Homework 46

I have already had two experiences with the care of the dead and how to go about it in a respectful manner to show appreciation and courtesy.The first experience was with my grandmother when she passed away my father went out on a limb to make sure everything was perfect for her funeral. I remember speaking to my mother and father about the casket and what casket would be right for my grandmother and even though I feel that she deserves a nice casket to lie in they spent a lot of money on something that is just going to stay in the ground forever. When I went to the funeral I noticed that my grandmother looked very pale and white when i asked my mother she said that they got a makeup artist for her so that she would very pretty for the open casket.

What I have been taught was to always have respect for the dead and that at a funeral you have to feel sad for the person even though you might not know them well because that shows respect towards the family that lost their loved one. The social norm of our society when you care for the dead is to make sure they have a proper casket and a nice place to be buried in. I also know about the body of someone that is dead has to be embalmed before they are buried to preserve the body. The question I have towards that is why would the body have to be preserved if the person is dead and once their buried no one will see them again?

Home work 44 Comments on students projects

Javon's project_Javon great project I noticed that you investigated the statistics of abortions in America and in different countries. You also went into depth explaining how women feel about abortions, and also gave your explanation on what being a mother means to you and how that is such a responsible role to take on.

I particularly valued the research you did on abortions the statistics I really think that gave your project a lot of substance and made it more interesting to read because you had factual evidence.

The main reason why this project mattered to me was because while having a conversation with Javon he explained to me what he was doing for his project and from the jump I was interested because he was actually going to interview a women that had an abortion.

Constructive Criticism: I feel that you should go more into depth with the questions you asked the person in the interview.



Stephen's project-Stephen very interesting project I realized that you focused on the pros and cons of Home births and hospital births, and you also focused on the C-Section rate in America and also the whole concept behind the OB/GYN.

I feel that when you went into depth with the advantages and disadvantages of home births, birthing centers, and hospital births was the most interesting part for me and I valued you that the most.

The main reason why I wanted to read your project is because when you did your elevator speech you had so much energy and a great introduction for your speech and it made me want to see what your project had to offer.


Amhara's project-I really likes your project because it was different from the rest of the students in the class. You were planning out a procedure to follow so when your mother decided to have another kid everything would be natural and the best for your mother.

I really valued your overall goal that you wanted to achieve in your project because you were applying what you learned from class,the movie, and the book to help out someone out in your family that you care for.

The reason your project mattered to me was because it was different the fact that you had a video that people could watch to see the work that you did for your project.

