HW 41 - Independent Research

The aspects i decided to focus on were the effects of overseas adoptions on an entire family as well as celebrity adoptions in general, and why they are controversial.

A.

1.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09adopt.html?ref=adoptions

Nixon, Ron. "Adopted From Korea and in Search of Identity''. New York Times, 9 November 2009

-The article focuses on the fact that most South Koreans that were adopted in the past 50-60 years by white families in the United States have complications with facing their own identity, as most of them rejected the idea of even being Korean considering the environment they were raised in. This source was useful towards my research because it gave me a good idea of how the children raised in an overseas adoption go about dealing with the idea in general (finding your roots, learning the culture etc)

2.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/europe/24adopt.html?_r=1&ref=adoptions

Levy,Clifford. J "Unwrapping Red Tape to Find the Gift of Family". New York Times, 23 November 2010

-This article tells the story of another controversy over overseas adoption. This time in Kazakhstan where Rebecca Compton and Jeremy Meyer were trying to adopt a baby they seemed to take a huge interest in when selected at the orphanage, but the Kazakhstan government thought other wise. After months of debate and sleepless nights for the couple, they finally won the decision to keep the baby who they named Noah. This article helped me towards my research because it really shows how overseas adoption is an issue in small countries such as Kazakhstan is made in to a huge issue and how it can really effect the people trying to adopt the child as the couple gave up their own jobs for months to wait on the final decision.

3.http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1175428&page=1

"Angelina Jolie Inspires International Adoptions" Good Morning America, 1 October 2005

-This article talks about the fact that Angelina Jolie has now adopted two children from overseas, and this has had a significant impact on other couples strongly considering adopting a child from overseas. One child is from Cambodia while the other is from Ethopia, which has seemed to have an even bigger impact on the decisions of these couples. This article helped me with my research because as a celebrity overseas adoption, every family with doubts of doing the same as Jolie are now more encouraged.

4.http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/05/03/sandra.bullock.black.blogs/index.html?iref=allsearch

Respers, Lisa. France "Bullock's adoption of black baby stirs debate" CNN 7 May 2010

-This article discusses the controversy around Sandra Bullock's adoption of a black child from New Orleans. The article talks about how some believe that the move was just to make her image look better since a controversial anti semetic image of her husband appeared in the news. I found this article to be very significant as it also showed that most people didn't care that much as long as it wasn't an overseas adoption and how looked down upon they are after previous celebrities adopted children from the other side of the world.

5. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/01/the-case-for-international-adoption.html

Interlandi, Jeneen

"The Case For International Adoption" Newsweek 2 March 2010

-This article focuses on the overall topic of overseas adoption in general, Interlandi can relate to this topic because he was actually adopted by white Italian parents from Colombia in the late 1970 and states his main point that despite recent controversy over celebrity overseas adoption as long as the child's health and well-being can be taken care of, that is all that matters. This article helped me significantly with my research because it contradicted one of my previous articles where based on the article, i stated that because of recent celebrity overseas adoptions their has been an increase in overseas adoptions when in fact (according to this article) the number of overseas adoptions has decreased by 12,000 from 2004 to 2009.

B.

-Through this research, i could write a paper where i evaluate the long term effects overseas adoption has had on children brought from other countries. From the way they were treated in school by teachers and peers to family relatives. To make my research more specific i could investigate these long term effects on a certain age group (Teenagers/adults/elderly). This idea was encouraged by the first article i listed; how most South Koreans who have been adopted overseas don't accept who they are till later in life.

HW 40 - Insights from Book - Part 3

You find yourself at a cocktail party with the author of the book you just finished reading. To demonstrate that you really read it, you say, "Hey - thanks for writing Born in the USA. Your main idea that women should have more control over their own bodies in the stages of pregnancy and the way obstetricians take advantage of women by doing unnesscary tests and procedures, moved me to rethink pregnancy & birth."

But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on a better way to be born in the USA and how we can reach that goal, which further developed the first 2/3rds of the book. But let me be more specific." And then you listed the top 3 ideas/pieces of evidence/insights/questions from that final third of the book (and somehow even listed page number references).

1. We need a National Health Care system, which is an essential reason to why other countries have a lower infant mortality rate (#183)

2. There should be a better public education system around maternity care as well as a better system in general (#207/209)

3. Ten steps to help the United States make progress in creating a better maternity system (#219)

At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide narratives, historical analysis, journalistic analysis and policy analysis from the perspective of a obstetrician/pregnant woman in the United States for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be a more in depth look at other countries maternity systems, but I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about the nightmarish industrial atrocities of hospitals in the United States & how I will help my partner in the future with their birth as it will most likely now be a home birth. In fact, I'm more than likely to do the birthing process differently as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"

HW 39 - Insights from Book - Part 2

List several topics/areas the book has taught you about that the "Business of Being Born" either ignored or treated differently or in less depth.

