I just watched the movie The Business of Being Born by Rikki Lake and Abbey Epstein. I have to say that it was an excellent movie. It really makes a strong argument that home birth is safe and a preferable way to give birth. I have heard that the movie glorifies home birth and vilifies hospital birth and doctors too much. Considering how much hospital births have been unjustifiably glorified in this country I cannot see the justification behind this argument. It was so interesting to see how it depicted the way women lost their control over their births and how it is still regulated by different factors other then the women themselves. Even if a person is not considering a home birth or even a natural birth it would still be a good movie just to see how important it is to trust their body and be comfortable in taking control during their births. During my first birth I was too worried about being a "good" patient. I look back now and I wish I had had the courage to just tell everyone what I wanted when I wanted it. It would have made my experience much better. I really recommend this movie to anyone who is pregnant or just doesn't know that much about home birth. It is really eye opening. Anyone else seen it? Tell me what you thought!
2 comments:
It has been a while since I saw that movie, but I do remember being impressed by some of the facts given concerning birth trends in the US vs. other industrialized countries (namely that other countries have midwife as the norm for prenatal care and birthing while having a significantly lower rate of complications/death in childbirth; the huge difference in the amount of money spent on childbirth in the US vs. other countries; and the history of midwifery in the US).
However, I still thought it had more bias than was warranted by the facts given and I thought that Ricki Lake sensationalized the controversy quite a bit, which was a pretty big turn-off. I just don't believe you can say home birth is RIGHT and hospital birth is WRONG.
As for my own birth experiences- I don't regret having an epidural with my first, or going completely 'natural' with my second. I actually do regret not taking the epidural when I had the chance with my third. They were 3 very different labor experiences.
Every woman is different and every birth is different and even after they have educated themselves on the options available in childbirth, they will still make different choices. It doesn't make them a more or less complete woman or mother.
I watched this movie on Netflix right after our #2 was born. I thought it was very eye opening. Especially the thought about the purpose of an OBGYN is to be trained for surgery, hence the result of many many C sections.
I, too, thought there was bias, but that was expected. One nice thing about the movie was that the producer gal ended up having to go to the hospital in the end. I thought that turn of fate made the movie more balanced.
Another part I loved was the video footage of the midwive's own birth. I laughed out loud when I saw her practically run for the door to head towards the hospital. So funny!
I think that it is a nice movie to watch as far as it's purpose to open your eyes to the situation we have in America. The number of cesareans is unreal and unnecessary. Unfortunately, I think that this subject is such a sensitive one because so many people ended up with a cesarean (some medically necessary and some maybe not) and might feel badly about that.
Birth never goes exactly as you'd like it to. I guess the best thing is to prepare yourself as best as possible and ...
Expect the unexpected!
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