The Business of Being Born

Ethan woke up this morning around 6 and nursed, and sometime between me going into his room and heading back to bed, the power must have went out/surged because when I went back into our bedroom, the ceiling light was on (it works by remote and triggers on when the power flicks back on) and the clocks were flashing. I must not have even noticed the power go off in my sleep deprived delirium. We stayed up too late last night because I was bound and determined to watch The Business of Being Born. I had put it off far too long, and had Ethan's birth story on my mind. There was a screening at the Mariemont Theater during the end of my pregnancy but for some reason I was not able to attend, and wish I had gone then. Although we took our Bradley course and did other research, I would have loved to see this before giving birth. I highly recommend watching it. I don't think I could ever be a L&D nurse because I'm sure I would get so aggravated by the push to induce labor, pushing Pit, and deciding to section the babies when labor doesn't progress quickly enough in the doctor's opinion. I am extremely thankful that we chose a midwife practice for our pregnancy and that they had our best interest in mind. Although Ethan's birth didn't go as we planned and I had to receive medications that I did not want, I was able to deliver him vaginally, and for that I am very thankful. If we had gone to a traditional OB/GYN, we probably would have been required to have an induction when my BP was high at 40 weeks. Instead, I had a group of loving, caring women who allowed me to verbalize my desires for birth, gave me time to rest, and gave my body the time for Ethan to come. I am still very emotional about the sequence of events that occurred during labor, but an OB most likely would have shipped me off to the OR for a C-section when I came into L&D with a slightly elevated BP and they couldn't keep Ethan's heart rate on the monitor (although they had this 'problem' the entire time because I had anterior placenta!!), or when my labor stalled when I was 7cm dilated (most likely due to being on bedrest during labor). I think God knew that I would be devastated if I couldn't birth him vaginally after all the time, care, and consideration we had put into preparing for birth. I loved our Bradley classes. I loved knowing what was supposed to happen and how to prepare physically/emotionally/mentally and to have a wonderful, caring, supportive husband by my side to help me get through it. I am so looking forward to the day when we have another child (a long time from now!) so that hopefully we will be able to put all we learned into action and have an unmedicated birth, if my body will let me do so. So, back to the business at hand, or rather, The Business of Being Born.

A synopsis:

Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business.

Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.

The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?

The trailer:


Birth in this country has changed SO much over the last century. Just think about all the differences we hear from our grandparents about how they gave birth, what their doctors recommended for their babies, how breastfeeding was looked down upon and formula feeding was promoted... women's bodies were created by God to give birth and to provide nutrition for their babies! There were not epidurals, cesarean sections, or formula until more recent years. We have put a lot of thought and time trying to educate ourselves to be good parents, but I'm sure I have spent way more time looking at strollers, carseats, bedding, etc. There is so much information available out there for us, as parents, and it is our responsibility to do what is best for our children!

The other mom in our Bradley class went to a traditional OB/GYN for her first birth, and had a bad birth experience. She wanted a more natural approach to giving birth with her second child. After all, giving birth IS a natural process, although it is not treated that way in the medical world! Partially through her pregnancy, she decided to switch to a midwife and decided to do a home birth. I really admired her for choosing to do so, but didn't think I could. After what we went through, I would 100% be interested in doing a home birth with our second child. Some people may look at me like I'm crazy, but I would love to look into a home birth, or deliver at a birthing center (although I don't know that there are any in our area) vs a hospital. I feel like everything I did not want to happen happened, and it was like a domino effect, exactly what I had been 'warned' about. I know, I know, the most important thing is that we have a healthy baby boy. But I still think that things could have been done differently. The medication altered my perception of what was going on, although I kept trying to fight all the interventions the whole way through :) SO... watching the documentary was really an eye opener for me, and long story short, I think it is an excellent source of information and provides a great perspective on birth and the business it has unfortunately become.

If you're interested in watching the documentary, you can sign up for a free 2 week Netflix subscription and it can be watched right on your computer!!

I also want to say thanks to Heather, another mom I know from back during my wedding planning days on The Knot, for sharing her thoughts on this issue on her blog which reminded me to watch this awesome documentary!

This was originally intended to be a post about what happened in our lives today... obviously I got off track, but feel so much better sharing about this! More to come on today later :)