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The Business of Being Born

Orion

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I just watched a documentary called "The Business of Being Born" and it's a piece on the state of the practice of midwifery in the modern U.S. I found it extremely informative and I highly recommend that people watch it to improve their knowledge about child birthing.

To a lot of people watching it, it would seem slanted towards favoring midwifery, but I don't think it's that way at all. When you assess the c-section rate in the U.S. compared to all other western nations in combination with the infant mortality rate, there is clearly something strange going on. The facts are undeniable, so if there is any apparent slant, it is based in real information and not simple opinion.

Something like 2% of childbirths have genuine complications requiring intervention and midwives are trained to investigate and make immediate decisions. For all the other women, the woman's body knows what to do and the woman just needs passive support during the process. The hospital environment is not conducive to empowering women to lead the process and relate positively to their own delivery experience; they arrive and are told what to do immediately, and decision making power is removed from them under the guise of the baby's "safety". Ironically, risk to the baby is increased due to the modern intervention methods, as I will mention later.

I've also heard a lot of arguments against midwifery, but as the film demonstrates, most of the MDs who speak out against it have never even witnessed a normal vaginal birth and are simply trained by the establishment to work against vaginal delivery in a lot of cases. They are being taught something that does not have a basis in sound medical science. Simultaneously, all OGBYNs can tell you that c-sections are major surgery and are much higher risk than vaginal birth, despite increased emphasis on c-section in the modern world. In fact, one in three women in the U.S. get a c-section, and in some districts the rates in hospitals are almost one in two. This is alarming given that there is nothing physiologically wrong with these women or their pregnancies that require one.

Hospitals are a business before they are centres of healing. Even a doctor in the film said that. Hospital delivery tends to revolve around the doctor's schedule, and not the schedule of the woman's body. For non-emergency situations, it's best to stay well away from hospitals. A piece of info. in the movie that I also knew prior to watching it is that the U.S. has the most expensive hospital child birthing process in the world, yet demonstrates the highest infant mortality rate.

Hospitals use drugs like pitocin (a synthetic oxytocin) to increase the rate and strength of contractions which creates more pain; then women are increasingly more likely to turn to epidurals for the pain, which reduces the effectiveness of contractions, so more pitocin is administered, and the cycle becomes a vicious one. Because pitocin creates abnormally strong contractions that last longer than natural ones, it increases risk to the baby, and thus complications arise more often. In turn, doctors tell you that the baby is at risk, and a c-section is necessary. The entire process becomes a domino effect. Even in scenarios with vaginal birth, doctors often turn to suction devices or forceps to pull the baby out sooner, and there is new research that shows this may be leading to the increase in child developmental disorders like autism due to the pressure exerted on the soft skulls of infants.

The history of using drugs to unnaturally influence the birthing process came into practice in the 1930's, and as the film outlines, there were some horrific consequences, like "twilight sleep", a result of using a drug called scopolamine. In the 90's a drug called cytotec used to induce labor was put into use despite lack of long term research, and hundreds of women died from a ruptured uterus. What the history of induced-labor practice demonstrates is that virtually all drugs used have no long term studies to determine their effects on mother or fetus, or the birthing process.

This movie will definitely give you a lot to think about, whether you are a man or woman, a current parent or prospective parent, or just someone interested in learning more. I highly recommend it.
 
I just watched a documentary called "The Business of Being Born" and it's a piece on the state of the practice of midwifery in the modern U.S. I found it extremely informative and I highly recommend that people watch it to improve their knowledge about child birthing.

To a lot of people watching it, it would seem slanted towards favoring midwifery, but I don't think it's that way at all. When you assess the c-section rate in the U.S. compared to all other western nations in combination with the infant mortality rate, there is clearly something strange going on. The facts are undeniable, so if there is any apparent slant, it is based in real information and not simple opinion.

