The Business of Being Born

Wow, I'm getting out maybe one post a month...that's pretty pathetic people! I'll try to ramp it up. I have millions of thoughts and things I want to share about my sweet babygirl, about my hubby, my work, my life...and then when I get home the last thing I want to do is spend any more time with the darn computer. Seems like that's my biggest issue overall...why I don't spend time on my photography anymore...it's all digital, which means at some point I have to spend time on...you get it...the computer. I stare at the darn thing for 8+ hours a day already. Sometimes I just want a book. Or a movie! (at least it's a different screen)

That was my fancy segue. :) I watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born" a couple of weeks ago and thought it was really well done. Now, I have to preface this by saying I truly don't think Csections are horrible. Neither are drugs to help manage birth. There are reasons for each of those options to be utilized and they can prove very helpful for both mom and baby.

However. They are abused right now. Doctors and hospitals have taken the process of a woman giving birth and turned it into a business. It needs to happen faster, more efficiently and make money. They know if they give you drug A to get your birth moving, you will need drug B in just a matter of time to manage the pain. And once you've taken drug B...well, you need more of drug A or even drug C to jump start the birth again.

In case you don't want to watch an hour and a half of birth stories, I thought I'd share some key interesting tidbits from the movie:

• Midwives attend 70% of births in Europe and Japan, in USA 8 %. They also lose less women and children through childbirth than the US.
• If you don’t progress fast enough, they push pitocin to get you moving faster so they can get another patient in there. They have actual figures they try to keep you to, which is setting you up for failure. No one woman’s birth is going to be the same as another. In other words, many hospitals actually have a timelimit and if you are not progressing fast enough, they will tell you that you need to take a drug to progress faster.
  
• Since 1996 the cesarian birth rate has risen 46%
• Cesarian rate went from 5% to 1 in 4 women in 10 years after the fetal monitor was introduced
• In 2005 it was 1 out of every 3
• IN NYC the rate is 40=46% depending on the hospital
• Women in NYC are scheduling their c section and have a tummy tuck as part of the procedure. Really.
  
• Peaks in cesarian are at 4 pm and 10 pm so doctors can get home at the end of their shift and not have to stay. This is based on a study done in 10 major hospitals over a period of three months.
  
• Huge reason is legal, if you do a c section you aren’t at risk of being sued…you “did everything you needed to do” to "save the baby". You don't have to prove the baby was ever really at risk.
  
• Birthing isn’t an illness, it doesn’t need to be numbed…it is an honor to be experienced
• Homebirth costs $3000-4000, a normal vaginal delivery with no medical interventions is $11000 but insurance doesn’t cover homebirth because of the “potential danger”. Really it's that they make a great deal more money on hospital births.
  
• Obstetricians are trained surgeons, isn’t that overkill for a normal birth – something our bodies know how to do?

In the end, it seems we have lost all reverence and respect for the woman's process of birthing. It truly is a natural process and the medical staff should be there to aid the woman, not inhibit her ability to do this on her own. It’s not the place for a woman to be rescued, a place for a woman to be strong .

After watching this movie, I wish I could choose a home birth as an option. I wish my insurance covered it as an option. I called around and because we are in Illinois there are few legal options. There is only one licensed home birth practitioner and they run $5000. My insurance with a hospital birth will run me $2500, I think. that's my annual deductible. So in the end I have no real choice. I can't afford to double my expenses. I just have to trust that my midwives will really stand up for my rights and that I'll be given the chance to do this on my own without intervention.

It's scary because when you're in that moment, if someone tells you that you need to do something "for the baby", well your instinct is to do it. No matter what it is. In retrospect, I know that's what happened with Ellie. I think there were several steps taken in birthing her that I did not need to take...I was pressured to take. And even with midwives there, in the end, they differed to the doctor. They have to, they told me that before hand, but the shame is...they know better. In the end, I think this movie is really well made and sheds light on the way birthing is perceived and handled in the United States. It's at least one thing (in addition to maternity leave) that the European countries have definitely done better than us.