Would any couple write birth stories for a research paper?

[fourgrtkidos]

Hi,

My name is Michelle. I have not ben to this forum since last year some time. I am a student Midwife and I am looking for some couples who would be willing to share birth stories from pregnant mother's point of view and from the partner's point of view.
I would like to get a narrative birth story and then also some specific questions answered.
Please pm me, if you are interested. It would be time consuming, and well appreciated. It would be confidential, unless I was given permission to publish stories and names, places could be changed, etc.
I am interested in the following:

1. Did you take Child Birth Education classes together as partners/ couple?
2. If you did, did the class prepare you for the labor and birth? Or were you surprised by what your laboring partner really went through?
3. Did childbirth class prepare you for how the relationship would change once baby had arrived?
4. While your partner was in labor did any birth attendant or staff member (doula, nurse, midwife, doctor, etc) acknowledge your needs as a member of a newly emerging family and/or ask if they could help any need of yours? ie.: Did anyone ask: "Have you gotten anything to drink?" "Do you need something to eat?" "Do you have any questions?" Offer emotional support in the way of a smile, reassuring pat on the shoulder...... etc.
5. Did you feel your family was treated differently based on gender role, sexual orientation? Were staffmember careful to traet you well or were they visibly unnerved?

I know these questions are very personal and I hope are not offensive.

Hospital staff tend in my experience (12 years working at 4 different hospitals in Florida) to be very (negatively) judgmental and treat minority, gay/lesbians very differently than they treat most of their clients/patients.

I want to put together an inservice for the labor/delivery staff at my hospital and may expand to write a paper based on research if I can get enough data collected.

Thanks,
Michelle E. Markham Eurgatis RN
(Midwifery student)

[fourgrtkidos]

anyone?

[moonmama22]

I dont' want to commit to writing a birth story, and know that dp won't want to either, but if it helps at all - I can answer some of your questions. We did not attend any childbirth classes - I have to say a lot of th ereasonn is the fear that we would be "judged". However, because I was so overdue, we spent quite a bit of time at the hospital before i was ever even in labor. I think in at least 25 nurses and doctors we were in contact with, maybe 1 if that had any sort of different attitude toward us. We were quite anxious about it, but made sure to have the power of attorney and such paperwork done just in case. i have to say, that we were treated so mcuh better than I could have ever asked for. They were also wonderful, and supportive, and we still get and send Christmas cards to and frm the nurse who was there for most of my labor and ds's birth. When we went home, they sent us home with two of the "goodie bags," because they said that each mother gets one! I'm sorry I cannot write a more detailed birth story for you - we are in the process of moving adn I am sort of short on time. Good luck though!

[fourgrtkidos]

Thanks moonmama. If you ever get a chance to write your childs birth story down as a keepsake...... pm/ e-mail it to me ;) or pm me for my snail mail address and send a photo copy. Thanks for the input though. I am glad you were treated so well.
~Michelle

[Magic Denise]

I would be glad to write a response for you after we give birth. I don't know if that will be too late.

We are due in early December.

[westchestermom]

Hi,

Not sure if it is too late now as I noticed this thread was started in 10/05. If not too late, we'd be willing to participate in some way. We have a 2 year old daughter who was born in 3/04 and we have another baby on the way, due in 9/06.

Please give us more info on what's involved.

Thanks! ~Jen

[Faerieshadow]

I wish there was time to go more in depth but I can answer a little bit. DP and I did take childbirth classes once a week for six weeks. It was a rather large class, and while no one was rude to us, we didn't befriend anyone from the classes either, something I was hoping to do in order to find future "playdate material."

Our doctor was very supportive and treated us wonderfully. We never had any issues throughout our prenatal period, all of the staff at the office were very nice.

However, the hospital was a different story. We ended up delivering at the wrong hospital because the chosen one with the great birth center was full... the nurse that we dealt with was extremely rude once she realized that we were a couple. She was extremely rough with me and seemed to be going out of her way to make things more difficult for us.

We stayed in the hospital for the full amount of time allotted us by insurance because ds was born during the hurricanes of 04 and our electricity had not been turned back on at home yet. While we were there the nurses treated DP very poorly. She stood in the doorway with ds while I was taking a shower and they started freaking out on her like she was going to abduct him or something.

However, to be honest at the time we were so filled with joy at our new little addition that it all rolled over us like nothing. Any other time and place, and we would have been pretty vocal about our treatment, but I think it barely registered on our radar as we were getting to know our son. It was only afterwards when we recounted the situation with each other that we realized there was definitely some weirdness in relation to us.

[NameThatMama]

I'd be willing to do this if you're still interested. My partner and I had a horrible time at our hippy/crunchy childbirth class and an excellent experience with my ultra-low intervention hospital birth.