Business of Being Born

Yes its 9:30 pm and yes i'm about to fall asleep but I really have been wanting to blog about this topic for a couple of days now, since it has been something laying on my heart rather to share with others, pray about, consider or just learn about.

The other night, danny and I watched a documentary called the Business of Being Born, produced by Ricki Lake (yes the old school talk show host). It was mainly all about doctors vs. midwives, hospitals vs. home births, inducing/medication vs. all natural. First off, even after watching the quite persuasive documentary i would still choose to deliver in a hospital, surrounded by tons of medical professionals and away from my dog. But what it did get me thinking about is how much faith we as "patients" put in our doctors in believing they know everything and they know what is best, when sadly its all business in the long run and all about making money. And pregnancies are no different, is what I am quickly learning.  Ive been pregnant for almost 18 weeks now and have purchased about 5 different prescriptions, a $200 dollar hospital visit for an IV, and 4 different types of prenatal vitamins (prescriptions as well)  all of which have not helped, but theres no refund i can assure you.

Besides, the money issue, the average number of inductions and c-sections are increasing every year. Women actually scheduling to have a C-section! Its almost as though people are forgetting...the baby will come, just give it some time and let your body do what God intended for it to do. From what I hear from most women now days is labors no longer last over 20 hours...doctors are so quick to induce women and "force" the pregnancy, which leads to this medication, then another medication, then another, then oh "we need to do an emergency c-section." Now, I am not against C-sections I do think for some people it is the best case scenario, but I believe this option is pushed on women as their "only option."

Anyway, back to the documentary, I found this short artcle that sums up the documentary:

Actress Ricki Lake is the producer of a new documentary exploring childbirth in America. The Business of Being Born promises "shocking facts regarding the historical and current practices of the child birthing industry." The film shines a critical light on birth culture in the U.S. and suggests that midwives may be the solution.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Ricki talks about what prompted her to produce this film. Only one of her two sons was birthed at home and the differences in the two experiences led her to want to "explore and question birth practices in this country and perhaps be an advocate for mothers' rights and better maternity care."

The Business of Being Born was directed by Abby Epstein and debuts April 29th at theTribeca Film Festival. The program notes include some interesting statistics:

*home birthing, which was once considered the norm, accounted for less than 1% of births in the United States by 1995

*in Europe and Japan, midwives attend 70% of births compared to less than 8% in the U.S.

*in spite of spending twice as much on on maternity care than any other country, the U.S. has the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world

That last one shocked me, but apparently it's true. Those are just 3 of the statistics that are in the movie, there are plenty more. I do recommend it seeing it if this is something you've considered or thought about or even are just curious to argue against! Its a pretty "intimate" movie showing umm lots of...well women having babies in their home, in their bath tubs, in their hall ways...usually naked. but just try to ignore that part if that bothers you. =) Overall the movie was very educational and very interesting, making me really consider how I hope my labor & delivery goes. 

okay off to bed...not proof reading this one so I apologize for any typos, grammatical errors or sentences that simple do not make any sense. =)

18 weeks tomorrow! woohoo!