Posts Tagged ‘natural birth’
Working to Week 38: Too Long?
Monday, January 12th, 2009“We don’t have a culture in the United States of taking rest before the birth of a child because there is an assumption that the real work comes after the baby is born,” said Guendelman. “People forget that mothers need restoration before delivery. In other cultures, including Latino and Asian societies, women are really expected to rest in preparation for this major life event.”
According to new research from UC Berkeley, I should consider leaving my current job quite a bit before 38 weeks, to reduce my risk of caesarean section.
Now I am torn. We need the money that I would earn from three more weeks of my working. It would provide for one more month of rent to sustain us through our self-funded maternity leave before I resume working in the fall. Is the stress-level of my job low enough that I need not worry about restore myself before the birth?
Furthermore, my daughter came into this world with amazing rapidity – only two hours of labor. I gave birth naturally, in a birth house and in a birthing tub. We are planning a homebirth this time. Is my risk of C-Section so low, that we can afford to challenge these odds?
I don’t know what to do.
