The Business of Being Born

The weekend before JD went into surgery, we were able to see a sneak preview of The Business of Being Born. This movie was conceived of (no pun intended) and produced by Ricki Lake. The movie discusses the many problems that surround birth in hospitals and advocates for midwives, natural childbirth, and homebirth.

I found the movie incredibly interesting, but was glad that I did not come to the movie completely uninformed. I find that this movie is not for the person who knows nothing about homebirth, because it doesn't cover the negative and positive aspects of homebirth vs. hospital birth adequately (though it does try). If you are interested in homebirth, my advice is to read Henci Goer's The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. This book covers (in detail) the pros and cons of many different approaches to birth.

My History
Because my mother used natural childbirth for all three of her children, I come to this table as a believer in natural childbirth. MIL had both babies by C-section (one after many hours of labor, and JD's was scheduled). Also, SIL (JD's sister) had her oldest at a birthing center (not a hospital), but she and her husband chose a homebirth for their second baby. SIL is a great advocate of homebirth.

After speaking many times with my mother, MIL and SIL and doing a lot of research on my part, I am convinced that, if I am able to do so, I would like to give birth at home with a midwife. I was already of that mindset when I saw the movie, and the movie reinforced my thoughts on the subject.

John Dear was very skeptical about the idea of a homebirth, but after lots of discussions with him of my research and after seeing the movie, he is willing to go along with me.

For more information on the movie, please visit The Business of Being Born. Pictures courtesy of the website.