HW 41 - Independent Research

Government support for pregnant women and mothers in poverty - if you're poor and becoming a mother in NYC what programs could help you and how would you apply?

Being a single parent anywhere is tedious, but for women it can be a lot harder or a bit easier depending on their situation. Most single parents in the United States always have the option to apply for government assistance, depending on their situation. The situations most Americans have to be in when applying for government assistance, is that they have to make a certain amount, which is normally minimum wage or below the poverty line, the other is the amount of children they have, another main one is disability. It’s great that in the United States people can get support from the government, but at the same time it barely helps everyone or make the parents situation easier. If someone has a college degree, and is a single parent, and is middle class that person may not be eligible for government assistance because of what they make, when in reality what they make barely helps them make ends meet, because of bills, school loans, taxes, etc. While someone who’s below the poverty line has a subsidized rent and pays less on their taxes, still makes ends meet because they can’t make over a certain amount or else they may lose their benefits. But why is that, why must single parents have limited opportunities in order to make just ends meet? When someone is on public assistance they’re recertified every quarter in order to keep their public assistance, until they get a job and are settled. Once someone on public assistance gets a job, they’re public assistance ends. One of the reasons the government doesn’t let anyone get public assistance is because they’re worried too many people would get comfortable and not work, and for the people who have jobs and could use the extra help because they have a job, and the policy is that when one is working they’re not allowed to be assisted than they won’t be eligible.




Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4693124_government-assistance-single-mothers.html

HW 40 - Insights from Book - Part 3

The Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent, is a great to read if anyone wants to understand more about midwifery and birth. From beginning to end to end the book explains different scenarios of birth stories, which answers every birthing question one may have. Vincent once being a midwife, is what I think makes this story really detailed, because it's different when an author actually had the experience of what they're story is about, and when an author writes about something they've heard. Ms. Vincent working at a nursery hospital was also a bit unique , because most midwifes have to get certified and work independently, but i think because she worked at a hospital she has a broader view than most midwifes.

What i like about this book is when she quotes the things mother think, say or do when they're in labor, because normally it's not always as dramatic as television portrays it. "I felt that curling-over at the top as my uterus began to bear down like giant tooth paste tube being emptied" - Pg. 136. One of the many odd things I've heard to describe labor, but at the same time it's unique. During this birthing unit we watched a film called the business of being born, and it was very similar to the baby catcher, but didn't show many details, when it came to what the father or men thought during the whole process. From what I've seen the father always wants to help and do something, and tries to be supportive, but always seem a bit stunned. "The sudden spurt of blood shocked Joe" -Pg. 145. What stuns me sometimes is when the mother is in labor and deals with it really well, while everyone else is panicking asking if she's "ok" or if she "needs anything" and the mothers answer is "I'm not afraid, i'm fine, this is just really really interesting" - Ph. 216 and than the mother pushes the baby out and all done.

By the end of the book, Peggy Vincent doesn't try to change peoples mind about where to have their children or how to have them, but she helps lengthen readers knowledge about the myths about what midwives do, and what the experiences may be. What makes this book accurate, is because their are enough stories and scenarios, to show readers everyone that every experience is different.

HW 39 - Insights from Book - Part 2

The Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent is an autobiography that illustrates the average midwifes experience. The book explains many birth scenarios the author witnessed as a midwife. The book does a good job explaining what each mother felt, said and how their experience went. In the second one hundred pages the book talks about the different birth experiences women have, and so far most of them have been positive. For example for some of the births Peggy Vincent talks about how some women have un-painful, births but rather pleasuring. Pleasuring, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, because the women felt a sense of relief and happiness to release a part of her and a part of something off to the world, so it didn’t affect them much physically. Vincent also talks about the joy she gets being a midwife, because she sees the mother’s true feelings. That sort of reminded me of Janet when she came to our class and spoke about her birthing experience and how after she delivered her baby she wasn’t automatically attached the first time she held her daughter. Which I than compared to many of the midwife births we’ve seen in the business of being born, the mother tends to seem very happy and content with their birth, and seem to be happy to see their baby for the first time, which to me seems like a connection. But I feel that mothers, who have babies in hospitals, seem to have an industrial nightmarish vibe when birthing children. And because hospitals make women work harder to give birth to the child the mother is more exhausted than a mother who has a child at a birthing center or at home, causing her to be less interested. Another key point which we learned about, was how births in the 70’s during the hippie movement, were trying to re bring midwifery, but during that same time hospitals technology improved, causing a boom in hospital birth, causing a less popular trend of midwife births.