Homework 42 Pregnancy Project

Interview with my aunt about her home birth versus her birth at the hospital

Question 1: What made you decide to get a home birth in the first place?
Response: The main reason why i decided to have a home birth is because it is a tradition in my family that has been done for many years. Another aspect that help me decide on having a home birth than a hospital birth is that when my mother had me it was through a home birth. I really wanted to have a natural birth I really wanted to feel connected to my body and my newborn child. I feel that "technological intervention should not be apart of any birth.
Question 2: Did you have a Mid wife and what was that experience like?
Response: Lucky enough for me one of my closest friends worked at a birthing center and was a midwife there so when I finally made my decision on having a home birth I knew exactly who i was going to ask to assist me through the process. What made the experience for me such a good one is because i knew who i was dealing with and the personality of the person and that they were going to do their best to make sure my birth was a good one. The feeling of having someone watching 24 hours made me feel more safe because any time I had a question and wasn't sure of something I could always go to her and she always had a answer for me which made me feel better and better as the birth went on.
Question 3: Even though you were having a home birth were there any times you felt like you should go to the hospital?
Response: There was actually one time during my pregnancy where I was having extremely painful contractions and I remember telling my mid wife and my husband that I need pain medication and I want to go to the hospital, but as the day went on the contractions went down and i came back to my senses and decided that I wasn't going to the hospital no matter what and I fully trust Janet(mid wife) and what she is doing.
Question 4: Did any of your family or friends criticize your decision to have a mid wife?
Response: There was a big difference between my family and my friends opinions. Mostly everyone in my family supported me in my decision especially my mother, since she had a home birth with me she felt that it was only right for me follow in her footsteps. The contrast with my friends was that they felt the hospital was the normal thing to do and that I was crazy for even considering having a home birth.
Question 5: Even though for your first child you had a home birth for your second child what made you decide to have the birth in the hospital?
Response: I wanted to be able to experience both sides of the birth, so that I wouldn't be bias towards one side. I feel that having a home birth and the hospital birth was one of the most powerful  moments in my life I was able to compare and contrast the two and really analyze the process of Birth.
Question 5: How was it when you had the hospital birth?
Response: To me it seemed very fast the way the doctors and nurses moved and how they rushed me to the ER. I feel that with the home birth things are slow and calm while on the hand the hospital was fast and frantic. Since I was so use to being in the comfort of my home when I gave birth when I had my child in the hospital I didn't feel that sense of comfort and relaxation. I realized that my mid wife took it really slow and ask me how what i was thinking about and what was going through my head and how I felt about the process, but in the hospital to me it seemed like they didn't care about my feelings they just wanted to get the baby out and call it a day.
Question 6: Did anything happen in the hospital that you where against?
Response: There was actually a time were the doctors were talking about an emergency C-Section, but once they said that automatically refused to have that and their response was that it wasn't a guarantee it was just in case.
Question 7: How did they deal with the contractions and pain and how was that different from your home birth?
Response: They gave me an epidural which cut the pain in half and it made me feel way better then when I came in. What was different was that you felt way more pain in the home birth and there nothing you can do about but deal with it and push that baby out.
Question 8 : Did you feel that same connection with your baby at the hospital that you felt when you gave birth at home?
Response: I feel that your always going to have that connection with your baby because it yours and it was inside of you for 9 months, it's just the surroundings that changed I was use to being at home with my mid wife and husband not tons of doctors and nurses.
Overall thoughts and opinions?
Response: Deep in my heart I feel that all women should have home births because it's definitely a once in life time experiance, that changed my life. but i also feel that there is nothing wrong with a hospital Birth and if you feel more comfortable at the hospital instead of home then you should have your birth at the hospital.

My Summary: I feel that by learning about home births and hospital births and watching the movie and doing interviews really help me understand pregnancy more and what aspect go into the birthing process. Even though I learned a lot about both sides am still not bias towards any of the two because I believe that both have their pros and cons. From my knowledge the birth of a child is life changing and the experiance even though is painful there is so much that you can get and learn from a home birth. I feel that when read Ina May's book The Guide to Child Birth she really help me get a clear understanding on how home births work and how natural births help woman connect to their bodies and baby's. One of the most powerful quotes in the book was on pg. 133 "Western medicine assumes a total separation between mind and body. Thoughts and feelings are considered the irrelevant to physical welfare. When something goes wrong with the body, our culture teaches that pharmaceutical medicines or surgery will be necessary" What makes that quote so powerful and significant to me is because it doesn't just connect to birth it connects to all aspects of the body that any time our bodies are sick or not functioning right doctors are quick to through unnecessary medication towards instead of letting our bodies heal natural and it's all just a way to keep money running though our country and another way to make something that is pure an industrial nightmarish atrocity. Even though home births to me seems like the right thing to do there is evidence and statistics that back up hospitals as well. "Approximately 1 in 200 us women deliver at home, accounting for approximately 25,000 deliveries annually. An estimated 75% of low risk singleton home births appear to be planned home deliveries. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist does not support home birth, citing safety concerns and the lack of rigorous scientific study"(Joseph R. Wax MD;F Lee Lucas, PhD, Maternal and newborn outcomes in planned home birth vs planned hospital births: a metanalysis) i also feel that there are very important things that can be done at a hospital that a doctor can do that a mid wife can't and certain procedures that the doctors have planned out for certain problems that go on during a birth. Even though I have learned so much from the whole birth unit i feel that there is more information that could be discovered to deepen my knowledge of pregnancy and birth.

