The birthing experience of my son was wonderful. I was only 21 years old when I gave birth to my son, and needless to say, I knew nothing firsthand about labor. During my nine months of being pregnant, I suffered from high blood pressure, and gestational diabetes. I remember the morning when my water broke, as if it was just yesterday, not 36 years ago. I woke up at 5 AM to go to the bathroom I thought, and all of a sudden before I got out of the bed it was covered in water. I woke up my son’s father and told him my water had broken. He and I had completed classes for Lamaze and all of a sudden he had forgotten everything. He asked “what do we do now”? We got up and went to the hospital and as soon as we drove up under the shelter the hospital staff comes out with a wheel chair. By this time I am having back labor pains, and wondering what is going to happen next. We got upstairs in the labor room, and my back was hurting so bad. The nurses told us the baby was up against my back, and that they could give me ice to put on my back, or my then husband could rub my back. As the pain began to get worse, I told the nursing staff and my husband, “I am going home; I don’t want to have the baby. Needless to say, I acted like I could stop the labor pains with my request. I ended up being in labor 2 hours, and gave birth to my son by natural childbirth. I remember when he came out, the nurses handed him to other nurses and he was coated in a white coat of paste, and I asked, “Does he need a bath”? Of course, the nurses and everyone in the room laughed, and they proceed by putting his hat on, and wrapping him in a blanket. At that time I remember the nurses telling me he had a perfect Agar score, and was healthy. That night after giving birth to my son, a thunder storm came up and the lighting hit the hospital. The hospital had no AC and lights were running on a generator. The next morning they told me I could go home and I was so excited.
I researched birth of Chinese and found out that the Chinese women are different in beliefs than women in the US. Chinese women are encouraged to avoid foul language as it can cause the baby to be cursed. Another different belief is that the traditional Chinese society blames the mother of a child that is physically disable or deformed as it is a result in the mother’s actions during pregnancy. Chinese women are expected to work during their pregnancy, and they should eat herbal soups. Rubbing of the stomach is thought to result in a spoilt or over demanding child. Also, the Chinese believe that a child is age one when it is born, because they consider the date of conception not the date of birth.
http://www.firsttimepregnancy.com/15.html
