The Business of Being Born
There is a lot of buzz these days about the latest documenatary “The Business of Being Born” (click the link to see the trailer). Produced by Ricki Lake, actress and former talk show host, the documentary follows Lake and several other pregnant women as they give birth, many of them at home. 
From the reviews I have read, this film is an eye opening story about why birthing is in crisis in America. Filled with rich images of women birthing on their own terms, this film takes a feminist view of childbirth, telling women they have a choice and say during child birth, challenging the notion that birth is a scary medical event that needs to be managed. I am happy to see that a celebrity has embraced this subject and created a beautiful film that will be viewed by thousands of women who will see for the first time that child birth can be a wonderful experience that doesn’t need to be feared. I wish this film existed when I was pregnant with Aiden 6 years ago. I had no conception of child birth except for what I had seen on TV. Having become a natural child birth advocate since giving birth to Garret, the next time I want to suggest to my pregnant girlfriends (mainstream or crunchy) that child birth can be a rich and natural experience, I can simply point them to this movie without appearing preachy. And while the films is pro natural child birth and pro home birth, it is not ‘anti-hospital’ or ‘anti-C-section’… the director of the movie herself gets pregnant and runs into complications at the end of her pregnancy.
Reviews from our favorite magazines: “All women owe it to themselves to see this documentary.- Bust Magazine December 2007. “… It is the best birth film ever made” - Peggy O’Mara, Mothering Magazine interview with Ricki Lake.
For my own personal reflections about my two births and images of my home birth read on …
Lunapads first heard about this film when we started receiving email requests for door prizes and samples for debut screenings of the film in cities across North America. So, when I received a facebook invitation from my doula inviting me to attend the screening here in Vancouver I was excited. (click here for a link to the screenings in your area). A bunch of us Lunagals are planning a group outing to attend the screening in Vancouver on March 2nd. Ricki Lake’s interview with Larry King, and her interview with Peggy OMara of Mothering Magazine, has whet my appetite.
I am particularly intrigued to learn that Lake’s experience with child birth very closely follows my own: having a less than satisfactory experience with my first (hospital) birth followed by a gentle home birth under the care of a wonderful team of midwives. Don’t get me wrong. I completely agree with the importance of hospital births and know that home births are not for every one. But, in my experience, even though I arrived at the hospital with a doula and written birth plan (stating my wishes for no drugs, no episiotimy, no rupturing of membranes, sorry if this is TMI or getting technical), my doctor threatened to rupture my membranes because he thought it was taking too long, I was constantly asked if I wanted to take drugs for the pain, was given an episiotomy, and was given an injection, without my consent, to pass the placenta.
Several years later, pregnant with Garret, I learned all about midwives, and was determined to give birth on my own terms, and at home. I couldn’t have been happier to receive care and coaching from a team of midwives and a doula who respected all my wishes and encouraged me throughout the process. For a more detailed account of the birth, see this blog entry.
While I consider myself a modest person, after having a baby, most women find that modesty goes out the window. So, in the spirit of the film, I will share a few of my home birth images…
Here is Aiden helping me while I work through the final stages of labour. He would glide in and out of the room and give my belly kisses, and then carry on amusing himself around the house. I instictively wanted to be in a standing position throughout the labour. (No hospital bed in the lithomy position for me!)
During the final few minutes, I sat on the edge of our bed, as my legs were beginning to shake. I considered having a water birth in the tub, but it was so intense I didn’t want to change positions and get in the tub. It was a good thing I stayed home too. The baby could have been born in the car!
Without any pushing on my part, the baby made his way out. Moments later, my midwife caught the baby and placed him in my arms. My doula Alesksandra looks on.
Aiden meets his new baby brother, Garret. He is in awe of this tiny creature that we have been talking about for months. To this day, we still talk about the birth.
Aiden: “You were in the bedroom and I was downstairs watching a movie. Then I heard lots of noise so I came upstairs. Then I saw Garret. He was red and blue and white!”
Aiden has never shown any jealousy for his brother. I believe this is because he was involved in the pregnancy and birth. He never felt ursurped and didn’t say “mom, you can return he baby to the hospital now!” as I’ve often heard my friends say comes out of the mouth of the older sibling after the novelty of the new baby wears off.
A picture with my team of midwives, who all wanted to be at the birth. How lucky I was to have this much love and support in the room.
The Lunagals come visit me at home the next day!
February 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
As a former nurse who has seen “normal” L&D’s go sour very quickly, home births are a scary proposition for me. Maybe the situation went sour because of medical interventions that weren’t necessary. Hard to say.
Your story, and the trailer to the movie are intriguing.
For those of you who don’t have a screening in your area, if you have Netflix, you can rent it on there.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Thank you for sharing, Suzanne. That’s awesome.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
It’s a very interesting movie. I was just talking to one of my friends who’s pregnant about how I’d rather have a home birth when I have children. (Unfortunately, I’m probably not a very good candidate for it.) I’ll have to share this with her, since she was befuddled as to why one would want such a thing.
By the way Netflix has it on their “watch it now” service. Instant viewing!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
as i said before, home births are not for everyone, but this film at least highlights the importance of being informed should you choose a hospital birth.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I have now watched the film twice and was highly intrigued! I was very fortunate to have a mostly satisfactory birth in a hospital with midwives two years ago with my son. However there were some interventions forced on me (induction) because of hospital policy (they told me I would not be able to continue with the midwives if I chose not to because I would then be “high risk”). Other than the pitocin, I had a husband who was my advocate the whole time and helped me keep perspective and helped stick to the plan to go natural in every other way. I have always stood by the idea of having a midwife birth in a hospital because I thought that was the best of both worlds. However, after seeing this film I am much more intrigued by the possibility of a homebirth because it was very enlightening as to just how prepared these midwives are for dealing with the unexpected.
Most importantly, I think the film encourages us to be purposeful about our decisions regarding birth instead of being lemmings and just following whatever the status quo is.