Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Business of Being Born

The Business of Being Born, a documentary about birth in the US, is currently showing across the country. It is produced by Ricky Lake, who was disappointed to see how birth was treated in the hospital system. She resolved to have a completely different birth for her next child and planned a home birth with a midwife. The documentary shows the birth of her water baby as well as the stories of other families and the process of welcoming their children into the world. It also questions how birth is treated in the US, and that normal birthing is practically disappearing.

I am very excited to see this film. I have been waiting for it for MONTHS to come to a theater near me. And I was crushed when I missed a screening put on by the Seattle Midwifery School.

But finally, I have ample opportunity to see it! The Seattle Film Festival is doing 8 screenings of it between February 29 to March 6.

On a more personal note: My respect for Ricky Lake as a person has grown tremendously knowing that she's taken on this project. Our birth stories are pretty similar--non complicated vaginal hospital deliveries that left us feeling empty, that something was missing, or being treated wrongly in the birth process. We have both started on a path of advocating natural birth options for women who are low-risk. I intend that my next birth will be much like her second birth, out of hospital with minimal interventions, and to truly experience what normal birth is like.

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