2nd Degree from Walden: Getting to Know your International Contacts

Friday, May 24, 2013

Getting to Know your International Contacts

Through the Global alliance for Early Childhood, I contacted through email a representative for Haiti. However, after several attempts to make contact. I was unsuccessful. The information shared here, is information that I received from their website.

Many people already know that Haiti is a country that is plagued with extreme poverty and uncontrollable population growth. However, I learned that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and has been ranked number 146th among 177th countries. From the Haiti's Global Alliance website, it states, "Haiti is marked by dictatorship and violence, plagued by illiteracy, unemployment and shortage of resources, extreme poverty and uncontrolled population growth"(GAEC, 2013). Due to politics and ordeals with their government among other factors, make food insecurity and hunger a very big problem in Haiti. Haiti does not produce enough agriculture and livestock to feed their people. Many Haitians are poor due to low income, low educational levels and limited social capital. The poorest groups of rural people in Haiti are:
• women who are heads of households
• rural workers who depend exclusively on wage employment
• landless farmers (sharecroppers)
• fishers who do not have their own boats
• charcoal producers with no other activity

The idea of so many families and their children living in poverty makes me feel guilty. Here I am complaining about daily things when there are families and children with no food, water, shelter, or clothing to put on their bodies. I learned to be grateful and to count my blessings. In addition, I learned that their poverty is very similar to our poverty here in America. Poverty stricken people here may not be without clothing. However, many do suffer from having no food, water or shelter. Poverty here is a result of weakened government, low income and high unemployment rates. I am glad that there are Global Alliance programs in place to help those in need. They cant reach everyone but just making small changes really does help.

Man Bathing from public Tap in an Alley

Children in Line to eat at a Soup Kitchen

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The Birth of my first son!

I chose to write about the birth of my first son, who was born preterm at 19 wks and passed away. I chose this birth to write about because it was the most tramautic and most memorable. I also chose this birth because after reading the chapters and sections I think it is important to be knowledgable about your body and to keep up with appointments and take proper test and procedures to ensure that your baby is born full term and healthy. Five days before going into labor, I felt really bad and had an inkling that something was wrong. The physician that I was using at the time had an office in my town but was only there on Thursdays for appt. This was a Friday afternoon and if I wanted to see her I would have to drive over sixty miles to her next office. So, i gnored the signs and went on thinking that I was ok. On Wednesday morning, I woke up with slight stomach cramps. Took a shower, got dressed for work, and daughter off to daycare. Stopped by my Mother in laws house and when I got inside I had to sit down, the pain had gotten progressively worse. Still I continued on to work and and worked through the morning with the pain getting getting worse. Then I went to the restroom and noticed a bloody show. I had a coworker take me to the local er where I had to got through an hour long ultrasound of the baby and my cervix. My baby looked great and I found out I was having a boy!!!! How exciting, that is just what me and hubby wanted since we already had a daughter togther and he has an older daughter from a previous relationship. This was perfect. Now, all they had to do was stop these cramps so I could get home to inform my husband of the picture perfect family we were going to have! Well after waiting hours for a dr, to come in and see my I was delivered the horrible news!! His words exactly was "you are going to lose this baby". He said it with no sympathy at all. I immediately started crying and askign why. He stated that I had developed an infection. My cervix had already dialted to 5 cm, the blood I saw earlier was my mucus plug and when he checked me, the water bag was coming through my cervix. I pleaded with him to do anything to help save my baby. He stated that if the bag would go up some, he could stitch my cervix closed but he couldn't do that with the bag protruding out of the cervix. So I waited nervously overnight, laying basically upside down in the hospital bed hoping that this would help the bag to go back up and at least give him a little room to stitch me up. The next day he came to check me again and told me that there was nothing else he could do. I had developed an infection from having my cervix opened for so long and that if I didnt deliver the baby I would die. I felt like dying right there. This just couldnt be. I was 19 wks pregnant, certainly I could hang in there three more wks. But he said no. I called my normal dr's office and they called a major medical university located near their office who has one of the best neonatal hospitals in the world. However, they wouldnt even accept me since I wasnt at least 21 wks and due to the fact that I had the infection. So I had to accept that I was going to lose my baby boy. The nurse came into to give me something to break my water and everything just seemed like a blur. I was told that I didnt need an epidural since the baby was less than a pound. However, after hollering and screaming in pain from the emotional and physical stress, they gave me an epidural. Even with the epidural, this was the most painful and emotional births of my three births. Even with the epidural I could feel every single thing, I was in a lot of pain but dont know if it was really physical pain or the emotional and mental pain that was causing me to be in pain. Jackson Reed Hemingway was born on July 23, 2008 at 12:18pm. I decided that I didnt want to see him but having to be sedated after the birth, when I calmed down, I wanted to see my baby. I was able to see him and hold him. The hospital provided me with pics and foot prints. Me and my husband decided not to have a memorial for him. Instead, we mourned privately. Although Jackson did not live, I know that if he had, he would have had tremendous health issues to battle. Pre-term babies literally have to fight for their lifes. I would have wanted him to live. However, when I think of all the pain and issues that would have plagued him the first couple of months of his life, I would never want to see my child suffer. His development would have been slowed but learning from this weeks resources on growth and development it is not to say that he wouldnt have grown up to be a healthy baby boy.