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July 2012 Moms
brennarobbie
member
Business of Being Born...opinions?
brennarobbie
member
Hey girls! Happy Saturday! This has been a truely pregnant Saturday evening - my in-laws cooked supper and invited us over, we stopped at Walmart for last minute Christmas crafty items, and came home to watch this movie.
Have you seen it? This is our first baby. I was one of those girls who was 100% going to have an epidural AS SOON as I felt any kind of pain. I have a high tolerance for pain, but I've seen too many "A Baby Story" shows to even want to try to attempt natural birth. Just thinking about it made my hoo-ha hurt! 
)
We watched The Business of Being Born tonight, and I feel like my entire thought process has changed. Someone once said to me that we research to find the best strollers, car seats, cribs, bottles, etc. But who actually does research on the best kind of birth to have? I may be having a change of heart. Everything in this movie makes sense. I want to do some research and see if their research is correct. I'm starting to feel like if I have more information about the birth process and the right people surrounding me, maybe I could do it too.
I totally understand that this is a sensitive subject. I am not judging anyone in any way - I'm very curious and open about the birth process. I understand that we all have totally different view points and experiences, and that there are many circumstances where a natural birth just isn't possible. I am low risk at this point in my pregnancy, so I might be able to consider more options.
I would love feedback on this one...it's kinda a big deal... )
PS: on another board they shared this link to watch the movie:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xloc5w_the-business-of-being-born-1-2-pl_lifestyle#rel-page-1
It's in two 42-minute parts. There is a commercial every 5 minutes (annoying)...but I didn't have to go out and buy it! )
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Re: Business of Being Born...opinions?
Well... I got very interested in natural birth when I was pregnant with DS, watched several movies such as TBOBB, read books such as Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, was on a few natural birth boards like on TB and LJ, etc. No epidural was on my birth plan. The only thing I didn't do that I wanted to was take a Hypnobirthing or Bradley course bc it was really expensive. I did take Lamaze though.
I thought I had a pretty good shot because I have a decent level of pain tolerance and I'm very mind-over-matter.
Anyway, long story short I ended up getting an epidural when I was only like 4cm dilated.
I think it's awesome to be prepared. I don't regret spending all the time I did learning about birth and my body and my choices. I still think natural birth is a great goal and I'm thinking about trying again this time. BUT... you can't predict what it's going to be like. For some people the pain is manageable, and for some people it's not. That's just all there is to it. Some people have described their birth as "easy", "fast", "not bad at all". I know that wasn't the case for me.
exactly this!
BFP on 1/1/11; pPROM at 19 weeks; Jameson Thomas born on 4/5/11 at 20 weeks.
Imagine a love so strong that saying hello and goodbye the same day was worth the sorrow.Yes ma'am...I am right there with you - I don't think I could attempt it at home...I'm too nervous about complications. Our hospital has a birthing center and I'm using a midwife too...
I'm with both of you! I respect my body, but I also respect the fact that sometimes enough is enough. Each experience is beautiful and very unique.
) I have never experienced the pain of labor, so I cannot make a judgement call at this point!!
I'm going to go a little bit against the grain here.
I truly believe that if you want a natural labor and you put your mind to it and have the *proper* support you CAN do it. Our bodies were made to do it
I had an epidural and pit with my first birth. This time around I'm going with a midwife and plan on giving birth at a birth center were getting an epidural isn't an option! I'm really nervous especially since I got the epidural (and enjoyed it lol) but I know that I can do it and I want to do it!
I don't love BoBB. It demonizes the hospital too much. Not every hospital wants to start your epidural and Pitocin IV when you're still in the parking lot. Also, many midwives deliver in hospitals, which is a great option for women who can't/don't want to have an out-of-hospital birth, but who still want a provider who understands and respects natural birth. BoBB doesn't make that clear.
Along the same lines, I wish it put less emphasis on out-of-hospital birth, and more emphasis on the importance of choosing a care provider who is respectful of your birth wishes -- be they to birth in the ocean or have an elective c-section at 38 weeks or anything in between -- and can help you make informed and safe choices for you and your baby. Ultimately, THAT is the important thing... not OB vs. midwife or home vs. hospital or epidural vs. not or any of those things.
FWIW, DD was born in a hospital with an OB, induced with Pitocin, constant fetal monitoring, IV antibiotics for GBS+, the whole nine yards (except no pain meds). I planned hospital birth with a team of midwives for most of my pregnancy with DS, but switched to a homebirth midwife right at the end. Very different experience, spontaneous labor, no "stuff" attached to me (no IV, no fetal monitor, complete freedom of movement), etc. I consider both birth experiences to be VERY positive... because I had wonderful care providers who were respectful of my birth wishes and helped me make informed and safe choices
I'm planning another homebirth with this one and am looking forward to another amazing experience.
