High hopes for The Business of Being Born
by Amy GatesIt's just over a month now until the release of The Business of Being Born to DVD a la Netflix* on Feb. 12, and I, for one, am counting the days. There are 36.
As a self-confessed "birth junkie," I've been excited about this movie since I first learned about it back in May of 2007.
For anyone unfamiliar with the premise of the film and how it came about, here's a little background. Actor Ricki Lake had two very different birth experiences (one in the hospital and one at home), and over the past several years considered becoming a midwife to help make a difference. However, after learning about the years of schooling and training involved, she felt that she could bring about more change by using her time, celebrity status (and her money) to make a documentary about birth. Lake recruited filmmaker Abby Epstein for the project.
The Business of Being Born explores the business aspect of birth and the way that American women have babies. The film includes a history of obstetrics, the history and function of midwives, footage of several natural births (including Ricki Lake's home birth), interviews with people "on the street," doctors, as well as birth advocates like Michel Odent, Ina May Gaskin, and Robbie Davis-Floyd, and more.
The film is about empowering women to know what their choices are when it comes to birth. As Ricki said in her interview with The Huffington Post, "I hope this film educates people and empowers them to really know their choices in childbirth. We do not want to make any woman feel bad about the outcome of her birth, or the choices she made (or will make)."
It is my hope that because this movie has the potential to appeal to all women and anyone who is concerned with women's rights, it will reach the masses, not just the midwives and birth activists out there. I believe that having a choice when it comes to birth is a woman's right. It is also a woman's right to know what her options are, as well as have access to all of the information about what is healthiest for her AND for her baby.
While the media would often have us believe otherwise, birth is a normal, natural process, and in most cases women require minimal assistance and no intervention to give birth to a healthy baby. Of course there is always the exception, but I believe birth should be treated as normal until proven otherwise, not as a potential emergency waiting to happen.
While I haven't yet had the opportunity to see the film even though it's been shown a handful of times around me locally (always at my kids' bedtime it seems), I have been enjoying reading reviews and observing the different perspectives the reviewers have based on their personal (and professional) backgrounds. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what they wish was or was not included in the film, but the overall consensus is that this is a wonderful film.
The Navelgazing Midwife had a unique perspective on the movie since she's been a midwife for the past 15 years and a doula for 23 years and thus is much more observant of the intricacies of birth than a lay person may be. I enjoyed her "insider's" point of view and critique. Despite disagreeing with some aspects of the film, overall she was very pleased and concluded that "she (Ricki Lake) did a beautiful job and I am proud to call her our own. She knows her stuff."
Another midwife, newer to the profession, from Belly Tales wrote "overall I thought the film was truly amazing; it brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. Rather than being far out on the left fringe as I had feared, I was actually blown away by how mainstream and accessible it was. It begins with the assumption that the audience knows absolutely nothing about birth and the business of birth in this country, and then moves on from there, using a simple and easy-to-understand, yet powerful and engrossing format and narrative."
Tanya Lieberman, host of the Motherwear blog, Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and breastfeeding advocate, came away from the film believing change in the current birth system is definitely needed and said, "the only people who can change this trend is us." She makes the point that to bring about change we need to vote with our feet, which is why she believes it's so important that the masses see this movie - to realize that they have choices.
Despite the fact that I've read several articles and reviews about the film and consider myself fairly well-versed in the history of obstetrics and midwifery, I am still so excited to see it, especially for the beautiful footage of normal birth. I watched a lot of birth videos in preparation for my son's home birth and got emotional just about every time a baby was born. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of my time watching The Business of Being Born with a tissue in hand as well.
Birth is such an amazing, beautiful, raw and emotional event, and I truly hope that this movie will be seen not only by the "birth junkies" such as myself out there, but by the mainstream population - the couple who is newly expecting, the woman who is dissatisfied with a previous birth experience, the medical community, and anyone who is interested in learning about birth - as well. I think it has the potential to bring about change for the better. Change, that I believe, is so desperately needed.
Rest assured I will be writing about this film again once I've had the pleasure of viewing it. And I will add my own review, as a woman and birth junkie who has experienced both a hospital birth and a home birth, to the list. Until then, the countdown continues...
*While the film is not going to be released on DVD until Feb. 12, you can add it to your Netflix queue at any time.
