Childbirth In Your Life and Around The World

Personal Birthing Experience
For this assignment  I chose to write about the birthing experience of my nephew Elijah. I do not have any children of my own yet and I do not know a a lot about how my birthing experience went in detail. My Nephew Elijah is a child that we call a blessed child. His mother has a rare blood type and majority of the people with her blood type usually always have miscarriages; if there pregnancy is not detected within the first trimester. Before Elijah was conceived she had miscarried two other children. Once we found out that she was pregnant with Elijah we(family) were informed that there were shots that she could take that would help her carry to full term. My Family and I all supported her along with her family with the decision to have the shots to help her carry him full term. Already baby Elijah was receiving support from his Exosystems and Microsystem.
 I remember during the whole time she was was pregnant I would go sing to Elijah and talk to Elijah while he was still in the womb. The night she went in to labor both sides of the family were there to support her as she got ready to welcome him in to the new world. That night at the hospital was the longest night. She stayed in labor for over 17 hours. While she was in labor we all  took turns going up talking to her, getting ice, holding her hand, just giving her all of the support that she needed while she was in labor. I remember like it was yesterday when they said he had entered into the world. We all went up stairs and we got to hold him and talk to him and just nurture him so much. I remember holding his big, little hand and I remember how long and solid he was. He just brought so much joy to everyone's heart. Not only did I get to experience his birth I got to experiences the after birth of the placenta as well. That was a very interesting experience. It was like she was talking to us and next thing you know she was in pain and it came out.
I chose to talk about this experience because it was such a blessing to my sister-in-law and to the family. She had been through so much with the previous miscarriages that it was such a joyous  occasion when he came into the world. I think the birth of a child has a big impact on child development. When a child is born in a good environment and has the support of the family and friends, I believe this will allow for the child to have  healthy development. If that child is birthed in a safe place and is able to bond with the parents it will effect their development in a positive way. A healthy birth leads to healthy development.

Birthing in Korea
While doing some research on Birth's in Korea I found out that women there are encouraged to have male children;if they do not have male children they are looked down upon.  I learned that there a certain order that they go through to inform people that they are pregnant that is she has to tell the mother-in-law first, then the husband, then her own mother.  During the delivery the mother and a female relative is present and the father can come if he chooses to( Lee, 2008).  During the delivery process if the family lives in the city and can afford it they will use a midwife or doctor’s aide to deliver the baby, but if they  don't live close to the city they will have a home birth( Lee, 2008).  I learned that there are many taboos that are present when a mother becomes pregnant in Korea. They take heed in these taboos to ensure a healthy child and a healthy delivery. The mother is not allowed to do anything that is considered unclean which are: killing things, When using the restroom she has to not step over a straw rope, steal or do other mischievous things. If she does these things it is said that she will  have a difficult delivery, bear a child that may be retarded or diseased, or cause some other misfortune to happen to the family(Korean Embassy, 2000).
 They also believe certain foods such as rabbit, squid, crab, eggs and peaches  are considered to be harmful. When it gets close to the delivery the fireplace and holes in paper doors should not be repaired and if the parents see a burning house it is considered to be bad luck and it will effect the unborn child(Korean Embassy, 2000). To make sure that delivery is safe all doors are kept open, the husband's clothes are used as quilts, and they borrow clothes from women  who had an easy childbirth to cover the woman from the beginning of labor.  After the child is born the Placenta is burned under the house if they desire more children. If they do not want more children then it is buried in a sunny place on the side of the mountain away from the house. When they are determining  the sex of the baby it could be based on the mothers appearance, dream interpretation and calculations based on the age of the parents. In there culture they believe that if the mother dreams about horses, oxen, dragons, tigers, bears, or other large animals,she will have a boy and if she dreams about flowers or toys that girls play with then she will have a girl. After the Child is born they hang a straw rope called a kumchul across the gate of the house(Korean Embassy, 2000). If the child is a boy the rope is made with pine branches and red peppers; if it is a girl it will be made with charcoal. They hang this to keep out evil spirits and to warn people not to come into the house because a child was just born. The baby is kept in the house and away from strangers for the first year( Lee, 2008). After the birth of the child the mother is fed rice and seaweed soup just like the gods to aid in her recovery(Korean Embassy, 2000).
From my experience of birth in America to that of birth in Korea is quite different. A lot of families there have birth at home if they do not live close to the city or can afford it. Unlike in America after the baby is born everyone can just go and see him, but in Korea they are not allowed to do that until after about a year. Also I learned that the mother or a female cousin is allowed in while the birth is happening and the father can choose if he want to be there or not. In American you can have who you want in the birthing room and it is extremely important that the father is there for the delivery. I noticed that we do share some of the same taboos such as eating certain foods that could be considered harmful. After looking at how birth occurs in both citations I learned that we both have our own sets of taboos that we consider to have an affect in the birth and the development of the child. I learned that environment does play a major role in how the child may develop, for example in Korea the child is not exposed to other people until after a year, which could affect there development as far as emotional and social.







Refrences:
Korean Embassy. (2000). Birth. Retrieved from http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/cel/birth.htm 

 Lee, E. (2008). Pregnancy and child birth from the korean perspective. Retrieved from http://www.hawaii.hawaii.edu/nursing/RNKorean11.html