The Business of Being Born

Not yet, but I want to!

~A.~

I have. It's an extremely important film for any expectant couple, or anyone who knows an expectant couple, to watch.

I had already heard about some of the issues that crop up with medicalized birth, which is why my husband and I chose to have a home birth with midwives. I wasn't looking forward to the labor pain, either, so I used natal hypnotherapy. It worked wonderfully! There is absolutely no need for an epidural or other pain meds. In my experience (and many other mothers' experiences), they don't even work as well (when I had my son 15 years ago, I had an epidural and was miserable. It didn't do a thing for my back labor, which was excruciating. I also couldn't feel the things I *wanted* to feel (him moving down, and the urge to push, and the experience of giving birth to him.) Then, for days after my son was born, he was too lethargic to nurse; it was a real struggle to get him to latch, and he had a weak suck).

Back to my labor just over a month ago: thanks to using the hypnosis program, when my midwives arrived, I was happy and calm, and the contractions were very manageable. The first thing they did was to check me, and they were amazed to find that I was already 7 centimeters dilated. That's transition! I was fine all the way through transition except that, hours later, my daughter's shoulder got stuck on my pelvic bone (shoulder distocia); if it weren't for this very rare complication, my entire labor would have been a breeze. Even so, I thank God we did a home birth, especially *because* of the shoulder distocia. My midwives knew just what to do, and if I had been in a hospital, the doctors would have ordered a C-section.

Giving birth at home, with knowledgeable midwives, I got to nurse my child within half an hour of giving birth, even though she had had shoulder distocia - we were doing that well. There were no nursery, sugar water feedings, pricked heels, gooey stuff in her eyes, or any other separations or nuisances. She was alert from the start, and has been a vigorous eater, gaining weight well!

I wholeheartedly recommend home birth with midwives to anyone who is having a healthy pregnancy. It's an incredibly empowering experience!

L.

Hi K., unfortunatly I dont currently have sound on my computer, but I got the gist of the story - and its pretty much true. The more doctors get involved in the process, the more things can screw up. Both of my girls were born at full term and quite healthy using the Bradley Method www.bradleybirth.com. NO drugs, epidural, epesiotomy - I wouldn't even let em put a hep-lock in me (and the nurse was quite insistant that I "needed" it in case there were complications, I had another one insist on having an epidural ready during my second one, even tho I signed a form waiving it - I literally threw it out of the room, where it smashed against the nurses station). I think it all starts with the epidural, it drugs the baby when it needs its faculties the most and can cause severe complications. Women have been giving birth for millions of years without problems - we dont need intervention. We certainly dont need all the stuff that modern medicine claims makes it better - it usually doesnt work, and causes more problems that its worth. Your body is capable of creating some amazing pain killers - when the time is right. I felt minor discomfort right at the time of birth, but it was immediatly over, AND I was able to breastfeed my babies without complications. I left the hospital at the minimum required time - 24 hrs - and went home. My first actually had several holes in her heart (had to have open-heart surgery at 2yrs, is all better). I dread thinking about what could have happened if I had gotten an epidural during that birth. She almost definitely wouldnt be here with us today, the added stress would've killed her. I'm not sure what kind of answers you're looking for, but as far as I'm concerned, natural anything is always better than "man-handled". :}

I have not seen it yet but really want to! I first heard about it through my sister in law who had her son at home last year and loved it! I did watch the trailer on the website though...www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com. Very interesting!!
I am due with our daughter in about a month and we will be delivering at a hospital, BUT that is because I have a couple of medical problems/ issues myself and feel more comfortable being there in my situation. So far our daughter seems to be healthy though!!! We took Hypnobirthing classes and have two doulas accompanying us this time. (We only read the HypnoBirthing Book and listened to the CD's we borrowed from a friend with the birth of our son last year. We were unnecessarily induced with Pitocin (when we checked in to the hospital my membranes had released, contractions/ surges 5 minutes apart, dilated to a 4-5 and 100% effaced...yeah, something is wrong with the medical field because nothing was wrong with my son or myself...up until the point where the nurse forgot to turn off the Pit!!!) ANYWAY, I tell you all of that to say I had him with Pitocin and no drugs. If anyone is looking for a calm, peaceful way to welcome their child and skip the drugs I HIGHLY recommend HypnoBirthing! I know that wasn't the original question, but I felt led to share that with you ladies, particularly anyone considering a home birth:)

If I had 5 thumbs, I'd stick them all up. I think every woman who is pregnant or is trying to get pregnant should see it.

If you have netflix, you can watch it online for free. It is a great film!

If you have a low risk pregnancy, you should consider having a birth with a midwife. Birth is a natural process and we would not be here if women didn't give birth naturally since the beginning of time without the assistance of surgeons. The c-section rate is sky high, one in two births in my area and its only going to get worse if parents accept the way birth is treated in today's society.

This movie is a real snapshot about what is happening in the maternity field in our nation. It is controversial, but in a good way. In other words, it's about time someone starting speaking up about what has happened in maternity care. It's not a pretty picture, but a true picture. I've been in the field for over 15 years, and what I have seen would curl your hair.

I would love to see it but haven't found it around here. :(