Danish Assignment...

Before learning about the differences between Denmark and The United States we as a class created a scenario where a mother named Jill with a 3 year old daughter named Imani would survive in times like this. After calculating how much rent,maintenance,child care and more would cost we figured out that Jill would need to make at least $28,000 a year to have just enough for her basic necessities. If $28,000 is barely enough what is the actual poverty line for a family of two? The poverty line in the United States is actually $14,00. If a person makes anything below $14,000 they are considered poor and can seek government help. being worthy of welfare is when you have tried or you are trying to make a living and need a little help because you are below the poverty line. Being unworthy is when you are just collecting money and not showing you are trying to improve your situation. There are endless options for Jill at this point because of her income. She can choose charity and receive those benefits out of pity or she can choose solidarity which is a bunch of people who are in the same situation working together for benefits.

In addition Jill will need to pay taxes and we all know that is not the greatest thing in the world. The three different types of taxes spoken about in class is progressive tax, flat tax and regressive tax. Progress tax is when the rich people pay more taxes than the poor unlike regressive tax where for the rich paying taxes is nothing but for the poor it is a lot which makes them pay more. Flat tax is where everyone pays the same amount of taxes. Effective taxes is all the tax brackets included.

To compare the United States to the Denmark there are many differences and similarities. The Danish taught us a lot about their welfare system and by hearing it, I felt like everything they said sounded better than here. A similarity between the two is that they also have to pay taxes but on a different scale. The Danish teens were telling us Americans that if you make less than $6,000 you don't have to pay taxes and it all depends if your rich or poor. If though the Danish people pay way higher taxes than Americans they also have benefits that come with it. They receive free health care and child care even for the different classes. I think that we should use some of the techniques that the Danish people use so that there would not be as many people in poverty or needing assistance. I think that if we do change somethings here and switch them for what the danish do we will see many people improving their situation and feel great.

AWOB Paper

The American Way of Birth. What is it? Are most women educated before their first pregnancy? Many of these questions helped us break down the AWOB and learn about different ways of giving birth. Before this lesson, I did not know enough about birth to hold a conversation, but after a few weeks I started to research and get different views of birth. Births in the United States are mostly by Cesarean section which question many people as to why this may be. Why are there so few natural births? I found it shocking to see statisitcs on birth and see that most women who gave birth had their baby through a c-section. It was then, that I wanted to find out some birth stories and see how many mothers had a natural birth or a c-section. I asked many mothers of there birth experience and different questions of what they thought of birth. The first mother which we will call Mother A had two children and gave me information about both births. For her first child she was in labor for 11 hours. After pushing for another 2 hours the baby still did not come close to being delivered. The doctors began to worry about the baby because when pushing you are applying pressure to the baby's head. The doctors then gave her a shot in her private to check how the baby was doing, and the baby was not doing well. Doctors then said that there was no other choice but to have a emergency c-section. She did not want to have a c-section because of the thought of having a stitches. The baby came at 35 or 36 weeks. As for pain the mother described it as "excruciating, severe pain that words cannot explain". The mother began to explain the hard times she went through with her second baby. Unlike the first baby, the second baby came 7 weeks early. But during the pregnancy the mother was in and out of the hospital because of consistent bleeding she had. The mother almost lost her baby three times and her life was at risk. One problem she faced was that she had placenta previa which is when the sack for the baby is growing outside instead on the inside and the sack is covering the birth canal. Because the sack was covering the birth canal (how the baby comes out) she had to get a c-section. This time the mother was more prepared and knew how everything happened and what was done because she had a c-section with her first born. A difference between the first and second child is the pain the mother experienced. Since the mother had an epidural for her second baby she had mild pain but mostly did not feel anything. She was given steroids because the baby's lungs had to develop faster because she was pre-mature. The baby had to stay at the hospital in intensive care for 19 days because she needed to be 5lbs before going home. Mother B was different from mother A. She was in labor 27 in a half hours and was a brave one. She refused to get any type of shot or medicine and stuck with the pain. She was not treated well at the hospital like she expected. The nurses did not pay much attention to her and left her there to push for herself. She had a natural birth and said that it was very painful and she wished she would have got an epidural for the pain. Unlike mother A the baby came home right away and everything was fine. Mother B did not have any complications with the baby. For her second child the due date was September 16 but it doctors said if she didn't give birth before the 28th they would induce labor. She was in labor for over 15 hours. The doctors put her on medication to induce labor and asked if she wanted an epidural but she refused because she didn't get one for her first child. Doctors insisted that natural and c-section births are different and she should get an epidural. With in a few hours she was crying for an epidural. The mother had a fever so they needed to do an emergency c-section because the baby was at risk. When the baby came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. Doctors took immediate action. Mother C, on February 14 she began to have pain and called the doctor to let them know how she felt. The doctor said she need to come in as soon as possible. After pushing for 19 hours the doctors told her that the baby was too big and that she need a c-section. The thoughts of c-sections made her cry because she had her mind set on a natural birth. 21 hours later she received an epidural and delivered the baby on February 16. The mother said "the pain was not bad, I was able to deal with it." At the hospital she was treated fairly nicely. Unlike the other stories the dad cried when he held the baby in his arms. Mother D I must say that this to me was the easiest birth that i have heard. She was only in labor for 6 hours and didn't feel a thing. This did not get any medication nor an epidural but also didn't have pain. Giving birth was so easy she did not feel the baby come out. Everything was perfectly fine. After hearing all the different birth stories from different mothers I must say that mother D had it the easiest compared to the other mothers she was in labor for the least amount of hours and had the least amount of pain. After hearing her story it made me wonder how many mothers can relate to her story. Hearing all the different prospectives on birth and the pain I wish all births were painless. Home birth differ from hostpital biths because you are able to feel birth in its natural form. Unlike hospital births everything is rushed and you dont feel a thing because of all the medication. Hospital births are alienating women today by having many c-sections with out reason. Statisitcs show that most hosptial births are c-section, and it is at its highest in the United States.

