The Business of Being Born

Even though this is our family blog & I try to keep it about "all things Lowell" I wanted to include a post about a documentary I saw last night. I have been meaning to watch "The Business of Being Born" since it debued in 2007, but it was never released in the Orlando area...but thanks to Netflix, I had my opportunity. This is a project that Ricki Lake was inspired to do after the dissatisfying birth of her 1st son left her with many unanswered questions(which was coincidentally in NYC the same time I had Sydney). She questioned all the interventions she had & how it made her feel. She decided to take a long at the U.S.'s maternity care system (costs, maternal & neonatal morbidity/mortality), compared it with other developed nation's (we're the 2nd worse :( ). She presented the history of Obstetrics & although technology has made advances, in the cases of low risk pregnancy, that often these interventions lead to poor outcomes & certainly contributed to our nation's climbing & embaressing cesarean rate. That in our culture women fear birth & don't realize they have options. I have witnessed this 1st hand...delivery babies in NYC (or anywhere on the mainland)- where women are all scheduling their inductions & cesareans & get epidurals, vs. Kauai, where culturally women don't fear labor as much & go into labor on their own (our hospital didn't offer epidurals for laboring women at the time I was there) & we had considerably lower c/s rate (6% vs. the national average of 30% at the time).

On a positive note, her investigation focused on the positive impact that midwives have on birth outcomes. This is something that I have always known..that it is safer to have your baby with a midwife (provided you have a low risk pregnancy) & that if you ask most residents in an Ob/gyn residency program if they have any experience or even seen a normal unmedicated delivery...they haven't. As some of the doctors I have worked with have said "midwives are the expects at vaginal deliveries, b/c that is what they are trained to do". Studies have shown it is safer to deliver your baby at home than at a hospital.

Anyways, what clicked with me ( because I felt 100% in tune with her message) was that she was not bashing doctors/obstetrics/ or even hospitals...she was bringing to light that women have choices & in our country, the choice is not often presented. Things are done based on the convenience of the provider...not necessarily what is best for the mother & baby.

In my practice, I try to do this everyday...give my patients the information so that she can make the best decision for her family. Every family has different needs, but I love working with families who do their homework & make their choices & do not fall in to what I refer to "cookie cutter " obstetrics. I do work in a hospital setting & there are protocals there that need to be followed...but I really do have concern that if the current trend continues we are going to see the c/s rate escalate in the next few years. It was a brilliant documentary & even if you are done having children - it is smart to watch. Two thumbs up from me!!!!