Children and Natural Disasters

Growing up I lived in a family that did not have enough money for much of anything and with parents that were dysfunctional at best and very abusive to each other, but I did not have to deal with any form of a natural disaster. However, when my daughter was 2 ½ we experienced a hurricane that took our home. For the first half of Hurricane Wilma we were forced to hide in our closet because the wind blew in our picture window and sliding glass door. Shortly after that part of the roof was ripped off and our house was flooding. When the eye of the storm passed over we were able to go across the street to my in-laws house and ride out the rest of the storm there but these events were very stressful for my daughter. In the months after the storm my daughter would not leave my side. I could not go to school, the grocery store or even the bathroom without her. If I did leave her side she would either cry or hide under a bed until I returned. The loss of everything she owned, including her home, clothes and toys affected her in a very serious way. Now, at the age of 11, she doesn’t even remember that storm or the affect that those events had on her but when she hears about severe storms or is caught in a lightning storm she tends to get a little bit skittish.

Living in America I was able to provide for my daughter, even having lost everything. Those that live in other countries (underdeveloped countries) may not have those possibilities. Even though I did not have a home I had family that was able to let me put a roof over my daughters head. They were also able to help me feed her until I was able to get back on my feet and provide for her myself. People living in underdeveloped countries may not have those privileges and if the children of natural disasters cannot get the things that they need they may be affected by the memories of what they went through much more than my daughter. 

Vaccinating Saves Lives

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a question that parents ponder every day and the big problem is whether or not there is a right answer. Some people believe that vaccinating causes problems such as Autism while others believe that it is the best decision for their family. The thing with vaccinations is that there is no in between, you are either for vaccinating or you are not. I believe that vaccines are extremely important and until someone can prove definitively that it is harmful to my children I will continue to vaccinate my children. The idea of vaccinating became taboo when a study was published by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998. Over the course of the next 12 years it was proven that Wakefield falsified parts of his study and that of the 12 children in his study 5 of them had developmental problems before the study bean and 3 of them never even had autism. It was also found that Wakefield received more than $650,000 from lawyers that were involved in his study (procon.org, 2014). So to say that vaccinations are dangerous and cause autism is a little extreme considering the fact that the study that started the whole controversy was a complete fraud.

            While I do believe that vaccines are important and believe that most children should be vaccinated I also understand that some children should not be vaccinated. Like any other medication there are going to be children who have an adverse reaction to these medications. Both of my children are allergic to penicillin, my daughter worse than my son, but they both have a reaction so it makes sense for me to avoid penicillin and anything made with penicillin to keep them safe. Parents who have to face their child’s heath being put in danger just to give them a mediation should not vaccinate however, I believe that all other parents should not take this decision lightly. In developing countries where vaccines are not affordable children are dying of all kinds of sicknesses that can be avoided and here in America we take them for granted and try to avoid them for our children. In Africa, more than half a million children died from measles in 2003 and diphtheria, pertussis and Hib kill more than 800,000 children a year (Unicef, n.d). If we can stop this from happening by vaccinating our children doesn’t it make sense to get them vaccinated? I am a firm believer that it is our duty to vaccinate our children and parents who chose not to vaccinate for any reason other than a medical one are being irresponsible parents.

Procon.org., (2014). Andrew Wakefield and the Autism Controversy. Retrieved on September 1, 2014 from, http://vaccines.procon.org/#background

Unicef. (n.d). Why are children dying? Retrieved on September 12, 2014 from, http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_why.html

Child Birth: Is It Always a Beautiful Experience?

        Child birth can be an exhilarating experience but it can also be an overwhelming and scary experience at the same time. I gave birth to my daughter 11 years ago and according to how well the pregnancy went the birthing experience should have been a completely joyful experience. My labor started at approximately 11 pm on Wednesday May 14, 2003 and my contractions were almost 4 minutes apart from the start. My water did not break but my contractions were consistent and strong so my doctor had me come to the hospital. I remained in labor for 19 hours with very little progression when the doctors decided to help things along with some Pitocin, the drug used to induce labor. They were hoping to speed up my dilation process because my contraction had sped up to 2 minutes apart and I still was not dilating. At about 7:30 they decided to break my water and hope that this would speed things along. It did not help, the only thing this accomplished was to put my baby in stress and drop her heart beat forcing them to prepare me for an emergency C-Section. The midwife on call then decided that she was going to try and deliver my daughter naturally and take her chances that everything would be O.K. Things were not O.K. I remained in labor for another 2 1/2 hours before I was finally ready to push but apparently I had a medical problem called Shoulder Dystocia which in short means that my hips do not spread wide enough for me to push a baby all the way through. I have a narrow birth canal and after 15 minutes of pushing my daughter's head finally came out but her shoulders would not and her oxygen supply was cut off because her umbilical cord was pinched between her shoulder and my pelvic bone. Another 25 minutes of pushing and she was born at approximately 10:45 pm. She was blue and she was not breathing, NICU had to be called in and it took them more than 1 minute to get her to take her first breath. It was estimated that she was without oxygen for more than 25 minutes and that I should expect possible brain damage sue to lack of oxygen to the brain. I am happy to say that my daughter is an extremely happy and healthy 11 year old who achieves A's and B's and was accepted in her middle schools advanced placement program. She is also very active with no major health problems. When she was little she had Asthma problems that they were attributing to her birthing experience but she seems to have outgrown that problem at this point. I will say that though I am blessed to have had my situation turn out as well as it did it opened my eyes to the world of birthing and obstetrics in a way that I had never thought about before. This experience helped me to make more informed decisions when I was pregnant with my second child and when it looked like I was going to have the same problem with my hips not widening when we approached the end of my pregnancy we started to discuss a C-Section. I do not believe in elective C-Sections but there was no way I was going to have another delivery like my first and possibly endanger my child just to prove a point. I ended up having a C-Section with my son on June 25, 2010 and it was a good thing I did. My daughter was a big girl and got stuck during delivery weighing 8 lbs 9 oz but it turns out that my son was even bigger weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz. If she got stuck imagine what would have happened if I had tried to deliver him.

My Daughter after her first bath. 

     After a lot of research into other countries and there birthing experiences I would have to say that America has a very different birthing experience that many other countries in the world. In Sweden child birth is free and is attended by a midwife in every case except those of medical necessity. Doctors are only called in when specifically needed to handle a medical problem. The Swedish prefer to handle things in a more natural state and I think that this can affect a mothers personal experience and the way she views her children and there development. 

My Daughter last summer.

      In my case, I was a  low income mother who could not afford quality medical care so I was provided with a doctor from the health department. This doctor was overloaded with cases so he passed me off to one nurse or midwife after another and I never saw the same person twice when I went for my visits. During my delivery I was given to the first midwife on staff who had something to prove to the male doctors on staff and would not turn me over to them for my C-section when she knew that is was medically necessary. Her mistakes could have cost my daughter her life and almost caused developmental problems and delays. In Sweden I do not believe this would have happened because all of the patients see a midwife. None of the midwives have something to prove. They are the norm and the doctors are just there for extreme emergencies (like mine). The difference also allow for a calmer, happier mother after delivery instead of a frantic, crying mother who is watching her baby get extreme medical care in her first minutes of life.