Midwives have been harassed over the years by obstetricians because of competition:

"The more the practice of midwifery grows and succeeds, the more threatening midwives are to the obstetric monopoly, so, predictably, there has been an obstetric backlash"

-Wagner, Marsden, Born In The USA, Los Angeles, CA

Obstetricians are sued constantly:

"Obstetricians are sued more than physicians in any other speciality, In the United States, a member of ACOG can expect to be sued 2.53 times over the course of his career.."

-Wagner, Marsden, Born In The USA, Los Angeles, CA

If lawyers of doctors are doubting the success of their case they will file orders that make it hard for the issue to be talked about outside of court making it hard for scientists and others to prove the use of Cytotec

"When they don't think they can win a case, lawyers for doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies settle cases out of court and include a gag order on families and their lawyers in the settlement that makes it a crime for them to discuss the case publicly. For this reason, it is very difficult for scientists, policy makers, and health care consumers to discover the extent of the litigation involving Cytotec induction.

-Wagner, Marsden, Born In The USA, Los Angeles, CA

The major insight the book tries to communicate in the second 100 pages

Because of the tribal obstetrics that have taken place in hospitals in (mainly) America in the last century, the rate of failed pregnancies and later complications in the woman's body have increased and should be stopped.

Your response to that insight
Through all the evidence given by Wagner in the past 100 pages I can't help but agree with his better vision of being born through a national health care system

List 5 interesting aspects of pregnancy and birth discussed in the second hundred pages that you agree deserve wider attention (include page number).
-The atrocity that is the traditional "tribal obstetrics"

-Births not delivered in a hospital only seem dangerous by some statistics because most weren't home births

-Claims made by obstetricians with no factual evidence

-The infant mortality rate in places such as Japan are much smaller compared to the U.S

-Home births are more natural therefore statistically cause less deaths in both the mothers position and child's position

Independently research one crucial factual claim by the author in the second hundred pages and assess the validity of the author's use of that evidence.
"Each year, African American babies die at twice the rate of Caucasian babies."

-After looking at several links, Wagner was correct:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2014374282_babies04.html

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/10/medical-mystery/

http://blackamericans.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/03/02/death-rate-for-black-babies-in-first-year-twice-as-high.aspx

HW 38 - Insights from book - part 1

1. How the book is organized

- The book is organized into multiple chapters with small text in large amounts on each page. Citations are always found after any example is stated (which is almost every sentence) with tables and graphs often in the middle of these chapters.

2. The major question the book tries to answer

- How have we as Americans accepted health care for women and babies that is not only below standard for wealthy countries but often amounts to neglect and abuse?

and some responses you have to that question

-We believe whatever the doctors tell us whether it is right or wrong

-We don't do our own/enough research during the process

-Some of us haven't accepted it and are trying to fix the problem

-Obstetricians don't want to lose their jobs/be humiliated

3. The major insight the book tries to communicate in the first 100 pages

- The major insight the book tries to communicate in the first 100 pages is that most obstetricians do not use scientific based evidence around their reasoning for performing C-Sections, epidurals and episiotomies.

and your response to that insight

- I believe that it's horrifying that american obstetricians often don't use evidence around their reasoning for performing these life threatening surgeries that often lead to diseases in the child after a couple weeks/months and that can also kill the birth mother.

4. 5 interesting aspects of pregnancy and birth that you (and the author) agree deserve public attention

1. The way the child is delivered

2. The obstetricians that help carry out these births

3. The medical model America is using for births

4. The drugs used to "help" the mother during birth

5. The mainly false claims made by the ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)

5. The author's use of evidence

- The author constantly cites his sources with a "notes" section in the back with provided titles the evidence comes from, along with page numbers, dates and sometimes links to websites. The author uses the evidence well enough to the point where i can read the book without feeling that the progress of the book is being stalled, although the tables in the middle of the pages can be somewhat distracting.

HW 37 Comments on Birth & Pregnancy Stories.

Harry,
I thought that your post was very interesting because you wrote about some events during pregnancy that are uncommon and unusual but could still happen. For example being born during a winter storm played a big part in your birth. This made me realize that there are an infinite number of inputs that can affect the output of your birth. One small event, such as a storm can change an entire birth. It made me wonder what our births would be like if one small factor was changed. Would your birth be different if it was a hot summer day?


Dean

Dean,
I liked your analysis on the preperation of having a child although you could've expanded on the questions in your interviews because it sounds a little redundant. None the less i like your question in bold, but maybe you could've also asked "How do mothers in other countries prepare for birth? What does this say about American mothers?"

