VOA慢速英語:女人選擇在自己家里生孩子是有目的的！

Empowering. Life-changing. These are two words women often use to describe natural childbirth. Painful would be a third. But that’s a different story.

女人們常用“賦予權(quán)利”和“改變?nèi)松?rdquo;這兩個詞來描述自然分娩。劇痛只能算第三個詞。但那是一個不同的故事。

This story is about midwives in Los Angeles, California. They are trying to bring more women of color into the natural childbirth profession and convince more women to give birth at home.

這個故事是關(guān)于加州洛杉磯的那些助產(chǎn)士。他們試著讓更多膚色不同的女人嘗試學(xué)會自然分娩的職業(yè)并且說服更多人在家里生孩子。

But the numbers are small.

但是數(shù)量比較小。

Only one percent of babies in the United States are born at home. However, interest in home deliveries is on the rise. In Los Angeles, California, for example, some women are choosing to use midwives instead of the usual hospital birth with a doctor.

在美國只有1%的的小寶寶在家里出生。但是家庭生產(chǎn)的比例卻在上升。比如說在加州的洛杉磯一些婦女寧愿選擇助產(chǎn)士，而不去醫(yī)院找醫(yī)生。

But first -- what is a midwife? Midwives are specially educated in childbirth. They begin as apprentices or students and then must pass state-issued tests, or Medical Boards.

但首先什么才是助產(chǎn)士呢?助產(chǎn)士就是接受專門培訓(xùn)接生孩子的。他們一開始作為學(xué)徒或者學(xué)生，然后必須通過州測試或者醫(yī)學(xué)委員會的相關(guān)測試。

In 2012, Jasmine Lavender delivered her second child in a bathtub.

2012年Jasmine Lavender在她的浴缸里誕下了第二個孩子。

“It was an amazing experience. Very empowering. You know, I encouraged to support other moms to have a vaginal births. It was life-changing, to be honest.”

“那是很棒的經(jīng)歷，非常神圣，我常常鼓勵其他的媽媽也通過陰道自然分娩。事實上那真的改變了我的人生。”Jasmine Lavender說到。

She chose home birth with a midwife because she did not want to repeat the hospital experience she had with her first child.

她選擇在家請助產(chǎn)士幫忙接生，因為她的第一個孩子就是在醫(yī)院出生的，她不想再重復(fù)那里的經(jīng)歷。

Ms. Lavender says at that time, the hospital performed an unneeded and hurried medical operation -- a Caesarean section. During the birth she says she felt that her time was running out. And not time on her body’s clock but rather on her doctor’s clock.

Lavender女士說，那時醫(yī)院給我做了完全沒必要，并且匆忙的手術(shù)，剖腹產(chǎn)。在手術(shù)期間，她感覺自己的時間在一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)流逝，不是她的身體的時鐘而是她的醫(yī)生的時鐘。

But some women, because of medical reasons, need to have a Caesarean section and some simply choose it. It is a personal choice!

但是有些女人因為一些醫(yī)學(xué)上的原因的確需要做剖腹產(chǎn)，一些只是簡單的就選擇剖腹產(chǎn)，這都是自己的選擇。

Ms. Lavender’s second baby arrived naturally with help from the Community Birth Center in south Los Angeles.

Lavender女士的第二個寶寶是在洛杉磯南部一家社區(qū)接生中心的幫助下在家里自然分娩的。

Licensed midwife Racha Lawler established the Center. It provides services to people who might not otherwise receive them. Ms. Lawler says the Center offers some general health services, such as testing for sexually transmitted diseases -- or STDs.

Racha Lawler是一位通過相關(guān)測試有執(zhí)照的助產(chǎn)士，是她建立了這家中心。它為那些可能不接受他們的人提供服務(wù)。Lawler 女士表示也提供一些一般的衛(wèi)生服務(wù)，比如測試性傳播疾病或者簡稱STDs。

“You know, as a midwife you can draw people’s blood and test people’s blood and test people for STDs. You can, you know, teach women about how their bodies work in regards to their ovulation and fertility. So why not make sure everyone in the community knows that?”

“你們知道作為一名助產(chǎn)士，你可以收集人們的血液，測試他們是否有性傳播疾病。你可以告訴她們身體是如何運(yùn)作的，以及排卵和生育能力的相關(guān)知識。你怎么知道社區(qū)其他人都對這樣的事情有了解呢?

When the Center first opened, there were about 300 licensed midwives in California. Most of them were white. But Racha Lawler hopes to increase by 100 percent the number of midwives of color. She hopes to do this through reaching out to the community and offering free help for students like Tanya Smith-Johnson.

這家中心最初建立的時候，整個加州只有大約300名合格的助產(chǎn)士。但是Racha Lawler希望不同膚色的人都能加入助產(chǎn)士的行列，使它的數(shù)量能翻一番。她希望為社區(qū)的人提供幫助，也希望為像Tanya Smith-Johnson這樣的學(xué)生們提供免費(fèi)的服務(wù)。

Ms. Smith-Johnson says women of color have a special need of pregnancy and delivery care. According to her, the “stats” which is short for “statistics, ”show that women of color need special help when it comes to caring for mothers and babies.

Smith-Johnson女士表示女人在妊娠期和產(chǎn)后都需要特殊的照顧。根據(jù)數(shù)據(jù)顯示women of color在照顧她們的媽媽和寶寶時需要特殊的幫助。

“The stats (the numbers) show women of color, we’re the ones who need maternity care. Our babies die at rates 3 or 4 times that of white women. And one of the solutions to that is having more women of color tend to women like themselves.”

數(shù)據(jù)顯示不同膚色的女人更需要母性保健護(hù)理。我們的孩子比白人婦女孩子的死亡率高百分之3到4.那其中一個解決辦法就是讓越來越多不同膚色的女性也能夠像他們自己一樣。

Are home births and natural childbirths more common where you live? This is a great chance for our women listeners to share their thoughts on childbirth in our comment section! But of course, everyone is welcome!

在家生孩子，或者自然分娩在你居住的地方普遍嗎?這對于女性聽眾是一個很好的機(jī)會，你可以在評論部分發(fā)表自己的見解!當(dāng)然也歡迎男同胞!

From VOA Learning English, I’m Anna Matteo.

這就是美國之音英語教學(xué)的內(nèi)容，我是Anna Matteo。