Challenges Children Face in Appalachia (West Virginia)

I chose to research Appalachia because I grew up in that region of the country and every time I go home to visit family, I see the struggles of the people there.  I will specifically talk about West Virginia; I lived in Ohio but was only twenty minutes from the border of West Virginia.  I attended Marshall University located in Huntington, West Virginia so I am very familiar with the area.

During the presidential race of 1969, the Democratic candidates were fighting for the support of West Virginia.  It was during this campaign that John F. Kennedy shocked the nation by exposing the extreme poverty that existed in this state.  It was unbelievable that the level of poor health care, poor nutrition, and hunger existed at this point in American history since the rest of the country was enjoying unprecedented economic growth and prosperity (Pore, n.d.).  A War on Poverty was declared and over the next 45 years, the area went through and amazing transformation.  Several health and nutrition programs were started to include food stamp program, Women, Infant, Child Nutrition (WIC), and various health programs that brought medical care and modern medicine to the area.  Not only did these programs provide services to the people, they educated the people on how to care for their children and themselves.  The people who worked for the organizations providing services were from the surrounding area so they could empathize and relate to the people in need.  This built the credibility of these programs and encouraged people to reach out and accept help.

Although the health and nutrition programs have greatly assisted the people of West Virginia since their inception, today the people face a new set of challenges.  Instead of hunger and malnutrition, the people are fighting obesity and the diseases associated with obesity, rampant drug abuse, divorce, domestic violence, and murder (Pore, n.d.).  The people are still living in poverty and the children are suffering.  There have been several attempts to improve quality of early childcare and education, but they have all failed to meet the mark due to under funding.  Pore noted a study of the surrounding eight states revealed that West Virginia investments in early childhood are behind all states, except Virginia.  (That is just fantastic since we live in Virginia!)  In terms of obesity, it has been said that Huntington, West Virginia is the fattest city in the country.  Jamie Oliver, famous food personality/chef, completed a documentary-type program to bring attention to the obesity problem in Huntington.  It is very sad and very true.

There are many,many problems facing the people of West Virginia, one of the scariest being the lack of support and attention to early childhood.  Even though we know that early childhood education is one of the greatest investments we can make, not much movement is taking place to get programs on track.  Some teachers in West Virginia have been heard to say that they know at age five years old which kids will be successful and which ones will not.  How can we allow people to give up so easily?  I agree with Pore…failure at five is unacceptable!

Pore, R. (n.d.). Investing in the Potential of Children: A Strategy to Promote Sustainable Growth in Central Appalachia. Retrieved from http://appalachiantransition.org/essays

Strength, Determination and Love

Although it is not on the list of stressors, I am going to talk about a man-made "disaster" that almost claimed the life of my little sister.  Christy was 9 years old when she was hit by a car while walking across the street.  The car hit her going 35 mph; it threw her 20 feet down the road and she landed on the left side of her head, on the curb.  The doctors gave her two hours to live...they called the whole family to the hospital to say good-bye.  Although I was only 13 at the time, it was one of the worst days of my life.  Somehow, Christy surprised everyone and made it through those first few hours. She went on to have 9 brain surgeries and was in a coma for a month and a half.  There were several times during that month and a half where she started to fade...I believe she "coded" twice because her lungs collapsed.  When she came out of the coma, it was as if everything had been erased from her memory and she was back at toddler/preschool level.  She had to learn everything over again - walk, talk, feed herself, go to the bathroom, etc.  For the longest time the only thing she could say was "Heather Ann," the name of the cousin she had spent the night with before the accident. 

While we were very fortunate and blessed that she survived, it was very sad and upsetting to see her have to start over.  The week before the accident, my parents had received Christy's scholastic test scores in the mail.  She was in 4th grade but most of her scores were 8th and 9th grade level.  One test actually scored in the 11th grade level.  Christy was super intelligent.  Even the talented and gifted classes were easy for her.  And now, everything was gone.  But, we come from a family of fighters...we never give up!  Christy was surrounded by family and friends who loved her and was ready to help her overcome the challenges she faced.  She went through intense physical, occupational and speech therapy.  She had personal tutors who came to the house to get her on track with academics.  Christy went back to school the following year in a wheelchair.  Although she was only one year behind her original classmates, no one wanted to be her friend anymore.  Kids are very cruel at that age and they all managed to live up to that label.  Before the accident, Christy was a very popular little girl.  She was beautiful inside and out, but people typically judge you by the outside and she fit the description of a cheerleader - petite, tanned, long blonde hair, blue eyes...just beautiful! But when she came back to school, she was in a wheelchair, her hair was about 1 inch long (they had to shave her head due to the brain surgeries) and the right side of her body did not function well because of the brain damage.  You can imagine some of the things that were said.  Somehow, she overcame this and made a few friends in her new class.  She graduated from high school still only 1 year behind her original class.

