The experience of giving birth has long-term implications for a woman’s help and well-being for the mother and baby (Karlstrom, 2015).  A mother’s health and surroundings weigh heavily on the health of the child she is carrying.  Therefore, a woman is is expecting a baby should be well aware of how her surroundings impact the baby.

This blog will focus on my daughter giving birth to my grandson.  What I remember most about this event is the emergency situation was in because of preeclamsia, gestation diabetes and high blood pressure.  Her doctor had monitored her closely so when she diagnosed her newest blood tests, she immediately had her go to the hospital.  TC-Section was scheduled for 2:00 P. M., but her condition worsened.  She was immediately given a C-Section at 9:40 A. M.  The baby (fetus) was in distress and was immediately given oxygen and an I-V. 

I chose this example because I am so grateful that the baby and my daughter survived and are not healthy.

My thoughts regarding birth and the impact on child development today is how far we have come to understand that a woman’s surroundings and health greatly impact a child’s development.

Many women do not make it to a health facility, according to Josephine Reva, a midwife at the George Brook Health clinic in Sierra Leone (Sanchez & Doong, 2014).  There are differences and a few similarities in mothers giving birth in the United States and in Sierra Leone.  Many women do not have the health care in Sierra Leone as they do in the United States.  In my daughter’s case, if she had been in Sierra Leone, she nor the baby would have survived. 

In 2017, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 5. Per 1,000 live births (Infant Mortality).  Child mortality rate in Sierra Leon was 110.5 deaths per 1,000 births (Sierra Leon Child Mortality Rate).  We can surely note the differences in the mortality rates when comparing the mortality rate of births in the United States and Sierra Leone.

I was unaware of the numbers of babies that die in Sierra Leone.  I know that there are still babies that die in the United States.  But when comparing the two, we realize we are blessed in this country though there are still deaths as noted above in the previous paragraph.

References

Infant Mortality www.cdc.gov/reproductive health/maternal infant.

Sanchez, E., & Duong,D. (2014). Three reasons giving birth in Sierra Leone is still so difficult 

www.globalcitizen.org/sierra leone-giving-birth.

Sierra Leone Child Mortality Rate. (2017). Knoema.com/sierra-leone-child-mortality-rate.