P1:

All throughout the world, births are medicalized all different ways. For example, in the Dutch origin, over 60% of the women preferred to give birth at their homes while only 30% of women preferred to give birth at a hospital. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, only 30% of women decided to give birth at their houses while over 60% preferred to have the birth of their child in a hospital. Women choose to have more at home births because there is no more of a risk having it there than at a hospital with professional medical care. The Inuit culture is very dynamic and life flows according to seasonal cycles that are tied closely to the land. The inuit methods of raising children differ. They believe that when a child is born, the soul or spirit of a recently deceased relative is taken on by the newborn. The newborn is then named after that relative. The inuits believe the soul of the newborn manifest the child’s physical character, skills, and their personality traits. As soon as that child is born, they are treated and respected the same way that relative was seen. Traditionally, the Inuit mother was often assisted in giving birth by an older woman in addition to lending assistance during the birth. After the child is born, they would be placed on a platform next to the mother. Since the baby is born, the Inuits believe the baby should be in direct contact with the mother at all times. The birth of each child is seen as a celebration. The Inuits believe and rely heavily on tradition, so right when the newborn is born, it is given it’s father’s surname and its mothers traditional parka. As for here in America, it is very common to be boron in a hospital and have the appropriate medical care after. The United States seems to be one of the only countries in the world that rely so heavily on a medical team to get them through childbirth. It seems like after reading about the Netherlands, Vietnam and the Inuits that the concept of child birth is more relaxed compared to how it is here in America. They make childbirth seem easy and not like a big deal even when they decide to have birth in their own homes. America, on the other hand, seems to make childbirth seem harder. From the lecture “Birth and death cross-culturally”, it states that midwives are used in the Netherlands a lot which seem to be very effective in assisting for both the mom and the newborn. The Inuits, before the baby is even born, do rituals to welcome the baby into the world. From the lecture “Medicalization of life cycle events”. It states that birth in America in the 1900’s was all at home with no medical help. Instead, the father of the baby would perform the delivery while a midwife was usually there to assist after birth. The way that Americans had a birth in the mid- late 1900’s is how most countries perform birth now. At home. Biomedicine and childbirth is evolving all over the world. All different countries and cultures have different preferences on how child birth should be performed.

P2:

I feel as if this picture describes childbirth in America very well. The way that most Americans see birth is at a hospital with a medical team. This is the traditional way to have birth in America. Very rarely you will see or hear about someone in America having birth in their own home or somewhere besides a hospital. Women who are pregnant feel as if having the birth of their child in a hospital is the most safe and sanitary and that they can receive any medical treatments if needed right away. Each culture and even family has their own way of what they prefer for child birth, although this picture is how most Americans see having birth.