will also make sure that I support other employees in my center that are breastfeeding as long as they need it.
References:
Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Excerpted from Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era, Copyright © 2005, Boston Women's Health Book Collective. Retrieved at http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=31
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Childbirth- My Experience and Experiences in the Netherlands
My First Experience with Childbirth
When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I could not have been happier. We wanted everything to be perfect including the way he entered the world. Like other first time parents, we were nervous about the actual delivery. So, we took all of the classes offered to us. We went to the child birthing classes and understood the options we had when it came to deliver. We toured the hospital and talked with the lactation nurses. We packed our bags several weeks before my due date and had everything ready at home.
The week of my due date I was concerned by the sudden lack of movement from the baby. I stopped by the doctor's office daily to hear the heartbeat. After several days of little movement, the doctor did a stress test on the baby and decided to induce me on my due date. We left the doctor's office that day with mixed emotions. We were so excited to meet our precious baby, but anxious about the delivery.
We spent the night at the hospital, and I was given sleeping pills to help me relax. However, I was up most of the night and in pain some of the time. The next morning the nurses began giving me Pitocin to induce labor. I was given an epidural for pain in late afternoon, and by late that night my water broke and I was fully dilated. As I began to push, nurses realized that the epidural had numbed me so much that I could not feel any contractions. This began to be a problem when I wanted to sleep rather than give birth. The baby would not come down into the birth canal. After two hours of trying to deliver the baby, I got a fever and the baby's heart rate became very fast. Because the baby seemed to be in distress, there was an emergency C-section planned. All of a sudden, everything seemed to be happening so fast, and we were terrified. I was given a second epidural at this point in order to go in for surgery. During the surgery, I was given several other medications to help with various things. The baby was born in the middle of the night, and I remember very little about the next 24 hours. We were at the hospital a total of five days before we were able to bring our new bundle of joy home.
I chose this example because it was my first experience with childbirth, and it was a very stressful situation. I was thinking I was going to try natural childbirth up until the day I entered the hospital. Without medical care, this delivery could have gone terribly wrong. I was so thankful to be in a hospital with great care. There are several things that could have happened to affect the baby's development, but in my case the care I was given during my delivery saved the baby's life. My son is a healthy, smart boy who loves to play sports. It always amazes me how vivid this experience is in my mind.....a memory that I will never forget!
Childbirth in the Netherlands
After reading about childbirth in the Netherlands, I realized that there are many differences from childbirth in the United States. First, expectant mothers see a midwife instead of seeing an obstetrician, unless there is a high-risk pregnancy. Second, Dutch women have a choice as to whether they want to deliver at home or at the hospital. More than half of women choose to deliver at home. In fact, all women are required to pick up the medical supplies for a home deliver. If the mother chooses to deliver at the hospital, the midwife will make a home visit to decide when hospital care is necessary. If a hospital delivery is chosen, it is unlikely that the mother would get an epidural. The majority of all Dutch women have natural childbirth.
This kind of delivery is obviously the complete opposite of what I experienced. It would be nice to be in the privacy of your own home for delivery, but I would worry about the lack of medical care. There is such a sense of security knowing that the doctors and resources are there if I or the baby needed them. Another major difference that I noticed as I read is that if there are no complications in the hospital deliver in the Netherlands, the mother and baby can leave as early as two hours after delivery. In the U.S, it is at least two days before you are dismissed, and in my case, we were there for five days. The last difference in childbirth in these two countries is that in the Netherlands a nurse comes to the new parents' home to provide medical care and also cleans, cooks, and gives advice for the first seven days after delivery. Now that would be nice!
http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/
When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I could not have been happier. We wanted everything to be perfect including the way he entered the world. Like other first time parents, we were nervous about the actual delivery. So, we took all of the classes offered to us. We went to the child birthing classes and understood the options we had when it came to deliver. We toured the hospital and talked with the lactation nurses. We packed our bags several weeks before my due date and had everything ready at home.
The week of my due date I was concerned by the sudden lack of movement from the baby. I stopped by the doctor's office daily to hear the heartbeat. After several days of little movement, the doctor did a stress test on the baby and decided to induce me on my due date. We left the doctor's office that day with mixed emotions. We were so excited to meet our precious baby, but anxious about the delivery.
We spent the night at the hospital, and I was given sleeping pills to help me relax. However, I was up most of the night and in pain some of the time. The next morning the nurses began giving me Pitocin to induce labor. I was given an epidural for pain in late afternoon, and by late that night my water broke and I was fully dilated. As I began to push, nurses realized that the epidural had numbed me so much that I could not feel any contractions. This began to be a problem when I wanted to sleep rather than give birth. The baby would not come down into the birth canal. After two hours of trying to deliver the baby, I got a fever and the baby's heart rate became very fast. Because the baby seemed to be in distress, there was an emergency C-section planned. All of a sudden, everything seemed to be happening so fast, and we were terrified. I was given a second epidural at this point in order to go in for surgery. During the surgery, I was given several other medications to help with various things. The baby was born in the middle of the night, and I remember very little about the next 24 hours. We were at the hospital a total of five days before we were able to bring our new bundle of joy home.
I chose this example because it was my first experience with childbirth, and it was a very stressful situation. I was thinking I was going to try natural childbirth up until the day I entered the hospital. Without medical care, this delivery could have gone terribly wrong. I was so thankful to be in a hospital with great care. There are several things that could have happened to affect the baby's development, but in my case the care I was given during my delivery saved the baby's life. My son is a healthy, smart boy who loves to play sports. It always amazes me how vivid this experience is in my mind.....a memory that I will never forget!
Childbirth in the Netherlands
After reading about childbirth in the Netherlands, I realized that there are many differences from childbirth in the United States. First, expectant mothers see a midwife instead of seeing an obstetrician, unless there is a high-risk pregnancy. Second, Dutch women have a choice as to whether they want to deliver at home or at the hospital. More than half of women choose to deliver at home. In fact, all women are required to pick up the medical supplies for a home deliver. If the mother chooses to deliver at the hospital, the midwife will make a home visit to decide when hospital care is necessary. If a hospital delivery is chosen, it is unlikely that the mother would get an epidural. The majority of all Dutch women have natural childbirth.
This kind of delivery is obviously the complete opposite of what I experienced. It would be nice to be in the privacy of your own home for delivery, but I would worry about the lack of medical care. There is such a sense of security knowing that the doctors and resources are there if I or the baby needed them. Another major difference that I noticed as I read is that if there are no complications in the hospital deliver in the Netherlands, the mother and baby can leave as early as two hours after delivery. In the U.S, it is at least two days before you are dismissed, and in my case, we were there for five days. The last difference in childbirth in these two countries is that in the Netherlands a nurse comes to the new parents' home to provide medical care and also cleans, cooks, and gives advice for the first seven days after delivery. Now that would be nice!
http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)