Childbirth

The women of Laos do not have the options as we do in the United States. Some women live in Villages and are not able to get to a health facility for they are nearly four days away. Many women suffer complications and had still borns and miscarriages. "Only 18 percent of all Lao births are attended by health care professionals (Iverson,2009) . Women who live near the hospitals are very lucky because they are able to recieve the medical attention she and the baby needs. Midvives are hard to come by but some women are able to give birth with the help of them. Some women face too much of risk, especially after having prior complication and the midwifes advise they seek medical attention in a health facility. a
For the most part, most women just  choose to stay and give birth at home due to such an ordeal. " Only 86 trained midwives -- in a country about the size of the United Kingdom and with some 5.6 million people – and just a handful of hospitals are equipped to deal with difficult complications during childbirths" (Iverson, 2009).  



MY OWN BIRTHING EXPERIENCE

My husband and I were so happy that I was finally pregnant as well as my Doctor. I attended every visit to the Doctors and everything seemed well. Few months into the pregnancy, I received a cal from the Doctor asking for me to come in. My husband and I were told that I would have to consider having an Amniocentisis done because there may be some defects Down Syndrome. "How can this happen, you are healthy as a horse, my husband said upset. Prior to the pregnancy, I was told I would not be able to have any children and this is something we did not want to hear. We went and had the amniocentisis done and they later told us the baby was ok and that I would have a complicated birth. Months went by and it got to the point that I had to keep going in for stress test and had to lay down at home on my left side. It turned out the baby was not receiving enough food and oxygen. "Why is this happening and all we would ask ourselves." After close observation and many visits, it was time for the baby to come. At full term, I had to be induced. My husband was so excited he borrowed a video camera from a relative and we were able to record the whole experience. It is Monday morning at 10:00, and I was given my first dosage of petocin. After many checks, the nurses still saw that I was not dialating enough. After that point, I do not remember what happened, I know they broke my water that night and gave me an epidural, but later that night around 12, nurses came running in the room. It was the baby's heart beat. They were concerned because it kept dropping. My husband was doing everything he could to keep me calmed and relaxed. At that point they were saying they may have to do a C-section. Anothter nurse asked if I could feel contractions and had me to start pushing. After to many pushes, my son was born Tuesday at 1:30 am. He weighed 5lbs 10oz. He was small but he was healthy. We are blessed to have Michael and our other son, which without an amniocentisis and heart rate, had the same birthing experience. Both induced. Our oldest son has some learning disabilities, ADHD and OCD, non from which we have been told not associated with the birth.