Something like 2% of childbirths have genuine complications requiring intervention and midwives are trained to investigate and make immediate decisions. For all the other women, the woman's body knows what to do and the woman just needs passive support during the process. The hospital environment is not conducive to empowering women to lead the process and relate positively to their own delivery experience; they arrive and are told what to do immediately, and decision making power is removed from them under the guise of the baby's "safety". Ironically, risk to the baby is increased due to the modern intervention methods, as I will mention later.

I've also heard a lot of arguments against midwifery, but as the film demonstrates, most of the MDs who speak out against it have never even witnessed a normal vaginal birth and are simply trained by the establishment to work against vaginal delivery in a lot of cases. They are being taught something that does not have a basis in sound medical science. Simultaneously, all OGBYNs can tell you that c-sections are major surgery and are much higher risk than vaginal birth, despite increased emphasis on c-section in the modern world. In fact, one in three women in the U.S. get a c-section, and in some districts the rates in hospitals are almost one in two. This is alarming given that there is nothing physiologically wrong with these women or their pregnancies that require one.

Hospitals are a business before they are centres of healing. Even a doctor in the film said that. Hospital delivery tends to revolve around the doctor's schedule, and not the schedule of the woman's body. For non-emergency situations, it's best to stay well away from hospitals. A piece of info. in the movie that I also knew prior to watching it is that the U.S. has the most expensive hospital child birthing process in the world, yet demonstrates the highest infant mortality rate.

Hospitals use drugs like pitocin (a synthetic oxytocin) to increase the rate and strength of contractions which creates more pain; then women are increasingly more likely to turn to epidurals for the pain, which reduces the effectiveness of contractions, so more pitocin is administered, and the cycle becomes a vicious one. Because pitocin creates abnormally strong contractions that last longer than natural ones, it increases risk to the baby, and thus complications arise more often. In turn, doctors tell you that the baby is at risk, and a c-section is necessary. The entire process becomes a domino effect. Even in scenarios with vaginal birth, doctors often turn to suction devices or forceps to pull the baby out sooner, and there is new research that shows this may be leading to the increase in child developmental disorders like autism due to the pressure exerted on the soft skulls of infants.

The history of using drugs to unnaturally influence the birthing process came into practice in the 1930's, and as the film outlines, there were some horrific consequences, like "twilight sleep", a result of using a drug called scopolamine. In the 90's a drug called cytotec used to induce labor was put into use despite lack of long term research, and hundreds of women died from a ruptured uterus. What the history of induced-labor practice demonstrates is that virtually all drugs used have no long term studies to determine their effects on mother or fetus, or the birthing process.

This movie will definitely give you a lot to think about, whether you are a man or woman, a current parent or prospective parent, or just someone interested in learning more. I highly recommend it.

a huge part of the c section problem is that women now schedule their delivery dates, with drs approval.
 
OMG After watching my sister give birth in a hospital, I would never go to one unless it was an emergency. The whole time she was in labor, the doctor wasn't there. Initially, that was fine. But then it got to the point that she HAD to start pushing. The nurses kept coming in and yelling at her, "Don't push!!! Don't push!! The doctor isn't here yet!!!" The baby was crowning and the nurses are still telling her NOT to push and to "wait" for the doctor. I wanted to bitch slap them. When you're in labor, you don't "wait" for ****ing anything. There's no physical way for a woman to make the labor just... slow down or stop. My niece was in the birth canal, crowning, and they're telling her to not to push because if the doctor wasn't there when she was born, the doctor wouldn't get paid for the delivery. They kept telling her that something awful would/could happen if she gave birth without a ****ing doctor there. In the hospital. With two nurses around. I was an EMT and stood ready to deliver the baby when my sis pushed her out. "**** the doctor, I'll deliver the goddamn thing." and my sister told the nurses to **** off that she was pushing with or without any goddamn doctor. (only she was less polite about it ROFL)

I **** you not.... the doctor came in, moved me out of the way, "caught" my niece just as she finished coming out, nearly dropped her (no kidding), cut the cord and left. I think he was there a total of 5 minutes and of course charged thousands of dollars for doing something that any ****ing idiot could have done.