HW 36 - Pregnancy & Birth Stories

I interviewed three relatives about their birth experience at a baptism family dinner event. One of the reasons i choose to do it at that time, is because baptisms are seen as a newly born child's beginning of a religion, and also there's a lot of mothers. Each mother I interviewed had different experiences, but all shared a common emotion of feeling attached to their baby, while pregnant. On the bottom, is my interview witch each mother.

First Interview:
Name: Lynne Boisrond (Mom)

Number of children: 1

Age you gave birth: 21

1. How did pregnancy affect you physically, emotionally, or in other ways?

“Physically, I didn’t gain much weight, I only gained 24 pounds, because I exercised everyday.” “Emotionally it didn’t affect me at all, but I felt very connected to my baby, I couldn’t wait to see you.”

2. What did you do, while pregnant, to prepare for giving birth?

"I played bob Marley for you, it calmed you down whenever you we’re moving (while in the womb)” “I read pregnancy books, and I changed my diet, I only ate vegetables, my mother used to make me vegetable juice like carrot juice, fruit juice. I never ate or drank those things when I wasn’t pregnant. I didn’t eat or drink anything with preservatives, I didn’t eat red meat and I stopped smoking once I found out I was pregnant.”

3. What actions and attitudes by specific other people made your pregnancy and birth more joyous? More challenging?

“My mother helped me a lot which made my pregnancy more joyous, my mother went with me to lamas classes with me, she was my lamas partner”

4. What thoughts and feelings influenced your choice to make a baby?

“I always wanted a baby, because I love babies, and it kinda happened”

5. What feelings come back to you when you remember labor and giving birth?

“The pain from labor for 2 hours, I pushed you out early, I was 4cm dilated when it’s suppose to be ten, because I couldn’t take the pain”
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Second Interview:
Name: Kathia Boisrond (Aunt)

Number of children: 1

Age you gave birth: 27

1. How did pregnancy affect you physically, emotionally, or in other ways?

“I was extremely busy during my pregnancy, I danced, I worked I had two shows, but I noticed when I saw Kleenex commercials I cried” “I didn’t feel connected to the baby until my 5th month of pregnancy, when I saw my stomach to show”

2. What did you do, while pregnant, to prepare for giving birth?

"I got a few pregnancy books; I tried to eat 300 more calories a day, because I read that in a magazine. So I ate breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between that.” Almost every Saturday I exercised”

3. What actions and attitudes by specific other people made your pregnancy and birth more joyous? More challenging?

"My friends were excited so it was always joyous, no one really gave a negative attitude.”

4. What thoughts and feelings influenced your choice to make a baby?

“Oops” “Hahaha, it just happened, but I didn’t really mind the thought of becoming a mother.”

5. What feelings come back to you when you remember labor and giving birth?

"It’s so funny, up until I saw my cousin giving birth, I appreciated my labor more, so yeah…good times, but I don’t know how long I was labor not long”
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Third Interview:
Name: Lisa Boisrond (Aunt in law)

Number of children: 2

Age you gave birth: 34 & 36
1. How did pregnancy affect you physically, emotionally, or in other ways?

“I gained weight and rested more, since Max (My Uncle) did most of the house work, because he wanted me to rest for the baby”

2. What did you do, while pregnant, to prepare for giving birth?

“Worked, slept, relaxed. Actually pregnancy has given me more of a chance to rest, and relax than when I’m on a normal vacation, because I’m always trying to find something to do, but when I’m pregnant I focus on my and my babies health”

3. What actions and attitudes by specific other people made your pregnancy and birth more joyous? More challenging?

“It’s joyous because max, doesn’t let me do anything, and does everything” “Believe it or not, the most challenging thing was getting used to being relaxed and not having much to do.”

