Early Childhood Development: EDUC - 6160 - Week 1

Sonorah's Birth:

When my niece was born in Sept. 2011, she had some complications. My sister had a great pregnancy, no major problems, but after she delivered, her sweet baby girl had trouble breathing. So they whisked Sonorah away to the NICU and left our family crying and worried about what was going on. A few hours later they came back to tell us they were monitoring her because of her breathing complications. Sonorah ended up staying in the NICU for a week after her birth. It was heart wrenching!

My sister touching her baby for the first time. (The doctors and nurses didn't want Sonorah to be stimulated because she could wake up and start pulling her breathing treatments off her body.)

Poor baby <3

Holding hands with her for the first time

Her daddy reading Sonorah her first book!

My sister feeding Sonorah for the first time.

After a day or two, they finally started letting 2 visitors at a time come in to visit with Soso for a while. We couldn't touch her, but we could stand there and admire what a beautiful little person she was. There were lots of tears shed the first time I met my niece. Seeing her hooked up to all the monitors and breathing devices was so upsetting. One memory I will never forget is going to visit her with her new daddy. She had never opened her eyes since they whisked her away from her momma to the NICU. Her poppa started talking to her and she opened her eyes and was trying to look at him. I started bawling like a baby. He got it on film and everything. It was the sweetest moment I have ever seen. At that moment, I never knew how much you could love someone, as much as I did her. (Makes me excited to have my own children someday!) Here is the video:

  Sadly,  I had used up all my personal days to spend time with my family 3 days after Soso was born, and was so discouraged when I had to return back to school, without holding my new niece. (Anyone who knew me, knew how excited I was to be an aunt... so it was a devastating experience leaving her in that hospital for our whole family (especially her new momma and poppa!)
The next weekend I raced home, knowing I could finally hold my newborn niece. The moment my sister put that baby into my arms, my heart melted into goo. No one could ever take that memory away from me. She was so perfect and reminded me so much of her mom when she was a baby herself.

The first time I got to hold Sonorah

My life has never been the same since that baby was brought into our family. She has been a huge inspiration in my life. When it comes to teaching, I try to treat every child as if they were my niece/nephew so they can get the best education possible. (B/c I know that is what their own parents would want!)
Sonorah's presence in this world is my biggest influence in life. She brings so much joy to our family and I can not imagine life without her. <3

One of my favorite pictures of Sonorah

I believe that a person's birth can have an impact on their development in all areas. But it doesn't set the path for a child's life. For example, if a child has a negative birth experience, but is brought up with a loving and caring family- they can live a normal, happy life and their development will be fine! However, children who are not stimulated, cared for and loved like all children should be, this can lead to devastating developmental delays. I have several students in my class who are far behind in where they should be in kindergarten because there was no stimulation at home.   

A VERY happy Sonorah on her 1st birthday! So blessed to have such a sweet, adorable niece! I am so excited to see what the future has in store for her!!!

I chose to find out how births happen in Haiti because I had the chance to visit there when I was in college. I found an article written by Amie Newman, titled "Giving Birth in the Streets" that talked about the effects of the earthquake had women giving birth in the streets because of all the chaos. Newman also wrote that Haiti has the highest mortality rate in the Western Hemispshere. I was not at all surprised by this after seeing first hand how these women and their families lived. They had no windows or doors in their homes. Some houses didn't even have roofs. They had dirt floors and the whole family shared a room to live in. They were living in such poverty that the women would beg for money in the streets and the men would offer to carry my bags for tip in return. 

A photo taking during my trip there- we saw several women trying to work by carrying large tubs of things like this on their head.

Homes in Haiti

The streets of Haiti

Children walking to school

  Here is a quote form the article that explains the high maternal mortality rate:
"According to the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):

(W)omen of reproductive age face limitations in accessing pre-natal and post-natal care, as well as greater risk of vaginal infections, pregnancy complications including spontaneous abortion, unplanned pregnancy, and post-traumatic stress. An increase in violence against women was also recorded…
…(I)n natural disaster situations and in post-disaster recuperation, the cases of violence may increase. “Given the stress that this situation caused and the life in the refuges, men attacked women more frequently."

 They also found that 670 Haitian women die from pregnancy- related causes each year for every 100,000 live births. Only 26 percent of women in Haiti receive a skilled birth attendant during childbirth. They go on to say that women were giving birth, literally in the streets because the hospitals there are full. And without the appropriate pre-natal and post-birth care, they could die from complications.

I find this to be such a terrifying thought! The nurses and doctors at the hospitial took such great care of Sonorah and were very sweet and kind to my sister, her husband and the rest of the family through the whole time she was in the NICU. After the big scare when Sonorah was born, I feel so blessed to live in a country that values pre-natal care and taking care of women and their children.