Birth

The discussion we had in class on Thursday made me think about my own birth, and what I was told about my brother's. My mom had me and my brother both in the hospital because she wanted to be there in case something went wrong. Personally, if I was going to be giving birth, I would want to be in that environment because you never know. I can totally understand how people may want a natural, home birth, it depends on the situation.

My mom had no choice but to go to the hospital when she had me because I was premature, and she was taken by mercy flight to Buffalo. When they broke my mom’s water, it splashed all over the doctor, who happened to be a short person. I was a little over a year old when my parents found out I had Cerebral Palsy (I was still crawling). My lungs were underdeveloped so they injected surfactant right away to increase my ability to breathe (they did not want me to take a breath when I came out of the womb). Even so, I stopped breathing 20 times a day, and I remained in the hospital for 14 weeks after I was born.

What I have been told about my brother's birth is amusing to me. The after-birth was in a silver pan on the counter. My dad walked over to it and said “Oh my God, this is cool!” He tried to show my mom the big purple, bloody blob and she said “Oh my God that’s gross, put it back!”

- Josh Steffen