Google+ Baby Marohn: A long over due post

Monday, January 2, 2012

A long over due post

It is very interesting to me how a lot of people will say something about Nora being so calm, alert, how many teeth she has, etc. But if you start to mention anything about natural birth, breast feeding, prenatal care, birthing classes etc the subject quickly changes to something else or they suddenly no longer have the interest in conversation. I would emphasis that each part of it is just as important as the rest.
 
When we started learning & researching about all the things we have recently learned I was kind of skeptical about what people were saying and the results they had. It was hard for me to understand with my technical and medical background that letting something occur with less medical intervention could result in something better.
 
It is very hard to dispute looking back over the year we had one visit to the emergency room after a reaction to the flu vaccination, and she got strep last year as well. Other than that she got her leg caught in a shopping buggy at tractor supply, but didn't have any injury. When she has blood drawn she doesn't cry because of the poke she only cries because she is being restrained. So when you look back at last year two of the three worst things that happen to her were man made and the other was unpreventable.
 
Yes, we hear it all of the time there are times for medical intervention, and there are exceptions that are made. However I have never heard so many comments about a baby from so many strangers, and its every time we take her outside the house to anywhere from the grocery store to pediatrician's office to the mall. It really irks Jennifer & I to hear about these women/girls that are pregnant and do nothing up until going to the hospital or maybe take one one hour birthing class at the hospital.
 
Think about this quote I found online  "We learn… 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss with others, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach to someone." So if you only go take a one hour class at best you might retain 70% of the hour class so roughly 42 minutes of knowledge is suppose to prepare you for the birth of a child? And we all know that the first ten minutes of a class are introduction, and the last five ten minutes are usually for questions or comments so the time is even less than that.
 
I would venture to guess that most parents have spent more time checking the weather during a pregnancy than they have preparing for the birth of their child. And I know its disappointing to most dads and dads-to be that there really isn't anything geared towards dads. Most of the information is geared towards the mother which it obviously should since she is the most impacted. A lot of the materials I have read were so discouraging because they were about symptoms of pregnancy or what you should be expecting sort of thing. The most helpful book to me was The Baby Book by Dr Sears its full of information about what to look for, what to do when something happens, and when you should be concerned about a rash or other medical conditions. 
 
The best thing to do is research what you want to do, even if you really want a 'planned birth' then please research it don't just schedule it. Find a support group that you can read about experiences and ask questions. Take more than one birthing class and preferably at somewhere else other than the hospital. You have to remember that the hospital is there to make money, and even if you are doing a 'planned birth' you should hear from other people that are not under the hospital's pay roll because you might decide to switch hospitals after you learn about the process.
 
I know I can't say that I am not biased at all, but it really is amazing and still continues to surprise us how much the extra effort has accomplished. We really hope that the current trend will change to a healthier and more natural movement. I keep thinking about the quote "If a thing like this is worth doing at all, it's worth doing right." by Hunter S. Thompson and it just reminds me more and more about what we did versus what happened.

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