Homework 40

Hey, thanks for writing Guide To Childbirth, your core argument was to give mothers significant information on how to trust the ancient wisdom of their bodies so that they can have a more fulfilling birth experience. That made me rethink pregnancy and birth because by doing that the woman gets to experience a life changing moment in her life, were she is able to connect with her body and her new born child.

But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text s/he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the ancient myths of pregnancy and how some practices are looked down upon in our society but in the end it is actually good for the mother and the baby, which (added another angle to/connected back to/further developed/contradicted) the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references).
1) On pg. 215 you explain how sexual intercourse during pregnancy is actually not harmful but beneficial for the baby and the mother. In fact the human semen is the most concentrated source of prostaglandins (any of a class of unsaturated fatty acids that are involved in the contraction of smooth muscle, the control of inflammation and body temperature, and many other physiological functions) the substance that cervidil, prepdil, and cytotec attempt to mimic.Woman who have sexual intercourse are more likely to go into labor around forty weeks.
2) On pg.157 you explained orgasmic births, and how woman demand pain medication before they experience an unmedicated birth, you focused on how when the pain is higher you are more likely to have a more intense orgasm. when you brought ti up to the audience of people listening to you and you saw how blank their faces where that shows that in our society birth is mostly associated with pain and not pleasure.
3) On pg.222 I found it interesting that woman who eat and drink more will have an easier time giving birth because they have more stamina to push the baby out. The woman who throw up during labor are considered not conscious and feel that they will put on more weight or effect the baby some how. Another interesting insight was how woman who starve themselves are required to have nourishment so they wont be in labor for more than twenty-four hours.

At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide (narratives, historical analysis, journalistic analysis, policy analysis) from the perspective of a ( ....) for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to build on what you did in this book, but find out the myths and practices of natural births in our countries and how do their births turn out compared to ours. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about The benefits of having a natural birth and a midwife & How woman can give birth without technological intervention (as specific as possible). In fact, I'm likely to do embrace natural births and inform woman about the benefits of a midwife.differently as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"

Homework 37

To Leticia: I feel that it is interesting to se how you can compare and contrast both of the interviews. I feel that both woman have a different story to share and you are able to how they went about the child birth process and what were the positives and negatives of having a child. I feel that Both these interviews have something that you can take from them because you can clearly see for both of them having a baby and taking care of it is very difficult because they can;t manage having a job and taking care of the baby. I feel that instead of having the exact dialogue you could of just focused on the gems of the conversation the most insightful parts instead of the small talk that you guys had between questions.

To Willie: I feel that your interview had some interesting facts in them and it made me think about how each woman has their own way that they go about pregnancy. What was insightful about your interview was when you asked the question "What did you do to prepare for the pregnancy" The fact that she was so organized and prepared for when the baby came shows that she is taking responsibility and being smart about  her child's birth. If you had more interviews then it would make it more interesting to read because you can compare and contrast the different interviews to see how each woman goes about having a baby.

Homework 36

1.First Interview(My friends mother)

  The question I asked to start the interview was How did the pregnancy affect you physically, emotionally, or in other ways? She explained that when it came to her emotions she was always up and down. It was cross between being happy that she is going to have another child and the fact that she did not know if her and her husband would be able to take on the responsibility of having another child and could they go through the same stressful process they went through with their first child. When she explained how it affected her physically, she said that she already knew what would happen to her body since she already had a kid before, but what bothered her was that she would have to do a lot of work to get her body back to the way she wanted it. When she told me that she wasn't sure if she could deal with having another baby I asked then why get pregnant, She explained that she would like to have another kid in the house and she feels that it would be good that her older son had a younger sibling to take care of and look after.

