Global Birth Club: April Update
Marie-Ange, our midwife-friend from Haiti, Chennifer, our full-time working mom from Florida, Norah, our stay-at-home mom in Uganda and Erin, Every Mother Counts Executive Director answer our questions for April.
This month’s meeting of our Global Birth Club is all about making plans, looking back and thinking ahead. Marie-Ange, our midwife-friend from Haiti, Chennifer, our full-time working mom from Florida, Norah, our stay-at-home mom in Uganda and Erin, Every Mother Counts Executive Director answer our questions for April. We centered the conversation this month on family planning to learn how everyone’s viewpoints and future plans differ based on age, beliefs and current number of children in their families. Check out those pictures and see how their bellies are growing.
April: Was this a planned pregnancy? Do you plan to have more children? If you have other children: Where did you deliver your other child(ren)? Did you experience complications? Would you recommend that experience to a friend or family member?
Answers:
Marie-Ange: My husband and I planned this pregnancy. I am pretty sure that this will be my last child! My four-year-old daughter was born at the hospital, and, fortunately, I didn’t have any complications with her. I recommend that experience to people every day at work. Most women in Haiti give birth at home, but I think that is so important for them to be in a hospital setting. I especially encourage the matròns (home birth attendants) to bring their patients to the hospital. They can run into frequent complications and dangerous situations, so I highly recommend that they go to the hospital!
Cheneffer: It wasn’t really a planned pregnancy, but I’m happy I’m have another one. I have one child — his name is Aaden — who just turned two in March and to see him growing up without a sibling is hard. I grew up with four sisters and one brother. So i’m happy he will have someone to play with and they can grow up like brother and sister.
My first delivery was at Winnie Palmer hospital here in Orlando. Aaden was due March 24th, but due to me working and moving around a lot, I went into labour early on March 10th. He wasn’t born until March 11th. There were no complications during my labor [and] I had him vaginally — healthy 8 lb., 3 oz. baby. The experience was wonderful for me, I would recommend the experience to friend or family member. Giving birth is the best joy/experience ever!
Norah: I delivered my other baby at Padre Pio Health Center III and had no complications. The Health workers cared for me well and I had a normal delivery to a healthy baby. I did not make any particular plans to bear this pregnancy. I just saw myself miss menstrual cycles and became suspicious. However, immediately I thanked God for the replacement as I had earlier lost a child. Of now I have only one child and this will be a second one [in addition to the baby that died at one month old from diarrhea]. The plan with my husband is at least four children. We are not sure of their spacing ahead, as children are a blessing from God.
I encourage and recommend that all mothers should go for antenatal visits and deliver in health units. I recommend to all women in reproductive age to take every pregnancy as special and unique, seek medical care in time and follow directives up to delivery. We all love healthy pregnancy and baby.
Erin: This was a planned pregnancy and I very much plan it to be the last. We thought long and hard about trying for the third child and ended up deciding it was what we wanted. I’ve been pretty lucky that my body has contributed to my type A personality planning. I managed to run the last marathon and squeeze in a trip to Uganda then get pregnant right afterwards as hoped.
Both of my other children were delivered in a hospital. The first was a breech baby. She had been head-down until the last week, and then we did every silly and painful thing to try to turn her but to no avail. So I delivered via c-section. On the second I have to admit I was scared out of trying to deliver vaginally and ended up with another c-section, but it all went well. I’ve had the same Ob-Gyn with each birth and adore and trust her so I felt good about the decision in the end. I like to say I’m one of those who didn’t have a complication but can still see myself in the “what if” category of births. My first daughter MAY have delivered just fine even though she was breech but she may not have — and I consider myself so lucky that I didn’t have to find out the hard way. And my second daughter may have been absolutely find through a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), but we had the option to make a choice that at the time we felt was safest for all involved. I consider myself so fortunate for that. I think in terms of what I’d recommend, I’d just say it’s such an individual thing. I strongly believe women should seek out a skilled provider to give birth of course, but there are so many options for how to do that and different levels of care she can seek. I think having information and access to various options is the most important thing.
Click here to read the stories of all our Global Birth Club members.
