The Business of Being Born
Strange subject for a guy, sure, but I've taken a recent interest in home birthing and midwifery. And no, I'm not crazy and no, we're not pregnant. One of the classes I am taking this semester is a speech class. I recently had to write and perform a persuasive speech and decided to chose midwifery and home births for a couple of reasons. 1) I know a fair amount on the topic thanks to SpyC and our doula/soon to be midwife friend Sherry. (Hi Sherry!) I had easy access to many resources and a good amount of prior knowledge. So I chose this topic.
The timing could not have been better. There is a new documentary about birthing in America coming out in January called "The Business of Being Born." The documentary was produced by Ricki Lake (yes, of talk show fame). There are advance screenings, however, nationwide and tonight, SpyC, SofaKitty and I went to one on campus at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was co-sponsored by an organization called the Triangle Home Birth network and UNC Family Practice. The documentary, in short, was fascinating. The public at large really knows very little about birthing and the options available to women. We are trained to believe giving birth in a hospital is required. It's not. We're taught to believe that's the safest place to give birth. It's not. We're taught to believe the US has the best medical knowledge, and birthing is no exception, but we don't.
Most of what we know about giving birth is completely wrong. There are alternatives to the hospital and OB/GYN route which are actually safer and cost much less. Midwifery and home birth are fascinating topics that I learned a lot about in preparation for the speech, and viewing "The Business of Being Born" tonight only cemented my opinion that SpyC won't ever give birth in a hospital unless it's necessary (statistically it rarely is). And SpyC agrees.
There are a lot of great resources out there if you'd like to know more, and I strongly recommend viewing the documentary when it's released nationwide in January. On a side note, the proceeds from tonight's special screening went to benefit a scholarship fund for the volunteer doula service at UNC. Very cool.
For more information:
The Business of Being Born (website) (trailer)
Triangle Birth Network (website)
North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)
Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)
The timing could not have been better. There is a new documentary about birthing in America coming out in January called "The Business of Being Born." The documentary was produced by Ricki Lake (yes, of talk show fame). There are advance screenings, however, nationwide and tonight, SpyC, SofaKitty and I went to one on campus at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was co-sponsored by an organization called the Triangle Home Birth network and UNC Family Practice. The documentary, in short, was fascinating. The public at large really knows very little about birthing and the options available to women. We are trained to believe giving birth in a hospital is required. It's not. We're taught to believe that's the safest place to give birth. It's not. We're taught to believe the US has the best medical knowledge, and birthing is no exception, but we don't.
Most of what we know about giving birth is completely wrong. There are alternatives to the hospital and OB/GYN route which are actually safer and cost much less. Midwifery and home birth are fascinating topics that I learned a lot about in preparation for the speech, and viewing "The Business of Being Born" tonight only cemented my opinion that SpyC won't ever give birth in a hospital unless it's necessary (statistically it rarely is). And SpyC agrees.
There are a lot of great resources out there if you'd like to know more, and I strongly recommend viewing the documentary when it's released nationwide in January. On a side note, the proceeds from tonight's special screening went to benefit a scholarship fund for the volunteer doula service at UNC. Very cool.
For more information:
The Business of Being Born (website) (trailer)
Triangle Birth Network (website)
North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)
Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA)
1 Comments:
So when we have my baby, is spyc going to go to my place or stay at yours?
By
d, at 1:44 AM
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