Today, Christy is married and has a beautiful little girl of her own, Siera Brooke, who (much to the satisfaction of us) is just like her.  If you would talk to Christy now, you would never know that anything happened to her.  If you pay close attention, you will notice that she walks a little different because the right side of her body did not develop as well as the left, but it is a very slight difference.  She has problems with short term memory and therefore could not go on to college, but she is very happy and we are very lucky to have her here.  I will more than likely talk about her again throughout this class because of her strength, determination and resiliency.  The doctors are just amazed by her...they still occasionally perform CAT Scans and MRIs on her because of headaches, and they have told my parents that it is the most fascinating thing they have seen.  If you would look at her brain scans and see all of the damage that resulted from the accident, and then talk to her in person, there is no way that you would think that it was her brain that was scanned.  She was able to overcome a lot of challenges and regain many of the skills that were affected by the accident.  They cannot believe that other parts of her brain have compensated for so much.  Plasticity at its finest!

Nutrition/Malnutrition

I chose the topic of nutrition/malnutrition to research this week for several reasons.  I am originally from Ohio/Kentucky and my family is all about feeding people.  No one ever went hungry and they always found ways to ensure the people around them never did either.  When my mom was a little girl, she would make sandwiches (unbeknownst to my grandmother) and take them to some of the homeless people she would pass walking to school every day.  My grandparents were poor as well so they really didn’t have extra to pass around, but they helped anyone and everyone who asked.  That translated through the generations as my mom and I are the same way.  We can’t stand to see anyone go hungry.

In terms of nutrition for birth to two, breastfeeding is a topic that is meaningful to me because of the challenges I had with my boys.  With my oldest twins, Jason couldn’t latch on because he was so small (4lbs 11oz) so I ended up pumping milk for him.   Joshua did fine and I breast fed him for approximately 5 months.  They both had a combination of breast milk and formula from the very beginning.  I had mixed feelings about this at the time.  I really wanted to breast feed, but with twins I didn’t feel like they were getting enough and, with time constraints, I just couldn’t pump enough to keep up.  My husband only spent one week at home after they were born so trying to juggle them both throughout the day was a challenge.  Additionally, I was at home for only 8 weeks before having to return to work.  I tried to pump at work, but it was not always convenient or comfortable.  If I had more support at home and support at work, I may have been able to breast feed longer.

With my second set of twins, it was even harder.  Both of the boys were able to breast feed, but I had the same challenges.  I didn’t think they were getting enough so I supplemented with formula.  Thinking back, I believe the hospital supported the combination breast and formula feeding.  Again, I did not have enough support at home to allow me to breast feed them.  At the time, the older boys were about to turn 2 years old so I had them to contend with as well.  There just wasn’t enough time in the day!  It was an internal battle trying to balance the time I spent with the babies with the time I spent with them so I ended up only breast feeding for 3 months.  Another contributing factor was I developed mastitis around the two and half month mark so after it healed I decided I couldn’t do it anymore.  I knew breast feeding was important and after reading all of the information this week, I am feeling a little guilty for not trying harder.

I chose to look at nutrition information and challenges for The Gambia because the text book mentioned this country in chapter 5 and it reminded me that our first AuPair (Emma) had vacationed in this country with her family before she came here to live with us.  According to The World Bank (2011), 28% of children under five are stunted, 16% are underweight, and 7% are wasted.  In terms of stunting, The Gambia has lower rates than other countries in the region and income group, but that likely varies across the different areas of the country and socio-demographic groups.  Although the country institutionalized nutrition policy development in 2000 by establishing the National Nutrition Agency and they included nutrition in the country’s poverty reduction strategy, the infant and women statistics are troubling.  The life expectancy in the country is 56; the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 32; the under-five mortality rate is 106 per 1000 live births; and it is 64^th highest out of 136 countries in global ranking of stunting. 

I can’t really say that this topic will be something that impacts my future work since my goal is to work on issues surrounding Autism and Developmental Disorders.  I do want to advocate in some way for more support in this country for breastfeeding moms.  I am not surprised that the United States ranks last on the Breastfeeding Policy Scorecard (DellAntonia, 2012).  I have also seen several “hidden camera” televisions shows that show people’s reactions to women who breastfeed in public.  I was shocked at how horrible people are to mothers.  It is a shame that a nation like ours cannot accept something as simple, beautiful and wonderful as a mom taking care of her child.  What a bunch of hypocrites!