I mean, they were quite literally trying to impede the natural birth process just so one of their doctors could get paid for "delivering" the baby. I wanted to ****ing punch all of them.
 
When you assess the c-section rate in the U.S. compared to all other western nations in combination with the infant mortality rate, there is clearly something strange going on.

I believe that that "something" that you see going on is legal liability issues shaping the OB delivery practice. Doctors are so afraid of something going wrong during delivery, excessive labor and delivery time frames, and being sued, that they are trying to control whatever they can. I agree that c-sections are way above the normal and necessary in numbers, but I understand the why of it. In 1979, with my first son, I was in labor for three days. I don't know a single OB gyn now who would let a delivery process go on for that length of time, but I am from the era of natural childbirth without drugs, and that's the route I went. I would do it again.
 
In my experience, midwives don't take people who have a good risk of having complications. Also, in my experience, there's a lot of stuff to be done before the day of labor to insure that it's a low risk pregnancy.
 
I believe that that "something" that you see going on is legal liability issues shaping the OB delivery practice. Doctors are so afraid of something going wrong during delivery, excessive labor and delivery time frames, and being sued, that they are trying to control whatever they can. I agree that c-sections are way above the normal and necessary in numbers, but I understand the why of it. In 1979, with my first son, I was in labor for three days. I don't know a single OB gyn now who would let a delivery process go on for that length of time, but I am from the era of natural childbirth without drugs, and that's the route I went. I would do it again.

I was with my wife when she birthed our son naturally ie: through the vagina.
It was probably the most awesome thing I had ever seen, it is an experience I would recomend to any prospective father.
What I would not recomend was the pain exerted on my wife throughout her labor which in her case took a mere 15 hours.
As soon as the baby was born, all thoughts of the harrowing times experienced by my wife during her Labor vanished and no regrets were ever uttered.
 
I was with my wife when she birthed our son naturally ie: through the vagina.
It was probably the most awesome thing I had ever seen, it is an experience I would recomend to any prospective father.
What I would not recomend was the pain exerted on my wife throughout her labor which in her case took a mere 15 hours.
As soon as the baby was born, all thoughts of the harrowing times experienced by my wife during her Labor vanished and no regrets were ever uttered.

I had delivered my sons naturally.
I had some Demerol with the first, and nothing with the second.
I was surprised to find the whole "pain" thing overrated.
Kidney infections hurt much, much worse.
 
One thing the film stated that I've also heard elsewhere is that the prolonged pain creates an endorphin kick that helps with the bonding process between mother and child immediately after the baby is born. It creates a certain euphoria.
 
One thing the film stated that I've also heard elsewhere is that the prolonged pain creates an endorphin kick that helps with the bonding process between mother and child immediately after the baby is born. It creates a certain euphoria.

I guess to me, half of "pain" is fear. Panic, terror.
With labor, I knew what was going on. I knew I wasn't dying, that I wasn't sick or injured.
I knew approximately when the discomfort would end.
And the pain- especially once transitional labor begins- is very purposeful.
Clearly, your body is trying to expel a foreign object.
At that point, you don't even want the pain to end, because you have to get this job finished. It's imperative that you finish it. It's not like you can just walk around for the rest of your life with an eight-pound baby jammed halfway up your vagina.
It's got to come out.

For me, labor really is "labor". Literally.
It's just a hard physical job that has to be done.
Like any hard physical work, it's physically uncomfortable.
But it's not the same kind of pain as being sick or injured.
It doesn't have the fear mixed in with it; rather, there's an excited, expectant mood.
 
a huge part of the c section problem is that women now schedule their delivery dates, with drs approval.

How is this a problem? If you know you have to have a c section why not be allowed to schedule your own delivery date? As long as the doctor is ok with the date they pick why is this an issue?
Personally being put under and having em cut me open to deliver sounds much more appealing than trying to do it natural and maybe suffer in labor for frigging hours and hours. :(
 
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