If you want to talk more about BoBB, your birth options, how to find a wonderful care provider, the fact that you CAN do it too, etc. come on over to the Natural Birth board! There are lots of women with amazing insight to share.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
"Perhaps the most hilarious part of the movie came at the end, as the filmmaker went into labor one month early with a 3.5 lb baby who was in the breached position, umbilical cord wrapped tightly around its neck, as her water broke in a taxi cab as she was rushed to the ER. In spite of this, the filmmaker mused a month later, 'I think I would have been OK at home.' Wow."
I actually watched the movie way after I delivered my son (he was over a year). Having gone through childbirth and then watching it, well, I felt it was skewed to one side. There were points that I absolutely agreed with (epidurals slowing down progress, pitocin not the best idea). Going based on my previous l&d and watching the movie I hope that this delivery will go a little different. My epi failed completely and because I got it when I was about 4.5cm my progress slowed, so I got hooked up to pitocin. I tell everyone it is the devil.
After watching the movie and going through 10hrs of labor with no epi I know I can hold off and wait longer in hopes of avoiding pitocin. I strongly recommend watching it, but also do your research. Talk to your doctor and make the best decisions you can. But also know that when you are in labor things aren't going to go like you expect and plan for them to go.
BFP#2: 8/14/11 M/C 8/30/11 6w1d
BFP #3: 10/26/11
Beta #1 @11dpo: 22 Beta #2 @13dpo: 90 Beta #3 @17dpo: 480
Missed m/c 12w3d 12/28/11, d&c 12/30/11
dx Homozygous C677T MTHFR
THIS!!!
That looks like a good book!
I saw the movie and one thing that stood out for me is the location in which it was shot - NYC. That location alone skews the perception of a hospital birth when you go to a big hospital for delivery. Any big hospital will be more like a baby factory pushing more interventions sooner. Even here in Portland you'll get that sensation at St. Vincents and some of the other larger delivery centers. Only reason why I'll ever deliver there is if my baby is at risk because they do have an excellent NICU. Otherwise, I'm delivering at one of the smaller community hospitals (I live halfway between the 2). The atmosphere is calmer and their rooms are LDRP so no room moving until you leave to go home. They also have one jacuzzi tub for laboring in but if all is okay with my pregnancy, I'll be staying home until I can no longer stand it as I also have a nice big jacuzzi tub and can eat what I want. I'm going to try for an epidural free delivery but we'll see what happens!
I haven't seen that particular movie. I've researched what my options are when it comes to giving birth and in emergencies what kind of decisions are available for me. All that good stuff. That being said, I don't have any kind of decided birth plan. I'm aware of my options and what I would ideally like but really options can change and be taken away at any point.
My mom is a nurse in maternity at one of the hospitals in my city. I went in and talked to her as well as other nurses and the doctor on call at the time (not mine) about having specific birth plans. Every one of them said to stay away from birth plans. They see so many women who have this picture of how they want their birth to go and most of the time they are disappointed during labor with their lack of control of the situation as time goes on. Of course once baby is there they don't even mind.
However, it is best to discuss with your doctor the type of birth you want and be hopeful that its possible, but be aware that just about anything could change.
you do seem like the kind of girl who wouldn't mind as long as everything goes well
Oh absolutely. I'm 100% sure I COULD have done it, if I had to. In the moment though, you're just thinking "what kind of experience do I want this to be?" I had pictured this romantic notion of swaying on my hands and knees, moaning and feeling the "waves" crash over me. The reality was so different... I actually wished the windows in my room opened so I could jump out. And I was not even close to transition.
When the drugs are one button-press away, it becomes a matter of willpower. That's why if I didn't like my OB so much I'd TOTALLY go with a birthing center and just remove the temptation!
Totally agree. I was so worried about having a negative experience because I'd "failed". But I ended up being very happy with my choice and had an amazing experience. It helped that I got the world's most perfect epidural... I really lucked out in that respect.
This is not because they want total control. I love the women and men there and they are very good about respecting Mom's wishes, even if they don't agree.
I've heard lots of women complain about how the nurses tried to take away their options and how Mom knows whats best. It can get out of control. Mom knows whats best to a point. But doctors, nurses, midwives, and everyone else...they do this for a living and deliver hundreds of healthy, happy babies. It's easy to think that people working in a hospital want to take over, but really they just do what they know works.
And I will say what someone else posted in reply to you the last time you posted this, since clearly you didn't see it that time around:
She was talking about how she would have been OK at home had she been full term and everything else was working in her favor. The filmmaker has clearly said that she never intended on delivering at home with the breech baby and one month early. This is why you see her with a back-up OB that decided to deliver her in case she didn't make it to term or the baby didn't flip.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I believe that part was talking about the high c-section rate and its possible impact on society as a whole. The fact is that "natural" labor (which I'll define here to mean spontaneous labor, no interventions like c-sections, Pitocin, or even AROM) involves a complex mix of hormones (e.g. oxytocin) and signals between mother and baby, all of which is very poorly understood.
