business of being born

steve and i went to see the business of being born on sunday afternoon. it was amazing. i thought the movie actually spoke the truth about some of the horrors that surround hospital births and showed the amazing outcomes of natural birth. the cool thing, is that i didn't feel any less of a woman for choosing to birth in a hospital. the movie made me wish i had more natural options that would work for me, for example birth centers within or close to a hospital in case something happens, but it never made me feel bad for my decision. i truly thought the movie was beautiful. it showed women birthing in all positions, naturally and beautifully. it was super cool. what it didn't do was try to find solutions to the hospital problems.

as a society, we chose to utilize doctors in our birthing many years ago. yet, since leaving our midwives, we have begun to notice the pitfalls of hospital births. the drugs they push, the positions and sterile environments that aren't conducive to the natural way of birthing, the episiotomies, vacuums and forceps, and of course the c-section rates among many, many other pitfalls.

i personally am a bit reluctant to birth in a hospital. most of my being would rather be at home or a birth center. but there was always something within me that said 'no, this isn't for you. you won't be able to relax and let go'. so we chose a hospital birth. and then we lost Jorai. losing her made me realize that i made the right decision for me. and so for our next child, it's another hospital birth, with a few adjustments. i don't want drugs, i don't want pitocin, no episiotomy, no iv, i want to labor at home...and i just have to pray for my wishes to be met.

the part about the movie that was frustrating was not actually nothing in the movie, it was the panel discussion after. there were hospital and midwifery reps. present and i felt that they were fighting for the most part. many of the attendees took a side and couldn't see the other's view. and i realize that birthing is such a powerful process that produces powerful memories, but i wish instead of fighting for one way or another, we could compromise.

for me, i realize that everyone is different. we all have our convictions, our beliefs and our wants. some women want a complete hospital birth with the drugs and c-sections and whatnot. i personally would never want that, but that's me. and i don't want to take something away from a women's birth experience. some want a completely natural birth at home without any medical intervention, ingesting the placenta and providing no vaccines to their child. again, that's not what steve and i want either. and i kinda felt as if i was in the middle of a fight yesterday.

one of the hospital reps suggested creating birthing centers within local hospitals, and for me, that would be perfect. for me, that would create an atmosphere that made me feel comfortable, while at the same time ease my worries that if something went wrong, we would be close to medical care. yet i heard a lot of snickers from the audience and at least one of the midwives spoke against it.

why do we, as a society, think that there is only one way to do things? why do we try to find 1 solution for all women? what is wrong with having choices? what is wrong with allowing women to birth at home, birth in off-site birth centers, birth in hospital birth centers or choose a complete hospital birth. why does it have to be a all or nothing thing?

it is our choice to birth in a hospital. i love my doctor. and i love my doula. both will be at our birth. but if i was able to do exactly what i wanted, it would be to birth at a birth center that was close to the hospital. as much as i love the greenhouse birth center, and truly wanted to birth there, it was just too far from a hospital for both steve and i. it
's almost a 20 minute ambulance ride to the closest hospital. and that made me super bummed, because i knew that for me, i would never get the birth experience that i truly wanted. right now in lansing, there are home births, birth center births (there is 1 in the lansing area) and hospital births...nothing that combines them. nothing that utilizes the skills and experience of doctors, if needed, but is set in a comfortable birth center with a midwife in attendance. and shouldn't we, as women, be fighting for solutions that work with medical care? shouldn't we be fighting for solutions....not just 1 solution...not for what works best for me, but what would work best for all women?

well, that's just my opinion anyway...

go see the business of being born...it's really wonderfully made.


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