Final...The beauty of AWOB?

After seeing 3 out of the 4 videos of different births I was surprised to see that animal births are similar to human births. In the first video with the giraffes I saw many similarities to human birth such as having someone there to support you and help you while giving birth. While the mother giraffe was giving birth there was another giraffe along side of her just close by for support. When human mothers give birth they sometimes like to have a relative or their spouse close by. I also noticed that before the giraffes give birth 4-6 inches of sand is laid out for the giraffe just like before and during a mother giving birth doctors use cloths for all the excess blood. The sand is also used to protect the baby giraffe when it falls. The term for the cloth used is called a "chuck". They way the giraffe gave birth reminded me of the natural way of birth because it looked like she was squatting. You can hear the woman in the background saying what is going on step by step and how the umbilical cord is broken. I connected to AWOL, how the giraffe was trying to get up and walk and kept on falling was similar to when babies try and walk and they fall.

While watching these videos I can see that the patients or the animals are not in charge rather the doctors or the people at the zoo are in charge. I feel as if there is no say in what you want when giving birth because its all about "what the doctors say". In a previous assignment, I collected birth stories from different mothers and one of the mothers said that her stay at the hospital was not what she expected. The nurses and the doctors we rushing her birth as if they had something to do after. She also said that that the nurses were very rude to her and did not care for her. I find it very hard to hear that doctors and nurses are acting in such behavior because when a pregnant woman comes in to give birth it is supposed to be a "memorable" moment, and that everyone is focused on you and your baby. But, as I heard from the story this is a completely different view.

I spoke to many women who say they wish they could to everything over because it would all be different. The women that I spoke to who had two children said they wish they would have known what they know now when they were giving birth to their first child. Many women when having their first child are not as experienced as other mothers who have more than one child. During your first child you really don't know what to do or what is going on so you lean on the doctor to help you and guide you through the whole process. For the women with two children they say that the second time they were going to give birth was easier because they knew what to expect and were prepared.

I found the dolphin birth video to be really short as if giving birth was nothing. I connected it to one of the birth stories a mother gave me. She was only in labor for 6 hours and did not feel any pain. Also no medication or epidural was given. It interest me to hear all the birth stories because they were all different. Some had medication, epidurals, felt pain or birth was even painless it amazes me how so many people can feel different ways when giving birth. Before all the lessons about the American way of birth I never realized how many ways women can give birth. I always thought there was one way but after hearing that women can squat to give birth I was surprised. I always saw birth as "okay a women is going to have a baby, mostly likely natural." But there are many ways that women can give birth. I also noticed that the doctors are mostly in charge every step of the way such as letting you know if you need a c-section or you can have the baby natural. Many women don't actually choose how they want to have their baby rather the doctor tells them "what to do". Doctors sort of plan everything out so that it can go as quickly and smoothly as possible. But is having the doctor in charge really what women want?

Lastly, proof that the doctors are n charge I watched the video of doctors preforming a c-section on a women and how detailed it was. I found it very hard to watch because I felt that the doctors were not being careful with the baby rather yanking the baby out of her stomach. The way the doctors handled the baby's head hurt me because they were being rough after watching a few seconds I knew I couldn't watch any more or see what was going to happen next. I cut the video short because I couldn't see the baby being handled in that matter.