Child Birth Experience

In my 37^th week of pregnancy I headed into my check-up appointment knowing that “something” just wasn’t right. I had my check and soon realized that I would be having a baby sooner than expected. I was developing preeclampsia and needed to be admitted immediately. I spent two days in the hospital before my regular obstetrician decided that we should begin helping the labor along and began a low dose of Pitocin. Contractions began but baby wasn’t ready to show so they increased the dosage, gave me an epidural and hoped that would be enough to relax my body and have the baby drop down and increase contractions. After 3 hours of no progress they “broke my water” and within 45 minutes this lovely boy slipped into my life.

Ryan-Michael  Born 2/29/08

6 lbs. 4.5 ozs. at 5:42 pm

18 1/2 inches in length

Situation	United States	Canada	Difference
Pre-natal Care	Comprehensive care with an ob./gyn throughout the length of your pregnancy, regular check-ups, standardized testing, design birth plan, care by the same doctor. Typically covered by insurance or if uninsured there is medical assistance for pregnant women.	Once you have an appointment with a general physician to establish your pregnancy you typically don’t see a doctor again until your eighth month unless you are high-risk than you can be seen more frequently at the walk-in clinic set up for pregnant women.	The level of care, the amount of access you have to providers during the pregnancy.
Cost	Typically covered by insurance or if uninsured there is medical assistance for pregnant women.	Health care is free in Canada to all citizens.	The access to care, the amount of specialized care if classified as a high risk patient
Delivery	Standard Delivery- with a pre-designed birth plan you deliver with your regular dr. in a private birthing suite, after delivery you either stay in the same room or is transferred to a semi-private room depending on your insurance.	You go to your local hospital, the physician on-call pages the obstetrician and you deliver in a surgery suite and then are moved to a ward with up to three other women. You can pay a 300.00 fee for a private   room.	There is a plan going into the delivery in the US. There may be several members of the “birth team” including a mid-wife, doula, private nurse, etc. in the US. The rate of hospital versus home births doesn’t vary as significantly as I thought it would.