Born and raised in New Zealand in a small country town called Te Awamutu, a developing town on the outskirts of the Waikato region, North Island. Unless you are familiar with Crowded House or Split Enz, I don't expect my birth place to be of significance. But, it is my birth place after all. That's something that cant be changed, altered or accidentally omitted from history. As far as I know, I was born in hospital. My mother endured Christmas 1975 in hospital, as I decided to bust the festivity season with my *I'm assuming here, screams in the wee hours of December 22nd. I was a fairly fair skinned baby, as I was told and it was thought that my father was White. Well no, my father is not, but its funny to think that I could have passed for a Pakeha (European) baby. I was also told that I was a small baby, well anyone who has seen me now would never have known this.
Who Am I?
I never pressed my late mother for information regarding the smaller details to my arrival. Labour, contractions, support, hospital staff interactions, midwives, doctors or specialists. If her pregnancy with me was uneventful (considering I am the youngest of 7, I would presume so) What birthing options were available to her and if she even had a voice as to where she wanted to give birth. Prenatal, antenatal and followup care are some of the things that I wished I had of found out about also. Now lets not think that this is purely a woman's perspective. Men and dads are included as a valuable resource when it comes to the female species, today's men are more involved in the process of birth choices, parenting and of course taking us through the threshold of womanhood. I know ewww, but really considering the amount of cuss words on the menu today. My slight mentioning of womanhood thresholds are very tame in comparison.So where do we start? When does life for us start? Ultimately birth! I have formed the opinion that we are now a living product, of the way we are born into this walking life. We can certainly change some effects, if there are no medical barriers. Im talking about the effects your pregnancy, care and support had on you and the choices you made surrounding your care and birthing options. How did you enter into the pregnancy, be it unplanned, planned, after a long haul of trying to concieve or long wait to concieve. Were you able to concieve naturally or did you have assistance. I am aware of the emotional trauma that can happen when you have tried and tried to attain a successful pregnancy without results. What alternatives did you look into or consider before taking the IVF option. Was IUI the option you considered and what other fertility assistance was made available to you, if you were given the option. How was your interaction with Specialists, nursing staff, fertility experts and consultants? If you considered a home, centre or hospital birth, what options were you given about your care and how did the duty of care live up to your needs and wellbeing during pregnancy, labour, birth and postnatally. What influence did your upbrining, knowledge, research, culture, customs, beliefs have on the way you birthed. What support networks had you established or were already available to you and how did your Whanau (family) play a role. Were you referred to the correct people who were able to facilitate your requests and see to it that cultural sensitivity was adhered to. How did you uphold your identity and cultural beliefs throughout your pregnancy and how did this help you. If you were a first time mother or a teen mum, what information were you afforded about pregnancy, birth and baby care and what research of your own did you do. I want to know what everyones experience with birth was like from a wide range of perspectives, so that hopefully a fully transparent support system can be put in place for the future.
