womens antrho homework

so here is the paper that i had to write up for my womens anthropology class. i had fiona edit it. she did not edit the ending though because of the fact that i had not writen that much when i sent it to her...so the ending probs sucks but the rest is realy good. umm ya for this paper i basically had to write about my birth, so just a warning thats what is writen here. alos this is really long..just a heads up. anyway enjoy :

Comparing my birth with many others North American births, mine was a complicated and risky business. This was because both of my parents carried genetic deficiencies that put the women and the baby at high risk of not surviving the labour process. In my father, the genetic issue was that the thirteenth chromosome had an extra hook. This defect makes it highly unlikely for fetus survival. My mother’s genetic defect was developed over time because she had a miscarriage in her past. The doctors told her that she would have a good chance of having Placentia previa in her future if she were to have children again. Of the circumstances that my mother went through because of the miscarriage, she needed to have Amniocenteses. This was to test a baby’s chromosomes to make sure that they were both healthy and surviving.

Unlike my birth, my older brother was born under normal circumstances of a North American culture. He went through the smooth procedure of delivery without a trace of alarm. On the other hand, my birth was an event of panic and fear of survival.

It started off the way most births would start off in a North American culture. When my mother started getting contractions, my dad instantly decided that she needed to be driven to the hospital. In the summer of 1989, however, there was a nurse’s strike and the hospital was short staffed and low on beds. When my parents first showed up at the hospital, the nurses had my mom walk around for a bit to wait to see how serious it was. After what the nurses considered a throughout assessment of my mother’s condition, they concluded that she was not ready to give birth and told her to go home. At the time of my brother’s birth in 1987, there was no nurse’s strike and my mother was let in right away. Unfortunately, in my case my mother was just told to hang around and walk around because of the lack of staff then eventually told to go home. On the way home after being told to leave, my mother and my father started to notice that she was bleeding a lot. So my father turned around and drove back to the hospital. When they got back to the hospital the nurses became aware of how much my mother was bleeding and started to worry. As a result of the crucial condition that my mother was in (by the time that she was ready to give birth to me) there was a lot of technology used. There was a lot less technology used in my brother’s birth.

For my brothers birth there was a heart rate monitor for the mother and for the baby, as well as other monitors to keep watch of the mother and the Childs vital signs. As well, my mother asked to take an epidural to take away the pain of childbirth. As for my birth, because of the fact that it was more complicated, there was a lot more technology. This technology was mainly needed because of the fact that I was a c-section baby. The technology that was used during this process was an ultrasound, and an aesthetic to make my mother unconscious during the c-section. As well because my mother was losing a lot of blood she needed to have a blood transfusion. After I was born I was placed in an incubator and fed through a feeding tube; I had been born seven weeks premature. My parents note that if it had not been for all of this technology, they do not believe that I or my mother would be alive today.

With my brothers birth there was no c-section for he came out quickly and painlessly. With my birth a c-section was needed. This was because, like the doctors had speculated earlier, my mother was suffering from Placentia previa. The placenta was tearing away from the uterus and my life support as a fetus had been failing. This was the reason my mother started to lose a lot of blood. Because of this my mother was unable to make any decisions. During my birth the doctor actually came out to my dad and gave him three options to choose from. The first one was that they continue to try natural labour and that there was a very low chance that either my mother or I would survive. The second option was that the doctors try to enduce labour. With that option the doctors said that only I would survive. The third option was a c-section. The doctor told my father that both my mother and I had a fifty percent survival rate. My father tells me that he saw that he only had one option, and that was the c-section.

In both my older brother’s birth, and mine my father had the option to attend and watch. My father attended my brother’s birth but, he did not attend mine. The doctor did give him the option to be present at my birth but because of the seriousness of the situation, my father did not feel it would do any good for him to be in there. He said that he felt if he were to go into the delivery room with everything that was going on he would just get in the way. Although my father does say he regrets that decision and that he wanted to be in the room. He said that he felt that the doctor had pressured him into not going into the room. The doctor was the one that made him feel like he would be in the way, and that him being there would not do any good.

Well in North American culture my brother’s birth can be seen as normal. The use of technology was normal. Things such as epidermal are seen as quite normal in today’s standards of birth. This is because mothers do not wish to feel the pain, and unlike in some other cultures it is not considered a loss in experience, or at lest it was not considered a loss in the experience for my mother. Through out my brother birth both my parents made the decisions as a couple. The decisions were not just left up to one person. Because my parents felt as a couple they could make decisions together and without it being a stressful situation such as my birth they had the time to do so. Also during my brother’s birth my father was allowed to attend. And did attend. There was no pressure felt from the doctors or from anyone else making him feel that he should not attend or that he had to attend. Well my birth I don’t believe can be seen as normal, for this culture. There was extra use of technology. This technology was needed at the time so that my mother and I could survive, but it was more what doctors would normally use. During the birthing process it was mainly left up to my father to make the major decisions. This could be considered unusual as most mothers are making the decisions during their own birthing process, or a couple makes them together but given the situation it was left up to my father. Also the last thing that makes my birthing process different was the fact that my father was unable to witness the birth. Not because he was no allowed to, but because he felt pressured by the doctors not too due to my mothers situation. In comparison my mother’s whole birthing experience with my brother can be seen as the more normal experience for most mothers in North American culture. Well the majority of the experiences that my mothers when through during the birthing experience with me are not viewed as quite so normal.

