"The Business of Being Born"

So I finally got around to watching "The Business of Being Born" and I knew it would bring out these emotions in me, but I did it anyway. It really makes me angry. I think midwives are great. I think people choosing home births are amazing. I think women having choices and feeling comfortable with those choices during labor is so important. However, I hate the us vs. them attitude that this documentary portrays. Why can women not support each other and their choices as opposed to creating a hostile environment around one of the most important events that a women can experience?

I totally agree that I c-sections are overused in this country. I believe that many women feel pressured into birthing choices b/c of society, medical professionals, family, history, etc... I also believe that women should be advocating for themselves more when it comes to the childbirth process. However, I do not think that a woman who chooses to give birth in a hospital is automatically in for a bad childbirth experience. One midwife in the documentary says that women who birth at home are more in tune with their labor and have a better experience. Unless she has been inside of the minds of every woman who ever gave birth then how could she possible know that?

My other big problem with this documentary is how it portrays hospital births as the big, bad in this country but gives absolutely no factual reasons as to why. They do not take into account the horrendous health care system we have set up in this country, the amount of people without insurance, the prenatal care that infants receive before birth, and the percentage of people who have hospital births that they are completely satisfied with their experience.

I guess I usually dislike documentaries in the first place b/c they are usually from one POV and they have an agenda. I probably shouldn't have watched this during the angry stage of my hormonal pregnancy either. Oh well. I was happy with my childbirth experience. My medical staff respected me and my decisions. I am prepared to do it all over again with my next son, at the same hospital and I happy about this decision.