This is something I probably would have posted on my other site, but in the end, I think this is something that more women/people should know about.
*
Interesting documentaries tend to have higher priority in my Netflix queue. Yes, even before chick-flicks. I’m just a boring person like that.
I came across The Business of Being Born sometime in March. It’s a documentary by Ricki Lake about the different experiences of childbirth and demonstrates how “medical decisions [in the US] are being made for monetary reasons and not because it’s what’s good for the mom or the baby.”
I met up with Jess this evening to hang out and she gave me back the copy she borrowed.
I wish I had logged exactly what I thought and felt after watching the movie, because there were just so many things running through my head!
*
As a young girl, not older than eight or nine and not that I can really figure out how I got these, but I remember I had these three notions in mind regarding childbirth:
- Babies could only be born in hospitals.
- C-sections were “bad” and only happened as a “last resort.”
- Both the mom and baby stayed in the hospital for two to three days after birth.
*
According to the movie: In 1900, 95% of births in the US took place at home. In 1938, half of all birth took place at home. By 1955, less than 1% of births took place at home. It remains that number today.
*
Nowadays, women are actually “scheduling” their c-sections—as if giving birth to a child had to conveniently “fit” into this niche in their calendar. I know of a friend of a friend who is doing exactly that. There’s even something called “Designer birth” happening in the Northeast coast where women schedule their c-section and immediately get a tummy tuck afterward!
Another girl I know wants to have a c-section because it allows for two more weeks off from work.
The idea of a c-section really just scares me.
To take it a step further, being older and being around more and more pregnant women, I always found it strange the idea of “inducing” labor on a certain day. The concept of choosing your baby’s birthday, in whichever way, just seems weird to me.
*
Another friend of a friend had her baby sometime in April. She has an HMO as her health insurance and gave birth at one of their hospitals. What was really scary to me was that she had her baby at 4 in the morning and by 2 in the afternoon that same day, she and her baby were discharged from the hospital.
The concept just seemed absurd to me! Having spent so many hours in labor, and already getting “kicked out” of the hospital bed?
“Hospitals are businesses. They want those beds filled and emptied. They don’t want women hanging around in the labor room.”
*
As a female, I felt the movie itself was very empowering. After watching it I really considered giving some sort of natural childbirth—home, water or in a birthing center, for when my time comes. I wasn’t sure, though, if I would be “strong enough” to go through with it. I mean, the idea of a c-section was scary, but the idea of going through all that pain without an epidural was also scary.
I won’t go into all the medical and health reasons for natural births, what happens during the induction process, or all the different side effects of epidurals. You will just have to watch the movie.
*
A month after watching this movie, Jess broke the news to me that she was pregnant. Without even having discussed the movie with her, she had mentioned that she was going to go through a midwife and give birth in a natural birthing center. It was such an awesome coincidence!
It’s not that I think about having kids often (at least, not where I am in my life right now), in fact, only when I hang out with Jess and discuss all the different things she’s going through mentally, emotionally, and physically that I reflect on my own future decision(s). I’m learning a lot from her and what she’s going through—not just the “pregnancy” aspect, but the actual preparation of the natural birthing process like the classes she’s taking, the books she’s reading, etc.
*
I was initially on the fence about it, but I think that I just needed time to let it sink in. As long as everything is in place (you have to meet certain health requirements to do it), I’ve come to the decision that I will.
I think I really can be strong for my child(ren). There are just so many positive aspects about the whole process that I couldn’t explain them all.