so im taking womens anthropology. and right now we are learning about birth, cross culturaly. which i am finding interesting. it is making me realize how depended on technology we are in this culture. oh my god it even starts when we are born. in the book we are reading there was even and interview with a nurse and she herself said that working in the delivery ward is like working on an assembly line. its all about go go go. get the women preped. get the baby out. make sure they are both healthy and then move onto the next one.

but that is not really what has me thinking. even though i could go on about how we are stuck on technology for hours. the ironic thing is that this is comming from the girl who has a cell phone, ipod, laptop and a car....so maybe i should not talk.

the thing that did strike me in class today was the fact that the author of the book that we are reading said that the whole studying of birth gig is best left up to women. she basically says that women will do a better and more efficent job. and if thats not enough the part that annoyed me was that even girls who dont want kids...or never plan on having kids. would do a better job studying the birth process then a man who is intrested in, or wants kids. i might be wrong but this sounds alot like sexism. okay i will agree that women my have a better advantage studying the whole birth and pregnancy process then men do.

they have this advantage becasue women will actually be allowed into the birthing hut in some cultures and areas around the world. well men are forbidden just because it is the culture, or becasue for a pregnant women who is giving birth is just really uncomfortable with the idea of a strange guy being there. well she may be less uncomfortable with a strage girl being there. do in that way i can see why girls would have an advantage. but i still do not belive that it should be said that guys would do a bad job.

for one. lets take north america, look at how many of the doctors here actually are men. in this culture where we are tought that it is not gender that gets you were you wanna be but it is intrest, hard work and education. so that means that women had the opertunity to be doctors and yet there are alot more men then there are women. so...men must be interested in the birthing process. and men must wanna study it, some men,. and men must be educated in how the body works and what to do. if this were not the case i dont know about you but i would seriously be questioning this countries doctors. even my doctor specializes in pregnant women. and my doctor is a guy. so you know what..i think this shows that yes guys can be interested and yes they can do an excellent job studying the birthing process if they were interested and deticated to what it was that they are studying.

One more point from me and then i will stop the rambling of this topic. there are so many different aspects one can take when studying the birthing process. yes, there is the actual birth but that is just a small part of it. there is also the whole other nine months. thoes nine months that the women is growing, and changing. the husband or partner is as well. he may not being going through all the physical changes that the women is but things are chaning. some fathers say that it even though they have been married for a while it is not untill their wife is pregnant that they start to realize that it is not all about them anymore, they are going to have a family that they feel that they have to protect and look after. a male may not be able to go into the birth hut, but well that is happening he could talk with the men. get the mens perspective. see how the men are growing and changing well the women is growing. couple grow together, or at least that is what i am always told. and what appears to happen.

so why is it then that we only have case studies on the women during the birth process? what is going on with the husbands and the other men in the family. i know a women carrying a baby for nine months, that whole process of another human being created out of what seems like nothing is facinating. what she goes through, and what she deals with.

but when has anyone done reserch on the guys? how they are changing? what they are going through? and how they deal with it?

how do these two people grow toghether

TMI

1. Have you ever dated/married purely for money?
nope, and i never plan on doing that. i belive love lasts longer then money

2. What is your type?
i dont know if i have a type. i like the ruged look.

3. What is the best sex game you have ever played?
i have never played a sex game

4. Have you ever given or received an orgasm from a person whose last name you did not know? no. i have never recived and orgasm from a person :P

5. Have you ever masturbated in front of a sexual partner?
no. and i dont really plan on doing so. whats the fun of playing one player in a two person game

so i was reading a book today forget what its called some random book that i picked up at work. and there was this one line that literaly made me lol. i think some of the customers thought that i was on crack cause i was randomly laughing...they could not see the book.

anyway the line was along the lines of

"if you ever want to make your boyfriend happy just blow up a car with a rocket launcher"

of course in the book the main girl who was talking was trying to take out a mob boss. and also she did miss and ended up hitting her own car. which the guy found histaricaly. knowing my luck if i ever had to take somone out with a rocket launcher i would end up hitting my own car :P.

but yes i found that quote funny.

umm i wonder were one can buy rocket launchers...incase matt ever gets emo and needs some cheering up.

also whose car would i destroy. lets all hope for our cars sake that matt never gets that emo.

becasue im thinking me + rocket launcher = alot of cars going up in flames.

so i will end with this

save a car make sure matthew is happy!!

i

tmi tuesday questions..only a couple days late

1. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with your sex life?
well im not actually having sex yet, but im in no rush to get into that. so i would say that it is good. i am satisfied.

