A review on “The Business of being born” A Documentary

I am writing this for a couple of reasons. The older I get the more aware I am of the possible complications that can arise during pregnancy and childbirth. Being that I have yet to become a mother and the closer I get to 30 the more intrigued I have become with the concepts of pregnancy and motherhood. I came across a documentary entitled “The Business of being born” which brought out several topics and areas of concern regarding how our American society handles and views childbirth. The initial premise of the documentary was to ask the simple question, “do we as women actually have a choice in the way our children are brought into the world”

In this day and age of quick fixes and fast food we have quickly become a society that expects everything from ordering a meal to giving birth to be done according to an equation. Meaning, we are being conditioned to believe that modern medicine is the ONLY way to go when it comes to childbirth. A little background, I love to watch the TLC series, “ A baby story” or “Bringing home baby”. In both of these shows only one form of childbirth is highlighted or considered and that is the hospital birth. Now being that I am such a fan of gadgets and technology in general it may shock you to find that in many areas my way of thinking is very traditional or what could be termed as old fashioned.

That said, I was taken immediately when the documentary illustrated that today childbirth and pregnancy has become a “BIG money business”! Doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies being the main motivating factors behind the shift in how we now view the correct way to give birth. It is not my intention to tell you which is right or wrong but rather to provide a spring board for needed dialogue. I continued to watch I learned that the US is the only developed country that has more than ninety percent of our children in the hospital. While the rest of the developing world has continued to have births at home or in a birthing center and only resort to a hospital in extreme high risk cases. It was also interesting to find that the US has the highest rate of infant and mother mortality. Then I began to wonder if there was a connection between hospital births and mother and infant deaths.

Basically it is though our society of plastic surgery that the concept of scheduled births has become something of a fad. There was a time when c-sections or cesareans births were only suggested when complications basically made natural vaginal birth impossible. Now women are scheduling cesareans like hair appointments and facials with little to no thought of the consequences. The reason for the shift from vaginal delivery to cesareans is guess what...MONEY! Not the well being of the mother and baby. Had you even considered the concept that its not necessary to give birth in a hospital with a doctor? There are trained women known as midwives or Douala's who assist in the birthing process. Now there are several pros and cons to both traditional hospital births and home births. It is up to you a mother to become informed and educated so that you can make the right choices for you and your child.

In conclusion, I was just shocked to find that there were so many proven and healthy alternatives outside of hospital births. There is much I feel I need to do in regards to making the choice for myself when the situation presents itself. But I would say if you are pregnant or are a mother to be arm yourself with the facts so that its you that actually makes the choice on the method of delivery for your child.