Harry

HW 36 - Pregnancy & Birth Stories

In my first interview i interviewed my Dad, although i was not his first child and have heard the story of my birth before i decided to gain more knowledge on that particular story anyway. I was born on February 16th 1994; "Getting pregnant and having a child was a big decision for us mainly because my wife was 40 and i was 56. My wife had some minor complications with her pregnancy as she was bed ridden months prior which was difficult". I was born during a winter storm and the hospital i was being taken to was uptown on the upper east side while we lived downtown in the lower west side so it made things more complicated (plus the elevators were broken in the building). When my mom got to the hospital she just made it, and after all this my dad described the experience as "scary and exciting".

This made me think of pregnancy and birth in our society as being one that is (exactly as i thought) random but expected. My mother may have been given a due date but when her time was expected, mother nature had other plans. This interview helped me understand that pregnancy and birth in our society is random yet expected, but also limits birthmothers to what they can and cant do in times of pregnancy. In my mothers case, she had to stay in bed during most of the pregnancy.

Besides hospitals, where is the second most "popular" place pregnancy takes place?

For my next interview i interviewed my neighbor, who had a child recently. She described her experience of pregnancy to me as "fun, limiting and scary". I asked her what about it was "limiting". She told me that during her pregnancy, she was told not to eat certain foods that could cause harm to the baby. "I always had to remain healthy, yet i was still gaining weight from the baby" she said. "It was a lot of work, but it was worth it the end". Three months ago her son was born, and attention came from everywhere including strangers "People were coming up to me on the street asking me how long till i was expected to have the baby but i also had a lot of support from friends and family, some that i haven't been in contact with from a little while now so the extra support helped me and motivated me."

This interview helped me realize how big of a role pregnancy and birth plays in society today. People will go out of their way to show support for your baby more than any other time in your life (maybe besides your wedding) and it also goes to show how much we really care about other people's lives and decisions even if we have no relation to them at all.

Is there a science to why random people are attracted to a woman's pregnant

stomach?

For my last interview i decided to interview a long time family friend, who's child is 18. She said that the story of her pregnancy can be described in one sentence: "Painful and stressful, but more than worth it in the end". Her daughter is an honor student with amazing grades and is planing on going to Dartmouth. "I would have been very satisfied with having a child no matter what they did (as long as it didn't involve selling illegal drugs or committing crimes) but it feels even better to know i raised to my child to be who she is now and i hope to have enough strength to continue to raise her to follow through with her dreams and succeed even though i know that since she has made it this far, she's grown up enough to carry her own". When she was pregnant, she had slight doubts after her last attempt ended in a miscarriage which was very emotional. "People showed me support but they didn't really know what was going to happen, no one was. I wasn't ready for another disappointment but i kept telling myself through all my doubts that this time it would actually happen.''

This interview helped me come to the conclusion that not only when the mother gives birth is slightly unexpected, but as well as if the birth will even take place. After doing further research, i found out that most miscarriages happen randomly and can even be incurable.

What is the percentage of women in the U.S that have miscarriages?

HW 35 - Other Peoples' Perspectives 1

Pregnancy, having the baby, then becoming the parent. Birth can be a beautiful thing when it finally occurs, ugly in the beginning usually but most parents find births to be a positive outcome for the experience they gain from it as well as the child, thanking the parent in the long run for life and experience. For this assignment, i decided to interview one of my friends, my half-brother and my second cousin.

My friend jay told me he believes that pregnancy is an interesting topic. He told me it is one thing to commit to the idea of having a baby, but another thing to commit to the nine month struggle with stress and pain producing one. This lead him to think of how interesting it must be to watch your child grow up and compare and contrast the similarities of behavior between you and your child. I agreed with his ideas.

My half brother Virgil told me he believes babies can be a beautiful to have. He has had experience watching friends older than him experience raising a child. He said that although at first the process was difficult, most of his friends overall enjoyed the experience of raising a child after 11-13 years (even though they knew there was a lot more to experience with the child). He imagines himself going through the same process once he has reached his 30s. "Although i believe having a child and settling down at a point in a persons life is a typical american perspective, it was meant to be that way"-My Half Brother. I somewhat agree with him, i plan to settle down at one point as well, but not till later in life (40's)

My second cousin thought similarly about becoming a parent. This would be that becoming a parent is something that most people should experience in their lifetime. "Just as long as you are between age twenty to fifty you should take advantage of the opportunity you were given in life to have children"-My second Cousin. She believes that having a child is like a second life relived through your child's eyes, a second chance to fix things through a different you. She also added that even if your child cannot do everything better at what you screwed up on younger that unless your child becomes a stripper or severe drug addict, you should take pride in your children and never let them get hurt. I agreed with my cousins statements completely. You only have one life, and one time to become a parent.