HW 36

I talked to my mother about her experiences with birth. She gave birth to three children including me. Each one of the three births were very different. My oldest brother was the only one that had some complications with his birth. My mom was having pains when she was pregnant and her midwife was getting upset with her and told her that she was doing too much physically and not treating her body like she was pregnant because she was walking around a lot and straining her body. She gave birth to my oldest brother two and a half weeks early. She read a lot of books about birth so she knew what to expect and when to go to the hospital. She started to panic a little when she had to go to the hospital because she thought she wasn't going to make it in time. After she gave birth to him the placenta didn't come out so she had to give the baby to my father and the doctor had to get the placenta out which she said hurt like hell. But she didn't mind it at all because her baby came out with 10 fingers 10 toes and everything was fine with the baby. That was my oldest brother's birth. My other brother was born 10 days late and he was the biggest baby in the nursery. She said giving birth to him was very painful but it was quick. She also said that it can be very painful but after you're done you kind of forget about the pain and want to have more children. When my mother gave birth to me she had pneumonia, from this she was very exhausted and dehydrated but I was born fine with no complications and my mother was out of the hospital quickly.

During the interview I picked up a lot of insights. One was how different people take pregnancy and giving birth more seriously than others. For example I saw how my mom read a lot of books and tried to understand the process as much as she could, she changed her diet, and she didn't drink alcohol at all while she was pregnant, just in general she seemed to really care a lot and want to do as much as she could to have a healthy birth. Another was reasons for giving birth. My mother said at first she wanted to have six children, she said some reasons were that she felt like she was very close with her parents. She saw how much her mother appreciated having children. Also she said that her sister had children and she didn't agree with how her sister was raising her children, so my mom wanted to have her own children so she could see if she could do it. She said she realized it wasn't easy because she had all these plans for how she wanted to raise us but then she realized very early that it wasn't just about what she wanted and her children had personalities and wouldn't just do whatever she wanted. My mother said she loved being pregnant and when she thinks back to giving birth she only has happy memories and remembers the joy of having children. She feels like the way birth is viewed in America is very bad, she feels like it is viewed as scary and everyone wants to be drugged up so they don't feel the pain. She was not yelling while giving birth she was very calm and said it was not that bad. She feels that it is important to feel the pain and then be able to relax between contractions instead of being on drugs not feeling anything. She said it's important to learn how to relax yourself and be able to endure what is happening. She believes that a lot of it has to do with the power of the mind. Lastly there was one more thing that she told me about. She said that it is hard for the male (my dad) to get interested until the baby is actually there and they are far into their pregnancy, so it has to be concrete, the baby actually has to be there and they have to feel the baby for them to be interested. But in the females case it is very different. She woke up and the first thing she's thinking is she's pregnant, she's in a meeting at work and she's thinking wow nobody knows I'm pregnant I can't concentrate on this meeting I'm thinking about this baby. This was very interesting to me and made me realize how the experience is completely different depending on the sex of the person and why.

HW 35

I didn't really have one specific focus during my interviews. I just tried to get everyones overall views of birth and some of the stigma's surrounding birth. First I asked about how they felt about birth and if they'd had any experiences with it. Then I asked a couple other questions like: how many births is it considered normal for a woman to have in our society and why do you think so? And: Do you feel that the physically healthiest age to have a baby and life goals conflict?
Most of the answers were somewhat similar. Everyone I talked to felt that birth is an amazing exciting thing. I think this was because it is the beginning of something new which can be very exciting. Everyone I talked to wanted to at one point have children/give birth at some point in life. I think this is because it can give someones life more purpose and joy to have make something with someone they love and take care of and love a child. Although none of the people I have talked to was there during a birth, but one was there when he sister's water broke and she explained it as very exciting. So I was really noticing this mutual feeling about birth as beautiful and exciting there was no one that didn't feel that way about it. When I asked about what they thought was a socially accepted amount of children for a women to have I got different answers. One said zero to five children seems like it would be socially accepted and then after five it gets weird. I asked why and she said "I think some people think that people are creating more than their share of mouths to feed. Which is perhaps not a reasonable perspective...but it happens. On the other hand...the more children, the more legacy the parents have." This made me realize that not everything is really just a stigma but has some logic behind and makes sense why it wouldn't be normal. The other answers were about three children would seem normal and the other answer was as many as they want, they didn't think that anyone isn't accepted in our society for having a lot of children. When I asked if the physically healthiest age conflicts with goals I got an answer that I completely agree with. "I've heard that the best time of life for women sexually is like 30. but anyway...women want careers and independence and money and status and fulfillment of dreams above family and motherhood, pregnancy and parenting really interrupt life." I think women nowadays don't want to be stay home mothers but they do want to have children at some point in life. They want to have a career and be independent and successful, so the healthiest age to give birth conflicts with that because that is a fairly young age where work is very important, but at the same time I feel like it is possible to have a strong career and have children because you can always have a babysitter to take care of your kids during the day while you're working. So the two may conflict each other I think that's why things like birth control pills, abortions, and condoms were developed, that way there are less babies for people at young ages.

HW 34

When I think about birth not that much really comes to mind. I think birth is a way for two people to make something together. I think it gives people another thing to live for. Something that they can be responsible and raise how they want and love. It's like why people have pets but on a much more serious level. I have heard that it is painful. Based on how my Mother talks about it is birth is not that bad because it's such a "beautiful" moment. I can imagine how it would be fun to have a little person you can make and teach them whatever you want. I would be the best dad and my child would be the coolest kid alive. I'm a loser for saying that. But I don't know that's pretty much all I the thoughts that come to mind when I think of birth.
Some questions:
Why is birth important enough for a unit?
What are some dominant social practices around birth?
What percentages of babies come out completely healthy?
What percent of babies die during birth?
How do drugs affect the baby?