2. If someone shoves you up against a wall while kissing you, your reaction is?
it sounds very hot, and delightful. hopefuly if it ever happens its as sexy as it sounds

3. What is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done or said to you?
ummm, i cant think of anything really that romantic that anyone has done or said to me.

4. Where is the most unusual place you have ever had sex?
never had sex,


5. How do you liked to be kissed?
is it just me or does this sound like a stupid question....who does not like to be kissed.? i love to be kissed. but i am a chicken shit and am horrible at making the first move.

so im starting to wonder how i can be getting stressed out when it feels like im doing almost nothing this school year? is that possible? obviously. so this school year as i said i am only taking two courses. two. my first project is due on tuesday but that is now what im stressed out about. im getting stressed over everything else. lets see. my plan for this summer is to go and travel through scotland with fiona. this plan makes me uber happy becasue i have wanted to go to scotland since i was 15. i even have a giant poster of scotland in my bedroom. and fiona got me a giant scotland flag that hangs out in my bed room. so ya that gives you an idea of how into scotland i am.

so the whole stress thing. yes i am stessing over so much stuff that i have to get done that is not related to school at all. i need to get my passport done soon. so that i can travel. i need to get the pictures taken (where im not allowed to smille or they will think im a terrorist, yes cause i have the guts to blow stuff up and kil people) then i need to send the stuff in soon so i can get it back intime to go.. or if i have the time drive downtown and wait in an uber long line. i need to get a background check so that i can get into the ecce program. early childhood care and education. becuase you know they dont want rapists and such working with little kids. i also need that background check for volunteering which starts in febuary. once again same reason dont want weirdos volunteering with little kids. i need to finish filling out the forms so i acctualy can get accepted into the program. i know i will get in im already in camosun. and they already have all the proof of my good grades and all that jazz.

but i need to get it in and hopefully be accepted before febuarary cause i need to prove to the preschool that im going to be volunteering for the course. not casue im a creeper who likes to watch little kids. so yes all this fourms and sighning up for crap is stressing me out. but im planning on talking to the police tommorow about getting a background check. and i will hopefully have the forms filled out and be signed up for the ecce by monday.

on a happier off topic note i made cookies today with matt. that was fun. i kinda screwed up a bit by putting things in the wrong bowls but then matt helped me fix it and the cookies turned out great...although im sure quite a bit of the cookies got eaten before they even made it in the oven. but then they turned out great. we also watched supernatural.

and this note if a.d.d cause even though im talking about cookies im thinking about that camosun form that is siting on the table a bit down from me that i should probably fill out. WHY DO I PROCRASTINATE. i will get everything done. i will relax.

*sigh*. i suck at bloging.....

im to distracted. hey look cider. maybe i should drink that :P

yumm peach

wow i have not posted in a long time. i would like to be able to say that my reason for that is becasue i have been really busy. busy with school, busy with work, and just all around busy with life. and although that is true to some degree i think in reality i am just blogger lazy. and also forgetful. so what did i do today. what is going on in my life. well life. life is fun. i am currently only taking two courses at school. thats becasue im trying to switch my programs. instead of being a elementry school teacher i desided to be a preschool teacher. this is because i want to work with younger kids. i love kids. maybe because im so much like them. i love jumping in big puddles when it rains. and the idea of finger painting makes me happy. im such a little kid it its not even funny.

so the days that i go to school are tusday and thrusday. starting in febuary mondays and wednesdays are going to be used for volunteering at a preschool. and right now im working friday and saturday mornings. 5:30-2 GROSS. ya i know early equals mass suckage but atl east i get off early and still get to go out saturdays. oh and the place i work, relay airport gift shop. wooot. i sell cheap crap at expensive prices. and i know that cause i hear customers complain about it alot. even though what we mainly sell is drinks and chips and gum. so yes thats a tad of my fill in. most of my friends now whats going on with me so i dont feel the need to fill in anymore.

so today. i drove downtown with shannon. we meet up with brynn and we went shoping. i would say all in all it was a succesful shoping day. i bought a leather jacket which i have wanted for a while.

okay let me refraise that.

i bought a pleather jacket. not real leather but hey im trying to save up money to travel. (to scotland, and ireland in the summer with fiona hopefully we will make it to spain after to participate in the yearly giant tomato fight but scotland is our main goal) so i dont really feel like spending 100 dollers or over on a jacket. i ended up spending 45. i also got a shirt from utopia i love that store. if i had more money i would buy all of my clothes from there.

brynn, shannon and i also raided the bay center, a record store, and curiouse commics. shannon bought me a graphic novel that looks really interesting. and she bought some posters for her room.

so ya there is more that i could write about for today but im starting to feel like im rambeling maybe thats becasue i have not blogged in a while, or maybe its because i actually am starting to ramble which i have a habbit of doing even when i dont blog. so anyway im going to end this blog. and continue paying attention to the movie that i should be watching with my dad. yay kill bill. i love quinten tarintino movies. i actually bought a pulp fiction poster the other day, quentin tarintino has not made a movie in a while....i hope he comes out with something new soon.


anyway im rambling again, so im ending this post for the second time.