Why is half American women afraid to give birth in the US
'20.05.2018'
Source: The Daily Mail
Every year, four million women give birth to children in the United States. Most women have some fear of childbirth - this is a natural part of the process.
Some worry about the baby being born healthy and the mother herself successfully coping with the birth; others fear that doctors and staff will not help or treat them with respect. But there are those who deal with such fears so difficult that all this can really complicate childbirth, writes The Daily Mail.
What do we know about the fears women in America have about their upcoming birth? The answer is: little. Research on American women is limited. There is a number of scientific data obtained from women from the Scandinavian countries - they confirm that women who were afraid of childbirth actually experience longer contractions more often, they more often need a cesarean section, stimulation and other interventions, they return to shape longer after birth and less often satisfied with childbirth. But attitudes and medical care in Scandinavian countries are different from those in America.
Available studies have shown that 50% and more women living in the United States may experience a very definite fear of childbirth during pregnancy. True, they mostly interviewed white women with a higher education, which limits the sample and does not provide information about the rest of the country's population.
Recently, obstetrics and gynecologists conducted a broader study that included women who were pregnant or gave birth in the past five years, including African American and mixed racial women, one Asian and the rest white American women.
It turned out that mothers in the United States are not only afraid for the health of the child or the complications of childbirth. Many are worried about how the United States healthcare system will interact with them. Women are afraid that their decisions will not be taken into account, that they will be left alone, will not care and provide the necessary assistance in the hospital.
One of the women told about a friend whose baby was simply taken from her after giving birth and no one approached her for many hours until she could get up. The interviewee was very frightened by this incident. Another said that in society it is generally accepted that a woman “by nature knows everything,” but in fact this is far from the case, and loneliness, helplessness at such a moment can cause real panic.
Some complained about the “image” of childbirth, which is shown in the media. In the cinema, women in labor scream loudly and, judging by their appearance, are on the verge of life and death, about the same they show in TV shows, creating fear in nulliparous women. Those interviewed who have already survived their own childbirth said that in reality everything turned out to be far from so terrible.
Research is currently ongoing.