  From my point of view all the things that she explained to me where the basics that I already knew from before. The while idea that the process of having a kid is very long and painful and when it came to emotions I already understood that women get depressed and happy during pregnancy. What I found interesting was that she was having a kid so that my friend would have a baby brother or sister in his life.

2.Second Interview(Lady in grocery store)

   While picking up some groceries at the supermarket, I began to talk to a pregnant while waiting on line to  paying for my groceries.I explained to her that I had to go and interview pregnant woman for a class at school so that it wouldn't be more awkward then it already was. The question I asked her was What influenced your choice to have a baby. Her answer was that she really want's to be a stay home mom so that she can raise her kid and make sure that she devotes her time towards her baby, and if it goes as plan she might even consider home schooling her child. Since I wasn't going to be able to sit down and talk to this woman, instead of asking another question I just branched off what we were already talking about. I asked her does she want more than one kid to stay home and take care of. She said she would like two but if she only gives birth to one it doesn't matter.

   What I found found extremely interesting was that in our culture most woman don't let their baby hold them back from being apart of the corporate world. Most mothers just get baby sitters to take care of their child for most of the time. So when she said that she want's to be a stay home mom, I was really surprised because most mothers don't do that. If i had more time the question i would ask her is What inspired you be be a stay home mom?

3.Thrid interview(My mother)

   I feel that my mother would be a great person to interview because I would be able to see what my mother went through when she was pregnant with me and my brother. The first thing my mother told me was that when she was pregnant with me she began to sneeze way more then any normal person would sneeze that for those 9 months she was constantly sneezing but she wasn't sick, but when she gave birth to me a couple weeks later she stop sneezing. She also told me that she was worried when she was giving birth to me because I was premature and she felt that I wasn't going to make it. When I asked her what feelings or memories come back to her when you think of giving birth? she said just the idea of having children of her own brought tons of joy into her life and knowing that she would be able to have tow little boys in her household made her happy.

   What I found interesting was the whole thing about her sneezing. The question I forgot to ask was What made her sneeze so much? what my mother said was something that I also heard from the other mothers. The fact that knowing you are going to give birth makes you very happy and you can't wait to hold your new born baby in your arms.

What influences your choice on having a child?, I feel that there are multiple reasons on why people decide to have children so by doing these interviews I am able to explore the multiple stories and understand why woman decide to have kids.

Homework 35

   I interviewed the age group of 13-18. I realize that everyone believed that when a child was born it was a great thing and was supposed to be celebrated by the family and people around the new born child. I also realized that with the younger kids their responses where very vague and it took a lot of time and effort to actually get some deep insights out of them. They mostly talked about how painful it is for a woman, and that the process takes about 8 months and how it takes a lot of time to care of a baby and that it is a huge responsibility, but besides that they did not explore the multiple aspects associated with birth. But as I began to interview the older kids the conversations where very interesting. A pattern that I notice with the older kids is that they had a tendency to ask me a question during the interview and how i felt about the topic which I thought was very interesting because it brought depth to the conversation that we where having. My friend Jamal ask me "Depending on the religion and culture of a certain society do you think the doctor has more or less control in the birth process? I felt like that question was a very god question because it can be interpreted in many ways you can focus on the social class of that society, the traditions and beliefs, and also explore religion. I just feel that Birth is such a complex topic and the older you get the more you can actually wrap your mind around it.

   One thing I know for sure is that Birth is never just handled in one way, depending on where you are from and what you believe in the birth process can be very different or very similar. The one thing that can be connected between all races, religions, and cultures is it is an event in a woman's life that is celebrated and never looked upon as a negative but more of a positive. I feel that no matter the scenario when a baby is brought into the world people look at is a gift and that you should be thankful to have this child in your life. During the process of these interviews I have come to a conclusion that birth really cant be explained i feel that the birth it self is always the same but how you go about the setting,doctor, and what the baby is suppose to be born into is all at random because every one has there own special theatrics that they want done around their new born child.