No Facebook = More Blogging

I'm taking a Facebook hiatus for a while so I guess that means I'll be blogging more. I have to get my thoughts out there somehow! I don't really know if anyone is reading this blog on any kind of regular basis at all but any of you who have spent any time with me know that I have a very difficult time keeping my thoughts to myself. So....without Facebook to tell the world about what I'm thinking, I'll put it on here. And if no one reads it, that's OK; I've still put it out there.

First up: The Business of Being Born. I watched that movie last night for the first time. It's a documentary about the birthing "business" in the United States. It goes through some of the history of prenatal care, obstetrics, hospital policies, etc. The movie gives a lot of statistics regarding the infant mortality rate in the US as compared to other similar countries (a statistic which is quite depressing, actually...we're behind Cuba for goodness' sake) and also the amount of money we spend on prenatal/obstetric health care as compared to those countries. Unless the movie is telling a blatant lie, those numbers are also embarrassing because we spend so much more than other countries yet have a much poorer showing for the money spent. The movie also talks a lot about interventions during childbirth and how one thing can lead to another, and it also talks about c-section rates in various parts of the country (some parts of NYC are nearly 50%).

I found it very, very interesting. Yes, it is one-sided, but not in a way I found annoying. The reason I didn't find it annoying is that it's really speaking to a particular audience. The movie doesn't advocate for every woman who is having a child to have a home birth. Yes, of course they like home births, and even prefer them, but only for the right patients. In no way do they suggest that women with any compromising situations, or babies in compromising situations including breech presentation, should have a home birth.

The movie does advocate, however, that all women become knowledgeable about their options. This was my problem with my first birth. I went to the doctor and trusted that she was going to do what was best for my baby and me, never expecting her to do what was best for her schedule. There were many signs along the way that, had I been more knowledgeable, I would have noticed. The real kicker, though, was the elective (on her part) induction that she wanted done at midnight. Now please tell me why it is better for either me or my baby to be induced at midnight. It isn't! But it was better for her. I could labor all night, she could come and deliver the baby before her office opened in the morning, and she wouldn't have to have the inconvenience of delivering a baby during office hours. Unfortunately it didn't work that way and by the end of things I was up for two days straight. That's how I met motherhood (exhausted!!!). After that experience I decided things would change. My next two experiences (and hopefully my fourth) have been much, much better. I knew what I wanted. I knew what kind of doctor I wanted, and I knew that I had the power to choose what happened to me.

All in all, The Business of Being Born is a great movie if for no other reason that it really gets women and their husbands thinking about what kind of birth experience they want. It (hopefully) encourages them to become informed of their options, the possible consequences of those options, and it empowers them to know that this is their baby and their birth and they have the choice to make it happen how they want it.