HW#46

Instead of focusing solely on the care of the dead I would like to look in deeper into the process of taking care of the body after death and how that has changed overtime. I am really keen on learning about this specific process because of a movie I recently saw that was titled After.Life; aside from the movie being a cheesy drama about a woman who is dead but thinks she’s alive, the more interesting character is the mortician who has undertaken the job of preparing her for her funeral and getting her through her own process of believing that she is dead and accepting it. The idea of the dead accepting their own death is rarely something you hear about because the focus is put mainly on the deceased’s family and their grieving process. A look at religion and how each religion views this would be interesting. The next most interesting topic to me about the care of the dead is how to “dispose” of the corpse. As far as I know there are two main options which are burial, and incineration (after which the ashes can be given to the family or taken to a location chosen by the deceased.

Þ    More about the psychology behind grieving

Þ    What happens when we die? ( based on diff. religions)

Þ    Costs to care for the dead

HW#45

Comments to Johnny and Amon’s comments

I do agree with you both that my project has a lot of opinionated statements and I feel that to make it more legitimate and factual I should include more sources that prove my points. Another interesting thing that I could have done is include an interview with a doula that I was trying to contact to give a point of view from a person who is dealing with natural births and doctors everyday.

Thank you for your comments.

HW#44

Comments I wrote:

Johnny,

Based off of what I read in your project, I now have a much clearer idea of the two most commonly chosen options within the circle of pregnant women and couples seeking premarital adoption. The way your project was worded was very interesting to me; unlike most other projects who sought to get the same idea across, yours was very factual and had a lot of gritty remarks in it such as “This is shocking to me because I would think that the mother after dealing with the 9 months of labor and actually giving birth all by themselves would leave them wanting a companion, but as statistics show the woman actually don’t want to deal with there baby.” I would hope to see a more organized version of your project in the future that more clearly defines the different choices, benefits and cons of abortion or premarital adoption.

Amon,

Your project about the increasingly controversial topic of abortion really affected the way I look at it especially since I have not taken the time to learn about abortion more in depth than we have in class. Your focus on Thailand is especially interesting to me because it taught me about a side of abortion that is very different from the U.S. I am specifically referring to the difference in treatment of the woman in modern culture and the liberties that they are given or denied.  In a way I feel that the situation in Thailand is of great value to the U.S. because it shows how advanced and liberated we can be when it comes to making life changing decisions such as abortion. An interesting line from your project that made me think about what changes we can make to improve upon our system and possibly help others get on the right track is, “The abortion laws in Thailand are very strict, where legally it is still not allowed unless the situation threatens the physical and mental health of the woman.” Upon reading your project I wished to continue reading more but it came to an end. Your project is full of thought provoking ideas and facts that can really affect the mindset of a pregnant woman possibly thinking of getting an abortion.

Comments I received:

Amon   said...

Based off your paper, I can see that you are strongly supporting natural births. Unlike hospitals, doulas promote the mental stability and confidence which provides the birth mother with a calming atmosphere. I especially felt that your criticism concerning the false statistical evidence on home birth mortality rates evidently demonstrated the biased opinion of health officials.
I decided to read your assignment since I was originally planning on covering this topic. Though it was not the same essential question, I was interested in how significant of a role doulas are in giving birth, as well as the distinction between doulas and midwives. 
If possible, I would like to see a more well organized description on the process that doulas follow, rather than the promotion of natural birth. I also found some terms such as breech baby that could have been clarified for further knowledge on the topic. 
Overall I found the topic to be significant for coming generations who can benefit from being educated of alternative birth methods.
As you say, "Doulas are the real deal

Johnny P said...

I too like you want to see more doctors working hand in hand with the midwives and doulas in a more equal way. In my opinion i think midwives ans doulas are more important because unlike most doctors the doulas and midwives actually care about their patients. 
I valued how you use evidence to get you to your next point. i also valued how you made everything clear to let the reader know what points you made and what point you are trying to get across. 
This project matters to me because I wanted to have someone thoughts to compare to on this topic and i basically agree with everything you said here. I liked this paper and the only piece of advice i have is,i would only add 
more about what you think on this subject.

HW#42

Doula: labor coach: an assistant who offers support for a woman in labor by encouraging her to use techniques learned in childbirth-preparation classes.

           A doula’s position is to be at the woman’s side during her birth process. Aside from giving her continuous care from a physical and emotional standpoint, the Doula is medically trained to assist pregnant women should anything go wrong. Much like a midwife, the Doula provides a peaceful environment with no stress. The only difference is that the midwife is much better suited to fix medical problems that can occur during the birth. The Doula’s main concern is the woman and giving her what she wants. The Doula’s main tool is his/her ability to stay calm even in the tensest situations which is why they prove to be so valuable to the pregnant women.

          Over the course of history while women have become more independent, they have also been losing connection with their family and the bond that it formed between its members when they pass though a situation such as birth, together. The Doula’s job was first the simple idea of what a mother or sister or any close relative did when assisting the birthing mother. Over time this idea formed into a job position that some women could fill although not in the exact same way a person related to you could. As women began to be encouraged to make decisions they also decided to take the necessary precautions to assure that their child would be born the way they wanted to without any real danger. The importance of this job especially stands out today because of the increasing number of teenage pregnancies and single mothers that like any woman want a natural childbirth without unnecessary risks.

