 List Price: $27.98
Lowest Price: $20.61 
Product Description:
Genre: Documentary
Rating: UN
Release Date: 6-MAY-2008
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com: Is it conceivable that in the United States, profit is increasingly driving the business of birthing--sometimes at the expense of the best possible outcome for mothers and babies? Should birth be viewed and treated as a natural process or a potential medical emergency? This documentary, produced by Ricki Lake and directed by Abby Epstein, opines that money and fear are changing the way Americans give birth, and not necessarily for the better. Beginning with shocking statistics that the United States has the second-worst newborn death rate in the developed world and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in industrialized countries, the film presents interviews with medical professionals including Dr. Jacques Moritz, OB/GYN from St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital; Dr. Michel Odent, OB/GYN researcher; and Masden Wagner, MD, former Director for Women's and Children's Health at the World Health Organization. Each expert paints a dismal picture of American birthing and emphasizes the frequent overuse of medical procedures in what are otherwise potentially normal deliveries. Stressing the prevalent use of midwives in birthing in other developed nations (70% of births are attended by midwives in Europe and Japan, versus 8% in the U.S.), the documentary then follows Cara Muhlhahn, a certified nurse midwife in New York City, as she attends a variety of home births. The footage is candid and sometimes very graphic, showing various home-delivery methods, including water birth. Interviews with Cara and her clients emphasize their shared philosophy on birthing as a normal life process that, when attended by a caring and well-trained midwife, can be both empowering and exhilarating. Though a midwife is often characterized as a supportive, but medically untrained birth attendee, the film dispels that stereotype, stressing a good midwife's solid training and knowledge of when it's appropriate to seek outside medical intervention. Key in every birth is a commitment to doing what's best for mother and baby, regardless of pre-planned agendas. The filmmaker's lament is that hospitals and doctors often too quickly advocate medical intervention in the interest of saving time and avoiding potential litigation. While unquestionably advocating midwifery over hospital birthing, this documentary presents solid expert opinions, concrete facts and statistics, and anecdotal experiences of both mothers and midwives that are crucial in making an informed decision about the use of midwifery in birthing as well as enlightening as to the current state of birthing in the United States. --Tami Horiuchi Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-08
eye-opening documentary
*SPOILERS*
According to statistics, the infant mortality rate in the United States exceeds that of virtually every other nation in the industrialized world. The U.S. is also the only place in which far more women give birth in hospitals than at home under the care of a professional midwife. The documentary "The Business of Being Born" sees a connection between those two facts.
Executive producer Ricki Lake first conceived of this film after she delivered her first baby in the hospital and then felt cheated of the potentially beautiful and meaningful experience a home birth might have provided. With the aid of director Abby Epstein, Lake has gathered together a group of women, couples, midwives and physicians who, through their own personal experiences and/or studies on the matter, help to provide evidence for her case that, for the large majority of women, delivering at home is preferable, on both a practical and spiritual level, to delivering in a hospital. Lake has even allowed herself to be filmed in the process of giving birth to her second child at home.
This is an eye-opening and informative movie that admittedly provides really only one side to the issue. But it makes a pretty convincing case for that side and certainly gets the audience thinking. First, it offers a number of startling statistics, the prime one being that roughly one third of all babies born in America are now delivered through Caesarian Section, a procedure that is classified as "major surgery" but which is often treated with casual indifference by both physicians and patients (the shots of a Caesarian are far more "gruesome" than any of the shots of actual childbirth we are shown). The movie also recounts a brief but somewhat disturbing history of obstetrics practices in the United States during the past century when many women were put into "twilight sleep" and missed the birthing experience entirely. The movie also points out that, in a hospital setting, a "cascade of interventions" often prevents women from having the ultimate say in how they choose to deliver their babies. But the majority of the case is made through personal anecdotes from mothers and midwives concerning their own birthing experiences, as well as by the recording of many of those actual home births live on camera. Interestingly, after all the successful home births, the movie ends on one in which the child arrives prematurely and is in a breach position and thus must enter the world in a hospital room after all. It's an indication of the honesty and courage of the filmmakers that they didn't feel called upon to edit that sequence out of the movie.
Yet, for the most part, the film takes the multi-billion dollar medical industry to task for being too quick to use drugs and a scalpel in the birthing experience. The movie also harshly criticizes the insurance industry for failing to recognize the much greater cost efficiency of home-birthing and hence refusing to cover it in their policies, thereby forcing many midwives to simply close up shop.
In many ways, "The Business of Being Born" is fighting something of an uphill battle in that it appears counterintuitive - especially to a generation raised on the belief that the medical industry can do anything - to suggest that a birthing process with a physician and modern medical equipment on hand could actually be less safe than a birthing process without them (though the movie is quick to point out that the midwives are all state-certified and trained to deal with any unforeseen complications that might arise). Still, for women facing this decision - as well as for a society that for over a century now has frowned upon even the thought of natural childbirth - "The Business of Being Born" may serve as a paradigm-shifting event. Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-07
Very informative
This DVD was very informative, for my wife and I expecting our 1st child it really encouraged us to explore all of our options, and not just conform to what we "should" when choosing a birthing method. Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-05
eye opening
This movie asks alot of the questions that expectant parents going through the hospital "system" are afraid to ask. How many things they do at the hospital are really necessary? Why has the number of c-section births grown enormously over the past decade? Whatever happened to a natural birth? While this is definitely a look at the extreme of the different choices that are out there for expecting, the important part that comes across is that there are choices. I would recommend this for anyone who is expecting (whether it's your first or not), or anyone who has been through the hospital "system". Rating:
Date: 2008-07-05
I LOVED the natural births on this movie!
I was born at home and am looking forward to one day having a homebirth. I LOVED the natural births on this movie! The homebirths on this film weren't scary at all - unlike all hospital births portrayed in the movies (and on the film). I loved the one expectant mother who said, "I trust my body." This movie helps you trust your body, even when western medicine says your body simply cannot birth a baby without intervention. These homebirths were calm and nurturing even though they were painful - the mother was in control of her environment! I feel much more prepared for birth after seeing these women's births. They are so kind to share their intimate experience with us. I would have liked much more discussion around the C-section. It was interesting to show that homebirth isn't always the best option, and if you need it, you can get a C-section and the baby will still be okay. I watched this film twice. Rating:
Date: 2008-06-28
Before you give birth - before you even get pregnant ...
This movie did an excellent job of showing women their options for birth. It also does a fabulous jobs of educating women about the "hospital birth process". As a childbirth educator, I've found it hard to explain what is really happening at the hospitals and why women should ask lots of questions and be very cautious of medical interventions. There just isn't enough time during class to really prove and show them what is really happening. This movie does a terrific job of educating people.
I'm glad there is finally a movie that shows home birth in a positive way.
I hope this movie gets out and is seen by every American over the age of 12. It will help make incredible changes to birth for the better.
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