Wah wah wah.
I remember a few months ago I really wanted to see this Ricki Lake movie about childbirth, but kept missing it for some reason. I finally got The Business of Being Born yesterday from the library, and while it wasn't some groundbreaking documentary and had only one-sided view (like most documentaries) I would definitely have to say that anyone who's considering having one of those little humans should rent this ASAP.
The movie will open your eyes to the dangers of having a hospital delivery. From the costs to all that medicine you most likely don't need to just being uncomfortable because who the hell likes hospitals to the fact that a hospital is a business, and like restaurants they want you in and out, you really have to wonder why so many women are opting to still do it this way.
Why wouldn't you want to have your baby at home, with your music, with the people you care about all around you or maybe not all around you? These midwives are prepared for obstacles that may happen, and I guess I won't give the whole movie away but far less babies die at in-home childbirths than in hospitals and that right there is something to think about.
I talked to my friend, Jessie, briefly today. And when she asked me if Dominic and I were going to get married and have babies. I was all like noooooooo, not anytime soon. But I'm pretty sure if we decided to give up our lives to some crying, money grubbing life form/pride and joy that I'd like to have this thing coming out of me in my nice claw foot tub with Cat Stevens and Bill Withers singing to me from my computer. And not, by any means necessary, at the mercy of some doctor dude I've probably never met before and the sounds of all those scary machines with a nice big bill waiting for me when the placenta comes flying out.
No thank you.
Labels: movie
posted by Barrie @ 9:09 PM
4 Comments:
I was once an OB nurse. It is great that women like Rickki Lake & Cindy Crawford can give birth at home but that's b/c they have the money to use a midwife & if there is a complecation during birth they had the resources to either have a Dr very very near or an ambulance on stand by to get them to a hospital stat!! If anything happens during labor to you or the baby the best place to be is still a state of the art hospital. Most OB units now have all you want at home (private rooms w/music where your family & firends can stay w/you during your labor) you won't even know your in a hospital. Giving birth in the 21st century is still a gamble & a hospital has all the resources for any woman in case of a real emergency. You don't have to take drugs if you don't want the hospital can't make you but my guess is after being in llabor for a certain amt of hrs you'd want a epidural. I know it looks so peaceful in her documentary but it doesn't always work out that way. Do more research when you get to that point in your life if you ever do.
you should watch the movie, mom. the cost is covered by hmo and if it's not it's only $4000-5000 compared to the hundreds of thousands it can cost at a hospital.
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I just watched this movie, and I will admit that I cried through a lot of it. I feel so grateful for the birth experience that I had with Haven. My midwife was absolutely wonderful, the birth center was perfect, from the warm tub to the fact that it was within minutes from the hospital... giving birth was the most incredible experience of my life. There is something about the moment the baby is born naturally that cannot be replicated period. Every woman deserves the opportunity to feel the universe course through her veins. That being said, I will admit when I found out I was pregnant it was a long process that lead me to my decision to birth naturally and not at the hospital. Ina May Gaskin was key, and I am disappointed they didn't use her more in the movie. She's practically single-handedly brought midwifery back to the U.S.!! This movie needed to be made, but I don't think Ricki Lake was neccesarily the best person to make it. It seemed like a ego stroke for her: I would have preferred less of her talking and more focus on actual midwives. And I don't think this movie presented only one side of the story, they had plenty of interviews with OB's saying things like "using a midwife at home is like riding in your car without a seatbelt." The truth was stated very simply to me once by my own mother: women have been doing this for all of human history, and it usually works out fine. The culture of fear around childbirth is disgraceful. Every person on this planet is living proof that we as women can do it! Living in this technological age we are privileged to have the resources when we need them to avoid infant and maternal mortality, but living in this capitalistic society as Americans it is unfortunate that our technology is actually causing needless infant and maternal injury and mortality. I can say from experience that childbirth is not a peaceful experience until the anesthesiologist puts the spinal tap in and the drip of drugs takes away your ability to feel your body. And I hit a point in my delivery when I screamed for drugs, but I didn't need them, regardless of how much I wanted them they were not what was best. Had I been in a hospital, regardless of what my birth plan was, I would have had to fight to not have drugs. As it was said in the movie, it's easier on the hospital workers if you're heavily sedated. I say if they don't want to deal with the reality of laboring women they should choose another profession! Giving birth is painful, but it's not too much to bear, and for a good lot of the delivery it was not pain, it was like being on the moon. I am very glad to say I've been there and I would go back!!!
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