The Business Of Being Born

I stumbled across a documentary today called "The Business of Being Born" and the title alone was enough to rope me in. I was intrigued to see what it had to offer seeing as though I will be giving birth in the next 10 weeks. The real purpose of the documentary is to educate women on their choices when giving birth, and that a lot of the time medical intervention is unnecessary. A woman describes birthing in a hospital as a "domino effect". Once you receive one lot of medical intervention, it just keeps coming. I'd have to agree.

My first birth was quite traumatic. I had never fully prepared myself for that day, I guess you could say I was in denial about him ever coming out. I went into preterm labour at 32 weeks and automatically thought the worst. To say I was a mess would be an understatement! I was given steroids to help develop his lungs, as well as medication to try and stop labour. We lasted until 36 weeks before my waters broke. My body wouldn't do the natural thing and start contracting on its own, so I was given the fake version of oxytocin. The contractions were hard, fast and painful (as they all are). I opted for the epidural and yes, I am quite aware that to some this is considered to be "weak" of me, but I done what I knew would get me through birthing my baby. The epidural ended up slowing things down and after a failed venthouse, episiotomy and delivery by forceps, I finally met my baby. 

"The Business of Being Born" is filmed in the United States and focuses a lot on the unnecessary use of cesarean birth and how it is becoming more of a trend than a last resort. It explains the risks involved with c-sections and medical assisted births and how the female body was made for birthing naturally. We limit our movement when contracting when it assists in moving the baby into the pelvis and we go against gravity by birthing on our backs. It really opened my eyes to the obvious. I felt saddened by the fact that I will, most likely, never get to experience an intervention free birth due to my health complications. I realise its not all cupcakes and rainbows in home birth, but it seems to be a perfect situation. You're in a place you feel most comfortable and you're letting your body do what is was made to do. Sure, its not everyone's cup of tea but I really respect the women who choose home birth. 

I can't recommend this documentary enough to expecting mothers! Instead of scaring the absolute crap out of you and making you feel as though you could never possibly give birth to something the size of a watermelon without the help of a doctor, it makes you feel powerful, like you can do anything in the world! I probably sound like a total hippie in saying that, but its true. I feel as though I'm going into this birth fully prepared with more knowledge of what my body can do naturally and I'm actually looking forward to the big day! The next doco on my list is the second edition "More Business of Being Born" and if its anything like the first, it'll definitely be worth a watch!