Thoughts on "The Business of Being Born"

The movie "The Business of Being born" showed the differences between hospital births and home births. It also showed how there are many problems with hospital birth. This movie opened my eyes and showed me there is more than one way to give birth. Many women think there is hospital birth and its natural or by c-section but many women are able to choose what type of birth they want. While watching how the hospitals go about c-sections I felt like the doctors did it to rush the process for their own selfish needs. The way the doctors were talking about giving epidurals and c-sections I feel like it was taking lightly. After hearing and witnessing many hospital births it was time for how home births work. I found the home birth to be more relaxing and you can control what happens. Unlike hospital births there are bright lights and a lot of people in the room but the home birth was the total opposite. In one of the home births it was so relaxing her son was there watching and I found it surprising how the mother gets to walk around and take her time. In a home birth the process is not rushed as in the hospital. Statistics show that in the U.S less than one percent of women have home births as opposed to Europe home births are at seventy percent. In the movie many people were asked "have you ever thought of having a midwife?" and many people in the U.S. didn't even know what a midwife was. The U.S. has the second worst newborn death rate in the world. Since 1996 the c-section rate has risen forty-six percent. In the movie many doctors were saying home births are safe or even safer than hospital births. Another great fact about home births is that it is a money saver. For a home birth the cost was around $4,000 and a hospital birth was around $13,000. Natural birth is better but some women don't notice because they are fixated on "faster is better".

A fact that I found surprising is that the death rate when you are pregnant is higher than third world countries. After watching this movie and hearing both sides of birth I have a totally different view of birth. I always saw doctors as caring and there for you when you need help and some of that is true but doctors take advantage and don't let the women be in control. They rather be in control and say "you need a c-section" and women say okay right away not giving it thought or asking why. Before learning about the American way of birth I said I wanted ten children but now I just want two at the most and a home birth. Learning and getting to see real footage of births has changed how I see birth. I want to have a midwife rather than going to the hospital because I am in my own home. Birth is something women should find beautiful and be able to experience for themselves. I found this topic to be very interesting and I am glad I was able to hear and learn about this at my age. Many teens don't ever get to learn about births and I am glad we did, it has opened my eyes and showed me there is more out there than I think.