           Prime examples include nearly every result from a Google search on Doula’s and the experience that most of these people have under their belts is more than impressive and allows for a wide range of choice when a mother to be is faced with a decision. Taking a look at the first few results from a search it became immediatlly obvious that Doula’s have become just as important to some as doctors or OB/GYN’s and a lot of people have begun to notice. DONA International is a website dedicated to giving pregnant women information on Doulas with links to other web pages that allow the women to find a doula or consider becoming one. On this one site, there are links to every possible website with anything that has to do with Doula’s to avoid women having questions or worries. Aside from these links the website also has news articles related to homebirths and advances in medicine to update the reader on the latest news. Doula.com shows the basic in’s and out’s of hiring doula’s, the price ranges and other pages relating to doula’s and natural birth. The 3rd website (that to me is the most important) is a directory of all the Doulas in my general area with one general directory for each state. The importance of this website comes not only from its educational value but also from the help that it provides to women that would be otherwise oblivious to this “theory” of natural birth, midwives and doula’s. More specific websites are only about single Doulas such as www.doulaura.com. This website caught my attention and stood out to me like no other did because it helped me realize that being a doula is more a way of life than a way to make money. Laura Gigantino, the Doula that is being advertised tells her story and explains the reason why she became a doula. The more I read, the more I became convinced that she is a real person and how honest she was being to her audience. To make herself pop out a little more, she broke away from the traditional presentation of the straight facts such as her work experiences and went on a more personal note that more readers can relate to.

     Aside from this one example, there were pages upon pages of information on doula’s as well as actual doula’s for hire. Over the course of finding my sources and proof that doula’s are very helpful, I learned from looking at the results that doula’s are the real deal and many people are beginning to find it to be common place for a smart woman to seek for a midwife or a doula to assist her in birth. Along with many positive websites, I came across a handful of websites that took aim at the profession and attempted to make points that where either invalid or not supported by enough evidence. One of the most commonly talked about issues is the infant mortality rate and how having a homebirth (most common setting for a midwife or doula) can be a danger for the child and mothers life. The reason why this is not an accurate statement is because of the obvious contradictions with data that has disproved this theory. More of the ideas posed by these websites can simply be dismissed using common sense. Does it really make sense that a woman can be safe going to a hospital with the level of stress doctors put them through and the unavoidable Cesarean section? Having a birth at home rarely results in a visit to the hospital because the mood is incredibly different and there is practically no reason for a woman to need a c-section, unless the baby is too big or it is a breech baby.

       All of those failed attempts at bringing down the vocation only accentuate its growing strength amongst pregnant women and women planning on having children and how truly safe it is to have someone assisting you throughout your process. Over time I hope to see midwives and doulas become a more common thing as they are beginning to now and I hope to see each profession mix with medicine in a more equal way, such as doctors working hand in hand with the midwives and doulas.

HW#43

Doula: labor coach: an assistant who offers support for a woman in labor by encouraging her to use techniques learned in childbirth-preparation classes.

           A doula’s position is to be at the woman’s side during her birth process. Aside from giving her continuous care from a physical and emotional standpoint, the Doula is medically trained to assist pregnant women should anything go wrong. Much like a midwife, the Doula provides a peaceful environment with no stress. The only difference is that the midwife is much better suited to fix medical problems that can occur during the birth. The Doula’s main concern is the woman and giving her what she wants. The Doula’s main tool is his/her ability to stay calm even in the tensest situations which is why they prove to be so valuable to the pregnant women.

          Over the course of history while women have become more independent, they have also been losing connection with their family and the bond that it formed between its members when they pass though a situation such as birth, together. The Doula’s job was first the simple idea of what a mother or sister or any close relative did when assisting the birthing mother. Over time this idea formed into a job position that some women could fill although not in the exact same way a person related to you could. As women began to be encouraged to make decisions they also decided to take the necessary precautions to assure that their child would be born the way they wanted to without any real danger. The importance of this job especially stands out today because of the increasing number of teenage pregnancies and single mothers that like any woman want a natural childbirth without unnecessary risks.

           Prime examples include nearly every result from a Google search on Doula’s and the experience that most of these people have under their belts is more than impressive and allows for a wide range of choice when a mother to be is faced with a decision. Taking a look at the first few results from a search it became immediatlly obvious that Doula’s have become just as important to some as doctors or OB/GYN’s and a lot of people have begun to notice. DONA International is a website dedicated to giving pregnant women information on Doulas with links to other web pages that allow the women to find a doula or consider becoming one. On this one site, there are links to every possible website with anything that has to do with Doula’s to avoid women having questions or worries. Aside from these links the website also has news articles related to homebirths and advances in medicine to update the reader on the latest news. Doula.com shows the basic in’s and out’s of hiring doula’s, the price ranges and other pages relating to doula’s and natural birth. The 3rd website (that to me is the most important) is a directory of all the Doulas in my general area with one general directory for each state. The importance of this website comes not only from its educational value but also from the help that it provides to women that would be otherwise oblivious to this “theory” of natural birth, midwives and doula’s. More specific websites are only about single Doulas such as www.doulaura.com. This website caught my attention and stood out to me like no other did because it helped me realize that being a doula is more a way of life than a way to make money. Laura Gigantino, the Doula that is being advertised tells her story and explains the reason why she became a doula. The more I read, the more I became convinced that she is a real person and how honest she was being to her audience. To make herself pop out a little more, she broke away from the traditional presentation of straight facts such as her work experiences and went on a more personal note that more readers can relate to.