History Of Pregnancy And Birthing

BIRTH AS A NATURAL PROCESS.

Birth indeed is a very natural process. As a matter of fact, it is a gift from God. Right from creation, it was his plan of bringing forth more and more mankind into the world. He commanded man to multiply and fill the earth. In the beginning, there was only the two of them-the husband and the wife yet he still gave the command. There was no technology then and no other person around.

He created our bodies in a Way that we are able to handle the delivery process by ourselves. All we need to do is to listen to our bodies and respond appropriately to its demands when the time for your baby comes.

NATURAL FROM THE BEGINNING

Long ago, a woman became pregnant and when time was due, gave birth. Simply that! The child and the mother would either be healthy and survive the delivery and birth or would at times die. Some communities viewed a woman as a ploughed field that would either be barren or fertile. Birth, then was a natural instinct and everyone appreciated that. In most communities, children were a mark of wealth-the more you had the wealthier you were rated and the more labor you had at your disposal. Birth and birth results were largely out of the control of the mother.in some communities the woman was sent off to go and give birth on her own in a special house. So natural, it was seen to be!

FROM NATURAL TO COMPLICATED

You may not believe it, but yes. As the modern medicine began to set in, the birthing process became a little more complicated. With time, more information became available about pregnancy and birthing. The more information people acquired concerning this, the more they changed the way they looked at birth. For centuries, midwives had been the ones who helped women in the delivery process in their homes or any other place that was termed as convenient.

Then Medicine took over the care of expectant mothers. Along came anesthetics, hospital environments for birth and claims of increased chances of survival and reduced neonatal deaths, making birthing shift to the hospitals.

The hospital was seen as a place where a person would be taken to be treated from a difficult ailment. A disease that was just above the power of nature. One which could not just be healed using the natural medicine that people had depended on with for ages.

This, from that time has changed the way people look at birth. The newer generations are often not aware that birth is a natural process. They view it quite differently. Pregnancy has in many cases been medicalised therefore being seen as a risky ailment. This has caused feelings of fear, dread and pain. In some instances birth has ceased being viewed as a celebration and for most it is an activity of somehow getting rid of something in them.

Just like any other thing, pregnancy and birthing has its own history. It has slowly changed from being appreciated as a very natural process to a dreaded process by some women. The more knowledge that people have acquired concerning pregnancy and birthing has complicated the whole experience. People would rather turn back to seeing it as natural as it was intended to be and as natural as it truly is.