Contributing editor Amy Gates also blogs at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.
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Comments
The Business of Birth
www.terristakefive.com
I will certainly watch this film when it comes out, too. While I am thankful my youngest child is alive and healthy due to an observant obstetrician and the miracle of modern medicine (she was an emergency c-section), I think it is great to bring about more awareness. As women we do have choices, and need to be supported in the choices we make, particularly concerning the birth of our children. Thanks, Amy!
More on the Business of Being Born....
Thanks for this article Amy! I didn't know when to expect the BOBB out on DVD so now I can begin the count down with you. :)
A couple of years ago I also began learning more about the history of women's health care and the current state it's in. Here are a couple of resources I think you and some of your readers may enjoy...
"Witches, Nurses and Midwifery" which you can find here: http://snipurl.com/1wy0r Scroll down to the bottom of the Amazon page to read more about it. It's a super quick read and was quite informative.
Here's the link: http://snipurl.com/1wy41 to another wonderful video that CAPPA put together from their 2001 Conference. It's titled: The Crisis in American Maternity Care: Where is the Doctor? by Dr. Marsden Wagner The quality isn't great but Marsden's message is awesome. He has done so much advocating for women and children in this world and he's definitely worth Googling. From what I can tell, he was also interviewed for Ricki's movie.
I too, hope that this movie helps women see birth as normal and empowers them to demand additional choices when it comes to their bodies and the birth of their children. Midwives often say "peace on earth begins with birth" and it's true....a peaceful entrance into this world has to leave an impression on a new little person! :)
I hope that there are more movies like this made in the future. I wish that "What Babies Want" received such a big splash! That film is also amazing and definitely worth a view. That movie was the impetus behind my husband's willingness to have a homebirth. It's a wonderful movie and talks about how important it is to view birth from the eyes of a newborn. Ahhh...I love birth. :)
women's health care, what babies want and
ricki lake interview
Thank you, BrandyL, for sharing those additional resources. I found the information about women's health care very interesting and not entirely surprising. I liked reading the review from Peggy Vincent on there (author of "The Baby Catcher" - one of my favorite books), which definitely lends some credibility to the booklet.
And yes, I loved "What Babies Want" too. I blogged about it not too long ago. Such a powerful movie - another one that should be required in all childbirth prep classes if you ask me. ;)
I also wanted to share with everyone that there is a good audio interview with Ricki Lake by Peggy O'Mara of Mothering at: http://www.mothering.com/rickilakeinterview/
Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com
Fun for some, kryptonite for others
Just evidence that what is fun for some is beyond painful for others...
www.Coming2Terms.com
Pamela Jeanne
Thank you
Thank you SO MUCH for blogging about this movie. I have been a birth junkie since I was a young girl. I am fascinated by the entire process of pregnancy and childbirth and I too considered becoming a midwife. Instead, I am looking into becoming a doula... I have had 3 birth experiences, all very different, and am very intrigued and excited about seeing this documentary.
Royally yours,
The Queen Mommy
Looking forward to the movie
In fact, i can hardly wait to see it. I'm interested to see if it meets my expectations. For the most part I agree with the premise of the movie. Now let's see if it delivers what it promises.
~Andrea~
http://momtothefey.blogspot.com
SAFETY FIRST
I have a struggle here that maybe people can help me sort through.
First, I believe in choice above all else. In all areas of life, I believe we can't have freedom without choice and can't have choice without freedom....
That said, home birth - which people should be allowed to choose - can be really dangerous.
When my daughter was born, I was a VERY healthy 29 year-old with no hint whatsoever that I should have any problems delivering a baby. That said, we had a hospital birth (not sure why) and are really glad we did. After a few hours, although i felt no different, the monitors revealed that our daughters heart was stopping, and my blood pressure was spiking. My family was there, with the fill intention of my husband guiding out our daughter, my father cutting the chord and all that.....
But very quickly, things went terribly wrong and both my daughter's and my life were at risk. Things went terribly terribly wrong, and when she was born she was not breathing at all, and my own heart was racing, then stopping, racing then stopping looking like some sort of cardiac failure was imminent. As for our daughter, straight to the NICU, where she was resuscitated, though everyone was certain that she would have died if she had not had access to the NICU.
