My Childhood Stessor

Poverty

The childhood stressor that had a major affect on my life as a child is poverty.  Fortunately I overcame all of the negative connotations associated with that form of living.  The one factor that I feel affected me the most was the feeling of inferiority I felt towards those who I thought was more fortunate than I was. I always had the feeling that I was never good enough, or smart enough. Because unfortunately, back in the times when I was a child, if you didn’t have as much as the other child you were treated as if you were from a place that barely existed and sometimes inhumane. School was where it was felt the most, the teachers would be so mean to you and they treated as if you should have considered it a privilege if they even spoke to you. I can remember one time when I was in elementary school, and one of my teachers was expecting a child. She allowed other students to touch her protruding stomach but, when I did she said things to me that an adult should never say to a child. I felt alone and dejected. It was the worst feeling that I had felt during my entire 12 years of schooling.  It is now almost 30 years later and that same teacher is still teaching, and though its sad to say, her daughter has brought her worse stress than she brought that 12 or 13 year old child that was me.  However, as I grew older I realized that know-one can make you feel inferior, unless you yourself think you are inferior.

Poverty In Jamaica

I read an article form the following website, http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cbj2003/lac/jm/. It explains how the Jamaica’s governing bodies are partly to blame for the country’s poverty levels. It states that, “During the last decade, the Jamaican economy has been adversely affected by persistently poor performance, registering an average annual growth rate of only 0.2%. The Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (2000) shows that in 1999 the GDP growth rate was -0.4%. This has had a cumulative effect on major productive sectors of the economy, resulting in a decline in government revenues and, therefore, a shortage of funds to meet the growing needs of essential social services, such as education and health.”  It also states, “Poverty has given rise to increased school absenteeism, and deteriorating literacy and numeracy rates, furthering the cycle of unemployment and increased crime. Pressure is intensifying on the nation's ill-equipped security force and heavily backlogged judicial system”. Yes this was something that I also had to deal with during my childhood; however, mine was due to the pressures that I had to deal with as a student.  You will find that our country, the United States of America, has concerns and is trying to find ways to aid in eliminating poverty in Jamaica and other countries.

Article can be accessed by clicking the following link:http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cbj2003/lac/jm/

Breastfeeding

It is said that babies who are breastfeed have higher intelligence than babies who are given the processed formula. And in my opinion this is true. One of my closest friends, who has 4 children of her own attested to this fact.  She stated that of all of her children the one that she breastfed is the one who is more cognitive or is the better thinker. And as an online compilation concerning the advantages of breastfeeding, compiled by Dr. Jon Ahrendsen states, “In 771 low-birth-weight infants, babies whose mothers chose to provide breastmilk had an 8-point advantage in mean Bayley's mental developmental index over infants of mothers choosing not to do so” she may be correct.  After researching more about this article I found that the benefit of breastfeeding has the same far-reaching affects in the development of babies in the United States and abroad, not only does it provide a form of economic relief for mothers, it provides a healthy barrier towards babies becoming infected with various diseases. I think one hindrance to breastfeeding in the United States is that there is some embarrassment of doing so in public especially in the south, as another article found on the internet states, “Breastfeeding, public or otherwise, in the USA varies greatly from region to region and person to person, since it is such an extremely diverse place. Rarely is breastfeeding seen in public in the south, and I usually preferred to nurse my daughter in the parking lot in the car or in a nursing room set up for that purpose. I had trouble with stares and criticism in a restaurant or appointment waiting room. However from another web article a mother in West Africa states “It is interesting to see that all of the things that are slowly coming back into style for nursing mothers in the US have never gone out of style here. It's common for breastfeeding to be recognized as the best, healthiest, cheapest, and easiest way to raise a baby. When baby needs to nurse, mother just swings her baby around to her side and latches him on. I never noticed a mother who was embarrassed to nurse in public here". This research has really enlightened me so much o that if I should ever be blessed to give birth again, I will breastfeed my child for the duration. And I have become a strong proponent of breastfeeding.  Therefore, in the future I will make an effort to stress the importance of breastfeeding to all of my Women, Infants, and Children’s (WIC) clients.

http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/all_about_more2.html

by Jon Ahrendsen, MD, FAAFP
Clarion, IA USA (515) 532-2836

http://www.007b.com/public-breastfeeding-northamerica.php

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBJanFeb06p12a.html

Birthing Experience

                                                                           Part 1

Although I have a personal birthing experience, the one that was most life-changing to me was the one I witnessed via my cousin’s son’s birth. The reason I chose this one to write about is because there is a distinct difference between giving birth and witnessing birth. When you’re giving birth you’re in too much pain to really understand the wonder of what  you’ve done, but if you witness a birth, it is magnificent, to see a small head emerge and then expand into a full length human is nothing but a miracle.  The thing that I most remember about the birth is how although my cousin was pushing with all of her strength, the baby was having a hard time coming through the birth canal. Therefore, once his head was visible the doctors had to use prongs to assist the mom with bringing him forth into the world. Because of this the baby had scarring and was in pain; however after a while the nurse was able to calm him.   The child is now 5 years old and the scar remains.  As of now there have been no signs of whether the scarring has caused long term damage to my little cousin. And I don’t think it will but I do feel that that particular birthing experience could have been catastrophic for my cousin, had the child not been born at the time he was. If the doctor had applied a little more pressure for a little more time. We are still thanking God for letting him arrive safely and for the normal life that he has.

                                                                       Part 2

As seen in the picture, a mother in Simika( a small village in Africa), southern Malawi , childbirth is best handled if there is someone besides the mother there during the birth of a human. The differences and similarities are startling, the picture tells it all. As with my experience I dont know the direct affect this experience has had on the child's development. But the incite I have gained is; we Americans have been blessed to be able to afford to give birth to our child in a stable and controlled environment. We should take advantage of all of the privileges given us and our children. I'm sure an American  who lives here that lives  below the poverty level, will recieve the best and most effective treatment for herself and her child. Another reason to Thank God for being an American.

Picture courtesy of ; http://www.usnews.com/usnews/photography/aids/aids9.htm