The birthing experience I have decided to talk about is the birth of my oldest child. The reason I think her birth sticks out more than the other two is because she was my first child. I remember going to Lamaze classes with my husband, he was the only male in the class so of course he had to be the class clown. Needless to say he really didn’t pay attention so when the time came when I went into labor he didn’t have a clue what to do. It was a Sunday morning, and I wasn’t feeling good so I decided to stay home from church. He decided that was the perfect excuse to go to Erie, PA. We live two hours from Erie. I told him that I didn’t think it was a good idea and that I was having contractions. He decided since they weren’t that close together we could make it up and back before the contractions got too bad. We got half way there when I screamed “I REALLY DON’T THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA!” He finally asked how close they were. The contractions were 5 minutes apart. We made it to the hospital in record time. By the time they checked me I was at 3 centimeters and it was 3:00pm. At 4pm I was 4 centimeters, 5pm I was 5 centimeters and so on. Throughout this wonderful time of being in labor, it took 3 times and an hour to get finally get my epidural in my back, my husband almost passing out while they tried to get the epidural in me. The next thing that happened was my daughter’s heart rate went down so I had to lay on my side facing the wall. I started getting feeling back in my legs and told the nurse that I thought something was wrong with my epidural and she told me it was fine. My husband spent most of his time with his family and ignored me, his wife who was the reason we were at the hospital to begin with. At 9:00pm when they came to check me, my husband decided I would probably only be at 9 centimeters so he left the room and went outside to get fresh air. Needless to say, I was 10 centimeters and it was time to push, a nurse had to go find him. The nurses finally realized that what I was saying about my epidural was correct, it had been leaking onto the floor so I had some feeling back when it was time to push. In the process of pushing my daughter decided to show that she really didn’t want to come out. She had turned just a little bit but just enough I couldn’t push her out without help. The doctor tried the vacuum/suction and every time it came off her head I felt it and she would shake her head in the birth canal. It was a very strange feeling. Next he had to use the forceps, this worked and my beautiful baby girl was born. She had a cone-shaped head for awhile because of the vacuum/suction and bruises on both of her cheeks from the forceps. I knew from the first time I saw her that she was going to be a handful. She had a mind of her own even before she was born and six years later nothing has changed.
I researched how childbirth is similar and different in Thailand. It was interesting because I assumed that it would still be a lot of home births but in the example I found on the UNICEF website, it is 90% hospital births. I found it interesting that registering the child’s birth was a very important issue. Here in the United States the hospitals make sure each family get the paperwork and gets it filled out after birth. That was one thing I didn’t have to worry about.
Among the many things on the “to do” list of 30-year-old Namaoy Satrom, who the day before had given birth to a healthy baby girl at Udon Thani Provincial Hospital, was something she had never realized the importance of before: registering her child’s birth (UNICEF, 2010). “The nurse kept reminding me to register my baby at birth,” said Namaoy, an Udon Thani farmer. “I didn’t understand before that my child could miss out on many important things in life if she doesn’t have a birth certificate (UNICEF, 2010).”
Namaoy was one of thousands of parents in Thailand who are still unaware of the need to officially register the birth of their children with local authorities. Some parents confuse the delivery certificate they receive from the hospital when their children are born with the official birth certificate issued by the civil registrar office. In order to receive a birth certificate, the parents or relatives of a newborn must bring the delivery certificate to the local civil registrar’s office so that the birth can be officially recorded (UNICEF, 2010).
A reproductive health survey carried out last year by the National Statistical Office found that more than 90 per cent of children in Thailand are born at hospitals. However, an estimated 5 per cent of children born each year, about 40,000 children, are not registered at birth. These births are not being registered even though the law states that any child born in Thailand, including to non-Thai parents or parents who have no legal status, has the right to be registered and to obtain a birth certificate (UNICEF, 2010).
What a great story to tell your daughter! I hope your husband was better when you went into labor for your other two.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that you have to register your child in Thailand. I am very thankful the hospital had all the paperwork I needed to fill out so I know it was all set when I left to take my children home.