So now I find myself really conflicted. In my heart and soul I am certain - as is everyone who was there - that both my daughter and I would have died if we had chosen a home birth. I hear people say things like, "giving birth is the most natural thing in the world," which is true. But so is dying in childbirth.
Isn't the idea to bring a healthy baby in to the world? Is there any reason why that can't be done in a modern birthing center, just in case? I know that our birthing center felt very much like a living room, until things went bad and medial equipment magically appeared from what had been a nice sideboard with a tv on it, my family was there on the couch..... Our birthing center had water birth as an option, I spent time on a birthing ball - all of that was an option. But when we almost died, it was every bit a hospital, and i am soooooo glad.
How do we balance personal choice with safety and security in case it doesn't go as planned....
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com
a home birth can be a safe birth
Alyssa,
First of all, I'm so glad that you and your daughter received the care that you needed. I'm sure those moments were scary for everyone involved.
You raise some great questions. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about midwives and although I haven't seen it yet I believe The Business of Being Born clears a lot of those up. I hope you'll consider seeing it.
Midwives are very trained in normal birth. They are so well-versed in normal birth that in most cases they can recognize when things are starting to go downhill well before there is ever a truly life or death emergency. They only take on low-risk pregnancies. They have carry things with them like oxygen, pitocin, and other emergency-supply equipment. It is their job to know what they can safely and comfortably handle and to transfer a woman to a specialist (OB) during pregnancy or to a hospital during birth when it is out of their scope of expertise.
I had two very different birth experiences.
My first was in a hospital. I'd planned a natural, drug-free birth, but then was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome and had to be induced on pitocin, given magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures, catheterized and restricted to laying in bed on my left side (to help control my blood pressure which was through the roof because of HELLP). It was NOT the experience I had in mind at all, but in the end I had a healthy baby and I was healthy as well.
When I got pregnant with my second child, I knew I did not want to go through all of that again, so I did everything I could to prevent having HELLP again (including taking Chinese herbs, seeing an acupuncturist, eating a high protein diet, etc.). I also decided mid-pregnancy on a home birth with a midwife who knew my history and would keep a close eye on me (monitoring my blood pressure, etc.) to make sure I did not get HELLP again. If I did, I had planned to transfer to an OB's care and do a hospital birth. Thankfully though, I avoided HELLP and had an amazing, but again not really what I expected, birth this time at home. My son ended up flipping to a footling breech position in the days before his birth and because my labor was so fast, we didn't know this until I was 10 cm and ready to push. But with my midwife's knowledge and assistance, I was able to give birth to him vaginally. He had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and was born blue and not breathing. My midwives did not immediately cut the cord so he was still receiving oxygen through it and one gave him a couple of puffs of air - mouth to mouth - while they massaged him and encouraged my husband and I to talk to him. He started breathing within seconds and pinked right up. Had he not begun to breathe, they would've gotten out the oxygen and called 911. We were less than 5 minutes from the hospital.
Everything worked out the way it needed to for both of my births.
Ultimately, I think it is every woman's right to decide what is best for her and her baby. I don't think anyone who chooses a home birth makes the decision lightly. I know I didn't. I weighed the pros and cons and found a midwife who's experience I felt very comfortable with before I made that choice. I honestly wish I would've done that much research before I chose my OB for my first birth because, while I got the medical care I needed, there were still a lot of things I came away from that experience upset about (like her pretty much forcing me into an episiotomy at the last minute, telling me to hold my breath and push - which I refused to do by the way - and the fact she couldn't remember what the sex of my baby was the day after she was born and asked "How's he doing?"), but I digress.
Sorry to go on and on, but I just wanted to share my experiences with you.
I think that very satisfying birth experiences can come from hospitals, birth centers, and home births, but I don't feel that women always have a choice. Many areas don't have birth centers at all. (I probably would have chosen one if there was one available here.) And in some states, having a home birth with a midwife is illegal. Ideally, I would love to see all of these options available to all.
