I have to tell everyone that yesterday Candace and I watched this movie called "The Business of Being Born." It is a documentary made by Ricki Lake (yes, that Ricki Lake) after having her first son in the hospital and having what she calls a "dissatisfying" experience. After having her first son, she got really into this natural, homebirth thing, and in this movie, it actually shows her giving birth to her second son at home, in a bath tub.
I was nervous to watch this movie, as I thought the birth scenes would freak me out. In reality, the birth scenes were not as freaky as I thought it would be. The issue I have with this movie is that it clearly is made from one point of view--the anti-OB, anti-hospital birth point of view. It makes out EVERY hospital to be bad and every OB out like they just want to do C-sections all the time, etc. It also makes it seem like all women's experiences with birth in the hospital as bad or traumatic for them somehow, and presents home birth as the ONLY way to solve this problem. I mean, the scenes showing actual births in homes were depicted as almost orgasmic when the child was coming out. Seriously, the sounds the women were making sounded like porn. Good for those women that they can do that without drugs, but I simply don't think its realistic for many women. I know the argument is that all women used to give birth at home with no intervention, and my response to that is, "Yeah, that's when women used to die in labor and delivery."
Candace and I discussed this after, and we agreed that the movie makes valid points about the state of maternal health care in this country. For example, I do think hospitals and OBs, in general, do too many interventions. They are too quick to give Pitocin if things aren't moving along, they are quick to do C-sections if there is any distress (and fetal distress during a birth is common and not necessarily alarming). Hospitals want you in and out as soon as possible. Further, its an excellent point that the "laying on your back" position they make you do in the hospital is the WORST one for giving birth--you should theoretically be up and letting gravity help. However, you cannot do this if you do get an epidural, which I strongly believe should be kept widely available. Finally, the cost argument was a good one--a normal vaginal delivery in a hospital can cost $13,000. A home birth with a midwife, about $4,000. C sections cost even more, and now 1 in 3 women have a C-section. That is twice what is medically necessary, and it seems that docs down play the risk of complication from C section. It is real and it's scary, particularly with every repeat C section you have. However, this doesn't mean that 90% of women should give birth at home, or would even want to. For example, if I'm laboring at home and something bad happens--it would take a good 20-25 minutes for me to get to the hospital. In that time, something very bad could happen to me or my baby (if I ever have one). That is scary to me. And Candace stated the she doesn't consider her birth of Oliver in the hospital to have been traumatic, and I think neither do any of the women I know, so that shoots one of their arguments in the foot.
Candace and I agreed that we wished there could be some middle ground between the two sides of this debate. Like truly changing the mind set of OBs and patients that we will do as few interventions as possible and let a woman labor a long time if necessary. The problem is that OBs think midwives are crazy and midwives hate OBs, typically. So, I do think some good can come from this movie. I will say that last week I read an article in the New York Tomes online that sort of followed up this movie (I read the article before I saw the movie). It talks to some VERY dissatisfied patients of this midwife named Kara who is featured prominently in the film. She has had some very bad results that are not discussed in the film, and when things go wrong, she pretty much just dumps people at the hospital with no explanation to the medical staff there. Hospitals in the area of New York where she practices do not like her. So, that was interesting.
Anyway, I would recommend that if you watch the movie, keep in mind its from one point of view. Watch it, and form your own opinions. It was actually pretty interesting.
I was nervous to watch this movie, as I thought the birth scenes would freak me out. In reality, the birth scenes were not as freaky as I thought it would be. The issue I have with this movie is that it clearly is made from one point of view--the anti-OB, anti-hospital birth point of view. It makes out EVERY hospital to be bad and every OB out like they just want to do C-sections all the time, etc. It also makes it seem like all women's experiences with birth in the hospital as bad or traumatic for them somehow, and presents home birth as the ONLY way to solve this problem. I mean, the scenes showing actual births in homes were depicted as almost orgasmic when the child was coming out. Seriously, the sounds the women were making sounded like porn. Good for those women that they can do that without drugs, but I simply don't think its realistic for many women. I know the argument is that all women used to give birth at home with no intervention, and my response to that is, "Yeah, that's when women used to die in labor and delivery."
Candace and I discussed this after, and we agreed that the movie makes valid points about the state of maternal health care in this country. For example, I do think hospitals and OBs, in general, do too many interventions. They are too quick to give Pitocin if things aren't moving along, they are quick to do C-sections if there is any distress (and fetal distress during a birth is common and not necessarily alarming). Hospitals want you in and out as soon as possible. Further, its an excellent point that the "laying on your back" position they make you do in the hospital is the WORST one for giving birth--you should theoretically be up and letting gravity help. However, you cannot do this if you do get an epidural, which I strongly believe should be kept widely available. Finally, the cost argument was a good one--a normal vaginal delivery in a hospital can cost $13,000. A home birth with a midwife, about $4,000. C sections cost even more, and now 1 in 3 women have a C-section. That is twice what is medically necessary, and it seems that docs down play the risk of complication from C section. It is real and it's scary, particularly with every repeat C section you have. However, this doesn't mean that 90% of women should give birth at home, or would even want to. For example, if I'm laboring at home and something bad happens--it would take a good 20-25 minutes for me to get to the hospital. In that time, something very bad could happen to me or my baby (if I ever have one). That is scary to me. And Candace stated the she doesn't consider her birth of Oliver in the hospital to have been traumatic, and I think neither do any of the women I know, so that shoots one of their arguments in the foot.
Candace and I agreed that we wished there could be some middle ground between the two sides of this debate. Like truly changing the mind set of OBs and patients that we will do as few interventions as possible and let a woman labor a long time if necessary. The problem is that OBs think midwives are crazy and midwives hate OBs, typically. So, I do think some good can come from this movie. I will say that last week I read an article in the New York Tomes online that sort of followed up this movie (I read the article before I saw the movie). It talks to some VERY dissatisfied patients of this midwife named Kara who is featured prominently in the film. She has had some very bad results that are not discussed in the film, and when things go wrong, she pretty much just dumps people at the hospital with no explanation to the medical staff there. Hospitals in the area of New York where she practices do not like her. So, that was interesting.
Anyway, I would recommend that if you watch the movie, keep in mind its from one point of view. Watch it, and form your own opinions. It was actually pretty interesting.
1 comment:
If a woman can go it alone at home, I say, "Knock yourself out." But personally, I'd rather have an OB in a sterile hospital knock me out.
Seriously, every time I look at my bed or bathtub or whatever, do I want to think, "That's where I went through excruciating agony and bled and pooped all over the place." ??
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