The Business of Being Born

If you haven't seen the documentary by Ricky Lake called "The Business of Being Born" I encourage you to go out and watch it. It's on Netflix and accessible online as well. Here is a link to the trailer, Business of Being Born Trailer. It's about the health care system in America for women who give births in hospitals versus home births. It gives a lot of information on the drugs given to expecting mothers in labor at the hospitals and how dangerous and often times unnecessary they can be. It also gives wonderful information on home births and the options you have when it comes to giving birth to your babies.

I am a documentary lover and watch as many as I can. This is by far one of my favorites because it provides details and information on a topic that not only interest me, but that I never even considered before. After watching this documentary I started researching the options of doing a home birth and potentially using a midwife when we get pregnant. Everything I read and researched was positive. When reading and hearing women's personal experiences with home birth they all obviously had different stories but they ALL had 2 things in common. After giving birth they felt this incredible sense of love. I thought "Of course they felt love, don't all women? They just had their baby!" But as it turns out women who are given drugs during labor only feel a small percentage of those women who don't use drugs and take their time during labor. The Oxytocin hormones are through the roof for women who just gave birth but the drugs involved decrease those levels. The other thing mothers who had home births ALL said was that they felt a sense of empowerment with a ton of energy after the birth. I thought that was odd but having the baby naturally in a calm state seemed to benefit the babies and the mothers after the birth.

I always knew I wanted to have my children naturally if I could but the option of a C-section never really bothered me. Now, I realize that the hospitals push for women to have C-sections. To be honest from what I gathered it was so the doctors could be home at a decent hour. I realize not all doctors are like this but in America, most OBGYN doctors are not even trained for natural labors because they are predominately trained in surgery. Often times the doctor will scare mothers into thinking a C-section is the only way to save their baby. Yes, C-sections are sometimes necessary but 32.9% of all births in America are via C-sections! Woman's bodies naturally know what to do, it's a miracle I can only attain to God. Our bodies are "trained" to do what they need to do when they need to do it. Now if you are in labor for several hours and there is severe distress on the baby, lack of oxygen or an emergency scenario, yes by all means C-sections are critical. However being told something suddenly is wrong with your baby at 4pm on a Friday evening seems suspicious to me.

So after watching this documentary and researching the topic I am fairly certain I want to have a home birth with a midwife rather than the traditional hospital birth. Midwives are trained and licensed professional and essentially the same as a doctor. They transport women to hospitals with ample time if they feel there are sudden risks involved. As well as taking on mothers who are healthy low risk patients to avoid any complications that may arise. I know you must all think I'm crazy but my husband is supportive and it really struck a chord with me. I feel in my soul that it is the way my children are meant to come into this world. I may change my mind in the future but for now, I'm excited to continue to research and potentially have my future children in a calm, supportive, drug free environment.
EMM