The Business of Being Born

I had heard about the Ricki Lake-produced movie, The Business of Being Born a few days ago. When I found out there was going to be a small screening session just around the corner from my apartment I decided to go. The movie focused on the Maternity "Business" in the US, and how compared to other industrialized countries, giving birth in the US is very hospital and doctor-based and almost treated like a disease that needs to be fixed. In other countries, midwives deliver babies in either birthing centers or even at home. Medical intervention is not used routinely.

As somebody who already decided to have a natural birth, I thought the movie was quite interesting. I couldn't help but wonder, how a person who has had medicated births or plans to have medicated births... would they be offended or defensive about the movie? That was the one thing that bothered me about the movie. It was really one-sided and thats okay (its their opinion).. but I could see how it would turn some (a lot?) of women off. This documentary was obviously made to raise awareness and I think these messages should've been emphasized more:

1. Educate yourself about your options. Doctors don't always have the same goals you do (especially in obstetrics). On the other hands, there are definitely times when medical interventions can prove to be beneficial - and I'm not just talking about life/death situations.

2. The movie went on and on about the benefits of a natural birth, specifically, these "love hormones" that get released from the mom and the baby during the first couple hours of birth and are crucial to bonding. This woman in the audience mentioned that she had to get a c-section and she had no problem bonding or loving her child afterwards. I could see why she was being so defensive. I think the director could've done a better job with presenting the information in a more "neutral" manner.

Anyhow.. I think over the past few weeks, I've definitely started to form an opinion about this whole thing, and maybe I'll post about it in the future. Fow now though, I'll end the post with the few key observations I took away from the movie:

1. Man, labor looks like it hurts. All the women in the movie just looked like they were in a lot of pain. =[
2. I wish this whole natural birth thing didn't seem so "crunchy" or "granola." Its not! But seriously, that is what the perception is.