Meet MY Kids

THE BIRTH OF MY PRECIOUS BRYANNA

My life has utterly changed since having my kids.  Every birth was very special and different.  My three girls were all born in June and my son was born in the month of November.  My kids are all very different but they all hold a special place in my heart.  The birth that I would like to specially point out is the birth Bryanna.

I was over 40 weeks do and there were no signs of a baby coming out. During one of my weekly visits to the doctor I was told to go to the hospital to have the labor induced.   I will never forget the 22 hours of labor I spent at the hospital.  I was so much in pain but I was so ready to hold my precious princess in my arms.  When Bryanna was born, she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, and as they pulled her out I noticed a petrified look on the faces of the doctors and nurses.     That moment I had much longed for to hold her in my arms became a moment of despair without knowing what was happening to my baby.  I was yelling and asking what was wrong but no one would tell me what was happening.  My baby Bryanna was born not breathing and they had to resuscitate her.  After a while baby Bryanna started to breath she was observed for a while and finally the allowed me to hold her.  She was so beautiful and the joy I felt in my heart was inexplicable I was thankful to God to hold her in my arms.

We stayed a few days in the hospital and before we were discharged to go home I asked the doctor if there could be any consequences.  The doctor really never provided me with a clear answer but to him she was fine.   As time went by and Bryanna started to grow her physical growth, motor development was normal.  When Bryanna entered kindergarten, her teacher noticed that Bryanna was not learning like all the other kids.  At the age of seven years I took her to a psychologist to get her assessed.  After assessing Bryanna, the psychologist determined that Bryanna could not decode.  One of the questions that I was asked by the psychologist was about the delivery of Bryanna in particular he asked me if she was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.  I responded that she did as well as she had stopped breathing for a few seconds.   He then stated that Bryanna’s inability to decode was something that he noticed of many kids and that those kids were all born with the umbilical cord around their necks.  Bryanna is now a senior in high school however she has struggled in school she has an IEP which has helped her to support the areas in which she is deficient.  I don’t see Bryanna having a disability but I see her as a unique person that learns differently in her own special way.  

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THE BIRTH OF BABIES IN COLOMBIA SOUTH AMERICA 

I chose to research the birth of babies in Colombia South America because my husband is from there.  Colombia is known to be an impoverish third-world country.   I was astonished to find out that there is a high percentage rate of women that die while giving birth.  There are many barriers that pregnant women experience, from insurance, prenatal care, geographic barriers, and administrative barriers. It was sad to learn that many of the women that have a cesarean section die of complications due to hemorrhage, blood clots, and shocks.  Usually the death of pregnant women occurs during the last stages of labor, right before the birth of the child.  Medical facilities lack the proper equipment and supplies that are necessary to undertake a cesarean section.  What was most alarming was to learn that a vast majority of maternal deaths could be preventable but there is a lack of trained personnel with basic knowledge. 

I would like to share the following interesting facts from the web page.

  
 Interesting Facts

• In Colombia, on average 720,832 babies are born alive each year. In 2006, 714,450 were born
• 87% of births are attended by doctors
• 20-35 is the age range which contains the most pregnancies and births
• It is estimated that more babies are born eight or nine months after holidays and long vacations, like the end of the year
• In Colombia, 100 girls are born for every 105 boys. However, for every 100 girls that die in the first year of life, 130 boys will die
• For every 1,000 live births, 22.5% of boys died in the first year of life in 2006. In children under one, 12,211 died in total. The group of 1 to 5 months had the highest number of deaths (2,850: 1,607 boys and 1,243 girls) followed by infants younger than one day (2,516: 1,429 boys and 1,085 girls)
• Neonatal mortality is about 12 per 1,000 live births, or about 8,000 to 9,000 newborns die each year, a good part due to preventable causes and improper handling
• Pregnant women, on average, attend their first prenatal checkup in the third month of pregnancy
• In Colombia, nearly 200,000 teenage girls become mothers each year

According to figures from Dane, in 2006, 536 pregnant women died. Main causes:

• 70 cases of hypertension
• 58 cases of eclampsia
• 57 cases of postpartum hemorrhage

In Colombia, Prenatal and Childbirth Care is often Substandard or even Unavailable

http://blogs.ubc.ca/span401/2010/05/13/in-colombia-prenatal-and-childbirth-care-is-often-substandard-or-even-unavailable/