Thursday, September 29, 2005

Imagine Giving Birth Like these African Females

When I was less than 34 wks pregnant, I went into kidney failure due to toxemia. My ob/gyn didn't want to add the additional stress of a Csection onto my already ailing body, so he induced my labor. Inducement = fake hormones are pumped into your bloodstream, the doc shoves a big crochet hook looking instrument up into you to break your water, and you shiver & shake and puke from these fake labor hormones being pumped rapidly into your body to open your cervix so you can push your baby out. I was in labor for almost 29 hrs, and in between pushing for nearly 6 hrs straight and vomiting, my ob/gyn finally used forceps to pluck my daughter from my pelvis, as she had (since she was rather tiny) gotten stuck in the curve of my pelvic bone. I was beyond exhausted. Simply put, it was the HARDEST physical thing I have ever done. I would do this all over again for my beautiful & amazingly fiesty lil girl, and while I'm in no rush to repeat this, I do realize I am very lucky in comparison to so many other mothers. Please read this NY Times piece on the plight of African females who are usually too small to have babies but are impregnanted anyway, and have to deliver their babies w/out the assistance of a doc, hospital, or midwife. The result? Dead babies and fistulas. What are fistulas? Well, due to the babies being lodged in their narrow birth canals, and the resulting pressure cutting off blood to vital tissues, holes are ripped in their bowels or urethras, or both, and there are nearly no drs available to fix this.
Posted by Tina :: 12:20 AM :: 4 Comments:

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