Child Birth in My Life and In Jamaica

It was around nine o’clock on a Tuesday morning, July 8, 1997. I was admitted into the Princess Margaret Hospital, Nassau Bahamas to have a scheduled Caesarean Section to deliver my first child. I had already had a previous abdominal surgery that affected my womb and my doctor did not want to risk the complications labor could bring. I was fortunate to have an epidural so I could be awake during the delivery and my husband was also present with me. I remember being able to watch what the doctor cut me open through the reflection created by the stainless steel light shining in the ceiling above my head. I soon diverted my eyes as I thought the visual would be too much for me to handle at the time.  The greatest moment of my experience was however, when the nurse brought my beautiful daughter over for me to see.

            The Bahamas is an archipelago of islands with at least 20 of the islands inhabited. There are however, only three hospitals, two of which are located on New Providence, the capital, in the city of Nassau and the third is on Grand Bahama Island. As a result when women get pregnant on any of the other islands, they would relocate to Nassau for their third trimester in order to be near the hospital when the baby comes. It is the common practice in The Bahamas to have your baby in the hospital.  

            I chose to share the birthing experience of my first and only child because it is so significant to me and who I have become. I believe the birthing experience can have some effect on the development of the child. If there are complications during the birth it can affect the child depending on how serious it is and how long it last. Cerebral Palsy a condition that occurs due to complications at birth is known to affect the development in some aspects of the child. It can affect the physical, cognitive or both domains of the child’s development.

            Lois Wilson in her article ‘Birth as a Community Experience: It Can Be Achieved in a Hospital’ shares how the mothers in Jamaica support each other in their birth experiences. In Jamaica, births generally take place in a hospital with the help of a nurse mid-wife as available. The Jubilee hospital in Kingston is recorded to have sometimes more than 1000 births a month so it is probable that some mothers may end up having their baby unattended (Wilson, 1997). In prior years the mid-wife or ‘nana’ as she is called locally would attend to the mother at home. This practice was banned so expectant mothers now have to make their way to the hospital. The Jubilee hospital in Kingston, Jamaica has come a long way from the time when women lined up in benches waiting to see a doctor and if the hospital was too busy some mothers will be left unattended to have their babies unassisted. Now the experience at Jubilee hospital is a community experience with the mothers, nurses, and midwives helping each other. “When the birth of the baby is imminent, the laboring woman crosses the hall to the delivery room, climbs onto one of the five beds and is attended by the nurse or midwife who is to catch the baby” (Wilson, 1997). A number of births can occur simultaneously in the delivery room which has a number of beds. The mother and baby are then cleaned up and go to the postpartum room. With six or more beds and baby cots available in this room first-time mothers are able to be coached and encouraged by more experienced mothers.

Reference

My child: At Cerebral Palsy.com Retrieved from http://cerebralpalsy.org/information/cognition/

Wilson, L., (1997). Birth as a Community Experience: It can Be Achieved in a Hospital! Midwifery Today Retrieved from

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/community.asp