4. What thoughts and feelings influenced your choice to make a baby?

“I’ve always wanted a child, so when Jenney was born, I was excited. And when Kai was born it felt like a re-run of Jenney’s birth, but I felt very lucky and happy to be able to have two children.”

5. What feelings come back to you when you remember labor and giving birth?

“Of course the pain, I don’t think anyone who’s given birth to a child will forget that. But I remember the joy in Max’s eyes when both Jenney and Kai were born, having a child is probably one of life’s greatest gifts.”
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After those interviews, I wanted to explore when a woman finds out their pregnant, when they start a new transition. Such as eating healthy, trying to be more relax and when they start feeling connected with the baby.

HW 35 - Other Peoples' Perspectives 1

I asked 3 children between the ages of 8 and 12, their insights on birth. Two of them we're my younger cousins and the other being my friends younger brother. They all understood that birth is what brought them and everyone around them into existence, and that women are the one who give birth. My eight year old cousin, Raphael understood the basics of birth, because he's asked his parents. One of the questions he asked me was "why do women give birth if it hurts?" That question struck me, because i remembered i asked my mom that question when i was younger. So I gave him the answer my mom told me "Some women don't think about the pain, they think about the end reward". He seemed to understand that answer because he replied, "because mothers love their children". My friends younger brother Charlie, who's 10, said "without birth nothing would exist". Which i thought was absolutely correct. My 12 year old cousin Nick, said "When women give birth, they keep life going, by bringing more people, which continues a cycle". Each of child understood the general basics of birth, that everyone understands. Birth is simple and complex, it's simple because everyone in the world gets the point, and knows that they were born. It's complex, because it's a turning point in someone's life, and affects almost everyone's life.

Hw 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth

Everyday a child is born, and everyday a parent thinks that they created a prophet. But when does that baby become a regular person? In certain cultures you become an adult at 13 or in others 21, but eventually that person who was once a baby, once something special might have their own child who they think is special. All in all birth is the start and sometimes the highlight in peoples life.

HW 32 - Thoughts following illness & dying unit

This unit made me think a lot about a simple thing yet complicating subject, illness and dying. Doing this unit made me think a lot about pass deaths, and illnesses of people i know, which gave me a lot of thought about things in my life. One of my thoughts was not taking life for granted, because illness and death is very complex. For example when someone is ill and goes to the hospital, they still can die. Something that most people don't think about, because almost like the food unit when we we're reminded and taught that our food doesn't come from a farm that's like those in story books. This unit also made me think back about the food unit, like the commitments i made during that unit of taking care of myself by always eating right and being active. The reason i was reminded about the food unit was because just like we learned in the food unit about how corporations try to save as much money as possible, and make as much money as possible, everyone's well being is not in their best interest. So if we want to better our lives we have to make our own decisions, so in order to lower my chances of getting sick i take care of my body, by eating well and doing well for myself. This unit made me build off many of my peers thoughts about illness, and death like Matthew S. who spoke about alienation, and how it's something we somewhat naturally do because we think we know what's best for that person, when in reality we're just alienating them because they're almost non existent, and what i built off from that is that the many "regrets" and "feelings", which a lot of my class mates spoke about. Are due because of alienation. The only thing that i thought was the most nightmarish and dominant practices, was not how surgery's are done and all the complex things doctors do to help save one's life, was health care. Talking about health care made me really think about the culture we live in, where some believe that health care is a "privilege" and i think the amount of selfishness in that is really nightmarish. The American culture is built off of selfishness, "sick days", "medical bills", why do we limit peoples lives and make it harder just for someone to live, these things aren't privileges or rights or any of that it should be just plain sense of community as human beings, of having the goal to survive. And what i found most nightmarish is how other countries such as Canada, U.K. and France, don't limit peoples well being, but the united states, the "superior super power" and greatest nation in the world can blatantly in front of us limit our "rights" and do a good job fooling Americans into believing that this country is the best, even though we go through hardships. Other than that this unit has been by far one of the most interesting ones, and I like the pattern that we're following from food to illness, because they go deeper than one's health.