Child Birth Around the World

Because they only thing I know about my birth is that when I came out I had a head full of black hair and everyone called me Don King (oh the 80s) I am choosing to write about my friend Miaya giving birth to her twin boys (and my godsons). I was not in the actual delivery, there were complications, but I was there from start to finish and everything in between. I remember her sending me the ultra sound picture when she was only a few weeks along, asking me what I saw. A baby duh! I thought but then looked closer and saw TWO bubbles! Twins! We knew she was going to be a high risk pregnancy because she was with her older son so she was prepared and she prepared her job because she was going to be out for a while before and after the birth. Sure enough she was put on bed rest with still four months to go! She was in the hospital for two of those four months and then the twins (two boys) arrived over a month early. When the time came, it was an emergency because something was wrong with one of the boys. She didn't have time to have an epidural so natural it was. The first came out vaginally but he was the healthy twin, it was the one still in the belly that needed help. He was breech and would not turn, and his brothers cord was wrapped around his neck and when the brother came out, the cord tightened leaving him to loose oxygen. They had to do an emergency C-section to get him out. Yes, you heard that correctly. She had one naturally and one C-section. Needless to say she was messed up for a while after;) The whole experience was unsettling and nail biting, but once we found out all three were ok there was a sigh of relief. The twins had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, one longer than the other, but this year they just turned two and are as handsome and crazy as two year old boys should be!

 I do not have children of my own and do not plan to have children of my own so I do not really know how child birth affects the child's development except for special needs cases. I definitely think that with the hard experience Miaya went through she is a little more lenient on the boys. She is more cautious of them than she is with the older one.

I researched Germany's birthing customs. Midwives are more respected than doctors and are required to be at each birth whereas a doctor is not required to be there. Women who are pregnant take child birth seriously. They think of it as what they are meant to do so if something goes wrong and they have to have a C-section, they look at that as starting off on the wrong foot (or as a failure) because they were not strong enough or couldn't give birth naturally. If a mother has a full time job, if they tell their boss that they are pregnant they can not loose their job. They can take up to six weeks off before the birth and up to eight weeks off after with full pay! They can also take up to three years off after the birth unpaid but still have their job! That is a walk in the park compared to some places in the United States! I know at the preschool I work for you can take six weeks off after the birth but are expected to work as long as you can up until the day you give birth. Also maternity leave is unpaid but you can file for disability and get a portion of your check each month so that is a little something.

As I said before I do not have children and even though I work with children I have not spent a lot of time with infants so this is something very new to me. It has been exciting and a little scary learning about what these brave women go through!