My Personal Birthing Experience

For this blog post I have chosen to discuss poverty and its impact on childhood.  I grew up in a small town where there were many blue-collar families and farm families. My father worked for the Corps of Engineers and have had a well-paying, steady job.  Poverty was something that didn’t impact me, however it did impact one of my friends. When I think back to my childhood, one particular friend comes to mind when I think of poverty.  This friend was Bridget Fletcher.  She came from a large blue-collar family.  Bridget’s mother stayed home and took care of the children while her father worked.  Both Bridget and her mother were very kind, however for I remember being afraid of her father.  I am not sure if I was afraid of him because I did not know him or if when he was there he yelled a lot.  I just remember being afraid.  Bridget never came to school with any bruises and never went for days withou...

Breastfeeding I chose breastfeeding because I find its benefits fascinating.  If I would have known all of its benefits when my son was an infant, I would have pushed myself harder to get it to work for the both of us.  My son had no problems latching on and had no problems going from bottle to breast if needed while I was out and my son was babysat.  However, I did not make a lot of milk and my son was always hungry.  I did not receive a lot of nutritional guidance on breastfeeding. I was told “If I was nourished then I’d make enough milk”.  However, even when I felt I ate enough I still did not make enough milk.  To this day, I am not sure if I had a thyroid problem at that point as I do now and whether or not it would have played a role.  I also am not sure if I drank enough water or ate enough nourishing foods. My family was supportive of my breastfeeding; however, they felt he wasn’t getting enough and ...

My own personal birthing experience was bittersweet. My pregnancy was unplanned and I was an unmarried teacher which to me was humiliating working in an elementary school.  At one point in my pregnancy I was engaged to the father of my son, but that did not last long.  It was apparent he was not going to be the father I wanted him to be.  I was sad to bring my son into the world without a complete family.  I was afraid of whether or not I would be able to support him financially and emotionally.  I could barely support myself.  Although Luke was born without a consistent father figure, he had many family members who already loved him and were committed to him.  I have to be honest and say that they physical aspects of my childbirth were easy.  I barely felt any pain and recovered quickly from a pretty normal vaginal birth. I did need some pitosin because I wasn't progressing fast enough and Luke did have to be "suctioned out". The worst pain I fel...