I am right with you that the idea is to bring a healthy baby into the world, but I also believe that we should have a choice where that takes place and that a home birth can definitely be a safe birth. :)
Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com
Safety and Choice
Hi Alyssa,
You voice a normal concern when it comes to homebirth. :) I too had my first baby in the hospital with low lights, my wonderfully relaxing music, a CNM, etc. The birth was great up until the end when they lost my baby's heartbeat and I had to push him out immediately. He was light blue, had an APGAR of about 2 and it was all very scary. I too was glad that we were in the hospital...at that time. The more I learned about birth afterwards though the more I learned that for our experience the problem most likely stemmed from my midwife's advice of holding my breath to push. I remembered at the time that my childbirth educator told me to never hold my breath while birthing but I couldn't remember at the time why and I wanted my baby out! ;) Well holding my breath caused me to deprive my baby of much needed oxygen as well. If I hadn't have done that then he probably would've been fine. They had commented before I held my breath that he was doing so well that it seemed like he loved the contractions and the squeezing he was getting. :) I am sure that my homebirth midwife wouldn't have counseled me to hold my breathe as they usually have very different views on how a baby comes out.
With my second baby, we were only 5 mins away from the hospital, had a midwife that was previously a paramedic for 12 years, etc. We also learned that midwives are extremely skilled at listening to heart tones of a baby and a mother and because they are almost always in the room with the mother, they notice signs of stress or distress very early on. It's not often that mothers and babies go from 0-60 in an emergency. Oftentimes there are signs that signal a midwife to make an emergency transfer. I acknowledge that this isn't •always• the case and that there are those freakish times when there is absolutely no warning. BUT those times aren't as often as one might think.
A lot of homebirthers actually choose homebirth because they feel that in many ways it's actually safer than hospital birth. Being a former doula, I have to say that seeing hospitals births was another big part of what caused me to have a homebirth. I saw women unable to labor on their own time frame, in positions that they found most comfortable, without constant interruption (which actually causes a lot of women's cervixes to close due to the fight or flight response and the lack of privacy that they feel) and all of those issues cause women to have interventions. Some doctors and CNMs feel that birth should happen w/in a certain time period and if they don't, then they are bombarded with interventions that put them and their babies at risk. Risk of c-section, risk of forceps or vacuum extraction, a uterus that ruptures do to improper use of Cytotec, etc. We have a very high infant mortality rate in the US and those stats are coming primarily from hospitals. There is a connection that most people don't want to admit.
So for people that find a midwife they can trust, are within a reasonable distance from a hospital, and feel intuitively that they should birth their babies at home, homebirth becomes the safest option for them.
Now with all of that said I do have to say that with all of the women that I have seen that have made the choice between hospital and homebirth they have all chosen correctly. I have seen mamas have breech babies at home, mamas whose babies went to 42 gestation at home only to have a perfectly healthy baby (this is hardly ever allowed with a hospital care provider), and babies and mamas that ended up needing hospital care like you and yours did. My point is to say that this is where choice and safety come in to play. You listened to your intuition which was saying that you needed to have your baby in a hospital. The problems that could have come to you and your baby had you not listened could have been devastating. I was almost at 42 weeks when my baby was born and if I would have gone to a hospital OB I would have been induced a week earlier. My baby was healthy, normal and perfect in every way. It was the right choice for us and we intuitively felt it at the time we made that choice.
Giving options to all women so that they can listen to their inner voice is what freedom is all about. One person's voice may be telling them what's safest for the particular child they are birthing and it may even change with their next pregnancy if they are really listening. Birth is about empowerment and having the freedom to choose your birthing place is the first step to that empowerment.
Sorry to write a book here but I appreciated your comment and question and know it's one that many people have. :)
Thank you, and I mostly agree
Thanks to both Amy and Brandy - and women everywhere who engage in this discussion!
For the record, i am a HUGE supporter of midwives and doulas (actually thinking about becoming a doula, as i have unofficially done it for so many friends....) I love birth. I know it sounds corny, but it is the most amazing thing.
I just want everyone to always keep safety in mind - and respect each others decisions to define that in whatever way feels right for them. And I also want to make sure that focus stays on the end result, which is a healthy baby. I have seen too many mothers be "disappointed" by their birth experience because it wasn't what they had expected going in to it. And i think that's a shame, when the only real result we should be focused on are healthy mom and baby....
I'm all for natural, at home, well-supervised and planned birth, however one wants to do it. I just want to see an expansive set of "expectations" so that moms can focus on the miracle of birth and feel good, no matter how it wound up happening.... :)
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com