Today, in the USA, there are very few truly "natural" labors like that. I think I've seen stats saying that something like 80% of all labors are augmented with Pitocin at some point, and the c-section rate is up over 30% (and WAY higher in certain locations/hospitals) when WHO recommends no more than 15%.
We don't know the long-term impact of messing with the complex process of labor. Much like formula was originally thought to be an exact substitute for breastmilk, yet after decades of producing formula, we're still uncovering new properties that are unique to breastmilk. That's not to say that formula is bad bad baaaaaaaaaad, or that mothers who feed formula don't love their babies -- because that's just ridiculous. But it's enough that we recognize that making it easier for more moms to breastfeed is A Good Thing(tm) for society as a whole. Hence why, for example, the CDC has goals for the percentage of moms who meet various BF'ing milestones.
Maybe eventually we'll come to the recognition that making it easier for more moms to have "natural" labors is A Good Thing(tm) for society as a whole, too. Which is not to say that no one should ever have a c-section or other interventions, but they should be limited to when they are NEEDED. It's hard to argue that 80% of all laboring moms NEED Pitocin, or that one in three babies NEED to be delivered via c-section.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
NYC also has a very different birth culture from at least the two areas of the country where I've had babies (San Francisco Bay Area and Dallas). For example, BoBB talks a lot about hospital-attached birthing centers, as a nice compromise between the comforts of home and the safety of a hospital. Those are non-existent in SF and Dallas, and from talking to other women, they are very uncommon in other areas of the country, too.
Also, licensing regulations for homebirth midwives are FAR more stringent in NY than in other areas of the country. This is another HUGE issue that I have with BoBB: It insists that out-of-hospital birth with a well-trained attendant is safe, which is true, but it doesn't explain how you can ensure that your homebirth midwife is well-trained! It's not like an OB, where you know that s/he has an MD and therefore some degree of medical training. Here in Texas, you can attend homebirths without having any nursing training or even a high school diploma. That's not to say that ALL homebirth midwives are bad/stupid/poorly trained (obviously, since I opted for HB myself), but I've heard some true horror stories.
Anyway, about community hospitals... one thing to be careful of there is that they may not have the emergency facilities of a larger hospital. For example, they may not have anesthesiologists on location 24/7. So if you need an emergency c-section in the middle of the night, they'll have to page an anesthesiologist to come from home -- and obviously, your c-section can't proceed until s/he arrives. Since many people cite quick access to emergency facilities as a reason to deliver in a hospital (as opposed to in a birth center or at home) -- well, you should make sure that your hospital has those emergency facilities! Because not all do.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
I agree, to a point.
I don't think anyone is helped by a 15-page birth plan, where half the points are things that are standard at the hospital anyway (one birth plan I saw recently stated that "the baby should be immunized according to standard practices") and the other half are things that are never gonna happen ("During labor, I would like to snack on hospital-provided lobster and steak -- medium rare, please").
I do think that there are some areas where the staff could go either way, and there, a birth plan can help clarify mom's preferences. Pain management being probably the biggest area. A nurse might encourage an epidural for a mom who has said she wants one, but bite her tongue with one who has said she doesn't. Another good example is delayed cord clamping. Many OBs will clamp quickly by default, but are happy to wait a bit (in the absence of any medical issues, of course) if they know that's what mom wants.
It is also tremendously important to discuss the birth plan with your provider well before you go into labor. That will help you weed out what you can take out of your birth plan, because it's either completely standard or not possible at all. It will also help ensure that you and your doctor are on the same page.
Finally, if you find that you're having to write a really extensive birth plan, because your views on birth are pretty far off from what your provider normally does... that's probably a sign that you have the wrong provider. With DD, I think mine was about half a page, maybe 8-10 bullet points. Nothing crazy. When I planned hospital birth with DS (in a natural-birth friendly hospital, with midwives who were very supportive of natural birth), I struggled to come up with even just 5 bullet points, because most of what I wanted was the "default" in that setting. When I switched to homebirth, I just tore it up, because everything I wanted was the default. A clear sign that I was with the right provider
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
Yeahh, having read that it pisses me off too. My daughter was born through CS after an induced labor at 42 weeks. I wasn't dilating fast enough so they gave me the choice of a CS. I tried to go natural as long as I could, and hilariously, I couldn't last 10 minutes. I was screaming so loud, and my contractions were like seconds apart.
Which isn't normal when you're only 1cm dilated. BUT, I love my daughter more than anything in this world! CS or not, she couldn't be more loved. I do wish I hadn't missed her coming into this world though.
I felt them pull her out of me and passed out, my mother, who was in the delivery room with me was terrified!
I didn't get to meet DD till she was about 2 hours old.