We watched the documentary last night, and I highly recommend it to all of you. It will definitely open your eyes about how birth happens in this country. Here are my thoughts on it.
The purpose of the film is not to push home births. I honestly think the purpose of the film is to show that there are options out there besides a highly medicalized birth. Because the truth is, the majority of births are low-risk and don't
need a lot of medical intervention. Ricki Lake, the executive producer of the film, decided to make it after having her first son in the hospital with lots of intervention and her second son at home with a midwife. She felt that the second birth was so much more fulfilling. She called it a gift to her son. Again, she didn't make the film to say that having a home birth is better. She wanted to show that women do have choices. And that having a natural birth is a very different experience than being drugged up. She wants to show that birth can be more.
The film talks about some pretty scary stuff that went on in obstetrics. In the first part of the 20th century the common practice in hospitals was to knock women out during labor and strap them to a bed. It was called twilight sleep. Here is the definition from
MedicineNet.com:Twilight sleep: A term applied to the combination of analgesia (pain relief) and amnesia (loss of memory) produced by a mixture of morphine and scopolamine ("scope") given by a hypodermic injection (an injection under the skin). The mixture of the two drugs created a state in which the woman, while responding somewhat to pain, did not remember it after delivering her baby. Twilight sleep was once in vogue in obstetrics.The women had to be tied down because they would thrash around while in this state. They would have no memory of giving birth.
Other crazy stuff that used to be routine was x-raying pregnant mothers to check the size of the baby. This went on until they realized it gave the babies cancer. In the 50's mothers were given a drug that caused children to be born without developed arms and legs. And even all through the 90's a drug given to mothers was discovered to be causing major problems. (Sorry I don't remember the specifics. I think it was ruptured uteruses.)
Another point the movie makes is how disturbing the sky-rocketing cesarean rate is in the US. Right now the national average is 1/3 of all births are c-sections. This is much higher than other developed nations. Many believe there are several reasons for this. One is that OBs are mostly trained surgeons and therefore feel more comfortable doing a section than a natural birth. Many OBs very rarely have experienced a natural birth. Another reason is the ridiculous malpractice situation in this country that makes doctors very scared of being sued. They have way more control in a c-section.
Also, there has been an increase in elective c-sections. Women choose to go through major surgery instead of pushing a baby out. Some of the reasons I've heard are the convenience of scheduling the birth, not messing things up "down there", and even doing the c-section a little early in order to lessen the chances of stretch marks. Crazy if you ask me.
There is also evidence that all the interventions common in hospitals today increase the likelihood of a cesarean. The way it is explained in the movie is this: the mother is given an epidural early which slows down labor. So then she is given pitocin to get things going again. Pitocin makes contractions really hard, long, and close together. This puts stress on the baby and usually requires more pain relief. Or it can start with a woman being induced with pitocin and then given the epidural, etc. What happens is this slippery slope occurs where with every intervention, more in often required. And then the baby is under stress and things aren't progressing quickly enough, and so a c-section is given.
Of course, this is not the case with every c-section. There are many emergency c-sections that save the life of the baby and mother and couldn't have been prevented. In fact, the director of the film ends up having an emergency cesarean because her baby is breech and she went into labor 5 weeks early. It turned out that the placenta had stopped working, so her baby had stopped growing. He was only about 3 pounds. Usually, if this condition happens, the baby is stillborn, so they were really lucky.
One thing I thought was interesting is that the director said afterwards that she didn't feel like she gave birth. She felt like she was in a car accident, went into surgery, and was given a baby afterwards. She described the whole thing as being very surreal and that it was hard not to be able to bond with her baby right away. I'm curious if any of you who have had c-sections felt this way.
Another thought provoking point was made by a French doctor they interviewed. He says that the hormones released during natural labor and birth are what help us to bond to our babies right away. He said that if you take that away, especially when a c-section is done, you are taking away the "love hormones" that cause that bonding. He said, for example, that if you give a monkey a c-section, the monkey will want nothing to do with her baby. Obviously, we are human and love our babies however they come to us. I do not think that a mother who births naturally loves her baby more than a mother who has a c-section or a mother who adopts. But the hormone stuff is real and makes one wonder if it is affecting us in some way.
There are few things I wish were a little different in the film. I wish they had shown more hospital births where things go well. I would have liked to seen a natural hospital birth, because that is what I plan on doing. I also wish they had spent a little time on how mothers should prepare for a natural birth because I think it definitely takes some preparation. The film was skewed toward midwives, but I think that is understandable because they were trying to show that midwives are an often forgotten option in the US. Everyone knows you can go to an OB and have a hospital birth. This film is trying to show that women actually have more choices than that. And even if you do have an OB at the hospital, you still have choices. The point is that women should be in control, not doctors.
I definitely recommend this film. I was educated and moved. I found it inspiring to watch women give birth naturally and safely. I still plan on having my baby in the hospital. But if this birth goes smoothly, I would certainly consider other options such as a birth center or maybe even home for subsequent births. Midwives are trained professionals who come equipped with many of the tools doctors have in the hospital. I am actually excited for the birth of this baby. I'm excited to see what my body is capable of and to truly experience it all.
I also want to point out that the most important thing is not to have a natural birth, but to have choices. And of course to have a healthy baby. I know many women choose to have epidurals and have no regrets. What concerns me more is all the women I've talked to who are disappointed in their birth experience because of all the interventions. They went into it without knowing much and just went along with hospital protocol. I don't agree with hospitals that pretty much automatically prep everyone for an epidural and pitocin. Laboring on your back in bed is not the best way to get a baby to come out.
What I love about this film is that it shows women that they can have a different birth experience than the one you are likely to get if you walk into a hospital ignorant of your choices.
Any thoughts?