Dell ‘Antonia, K. (2012, May 15) United States Ranks Last on Breast-Feeding Support. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/united-states-ranks-last-on-breast-feeding-support/

The World Bank. (2011, April). The Gambia. Nutrition at a Glance. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NUTRITION/Resources/281846-1271963823772/TheGambia41211web.pdf

Childbirth Around the World

I wanted to research childbirth practices in Sweden because our first AuPair is from there and since we are going to Skype with her this weekend, I had Sweden on my mind.  As I was researching, I came across and article on CNN (see link below) titled "The best and worst places to give birth" by Lisa Selin Davis.  She spoke about her mom's two birthing experiences, one in a hospital in Malawi in rural East Africa; the other in a freestanding birthing center in upstate New York.  These were both great experiences for her mom, but when she starting studying the way people in America give birth today (the C-section rate is above 34%) she thought that America had lost sight of the best way to have babies.  Thinking that other countries and cultures were handling it better, she edited a book called "Childbirth Across Cultures: Ideas and Practices of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Postpartum."  The most surprising things she discovered were the fact that many countries have high rates of C-sections (some hospitals in China have rates as high as 90%) and that some countries still have traditional practices that are disrespectful to women and dangerous.  For example, Hmong women are forced to give birth alone without expressing any pain or discomfort.  One in eighteen die in the process! These were just a few examples in the article...I am sure there are many more examples in the book.  I would like to have this book as a reference, but it is $160 on Amazon!

Anyway, at the end of the article the author says that Sweden is the most desirable place to give birth.  According to her, they try not to treat childbirth like a disease.

The 2 Happiest Days of My LIfe!

I will attempt to keep this brief, but I cannot guarantee it will be since I am talking about my wonderful, beautiful little boys and the moments they came into my life.  Having twins allowed my the option to choose to have a C-section, which I immediately agreed to!  The doctor said that if they happened to be turned the right way that I could potentially deliver naturally, but no thank you!  Of course, after having the first C-section with Jason and Joshua, I had to have one with Jacob and Jordan.

With both pregnancies, I chose the date I wanted to have the boys, and both times the boys decided to rebel and come early!  Jason and Joshua were supposed to be born on my Dad's birthday (26 January), but my water broke on the evening of 23 January (about 3 minutes after my in-laws arrived from out of town...I will let you draw your own conclusions on that one!).  The worst thing about it was that my parents were still in Ohio and were planning to drive to us the next morning to be there when the boys were born.  I had to call them and tell them I was on the way to the hospital.  They immediately got in the car and drove as fast as they could, crying the whole time because they knew they wouldn't make it.  They arrived at the hospital (8 hours later) about 5 minutes after they took me and the boys to our room.

During the delivery, I was scared.  The worst part was the spinal injection.  It hurt and made me incredibly nauseous.  I also started shivering uncontrollably.  I didn't know if it was because I was cold or a side effect from the medicines.  The scariest part was when they strapped my arms down.  No one warned me about that so I began to panic!  Why were they strapping me down?  Was this going to be painful?  What was happening???  Finally they told me it was to prevent me from accidentally reaching down into the area where they were working.  I remember the doctor saying here we go and the next thing I hear is Jason's first cry.  If you have never heard a baby's first cry, I can tell you that it is by far the sweetest, most wonderful and emotional sound you will ever hear!  I immediately burst into tears.  My first born son...what a tremendous feeling!  The next thing I hear is the doctor saying "Oh, here is the big brother" and Joshua let out his first cry.  At that point I felt like the luckiest woman on earth!  Other than Jason being small (4lbs 11oz) compared to Joshua (6lbs even), both were healthy and beautiful.

During Jacob and Jordan's delivery, I was also scared.  I was not looking forward to the spinal injection and the only thing that got me through it was talking to one of the male nurses.  He was holding my shoulders down so the doctor could find the right location for the injection, and he started talking to me, telling me to just breathe.  He sounded just like Gru from Despicable Me (if you have never seen it, go rent it!).  His voice made me laugh so I asked him to just keep talking to me...talk about anything, I just wanted to hear his voice because it was so funny!  Weird?  Yes, but it got me through that part.  It seemed like it too a little longer for the doctor to deliver Jacob, but that could have just been my anticipation.  Again, Jacob's first cry was an amazing sound!  I was so excited. And then they delivered Jordan, but he didn't cry.  I panicked! Why wasn't he crying?  What was happening?  I kept asking Jeff what was going on...why wasn't he crying yet?  I saw the nurse carry Jordan over to the warmers to clean him up but he still wasn't crying.  I felt my heart in my throat and I started to cry.  I think I even tried to get up, but of course all I could do was raise my head and shoulders.  After what seemed like several minutes (but it was probably 30-45 seconds) Jordan finally cried.

There is so much more I could tell about these wonderful days, but I will stop for now.  I occasionally watch the videos of their births to relive those moments.  Those two days are by far the best days of my life!