The Business of Being Born
by Abby Epstein
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DVD details
Actor: Abby Epstein, Cara Muhlhahn, Dr. Marsden Wagner, Dr. Michel Odent, Ricki LakeDirector: Abby Epstein
Brand: LAKE,RICKI
Cinematographer: Paulo Netto
Composer: Jason Moss
Editor: Madeleine Gavin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: New Line Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Business of Being Born
DVD Review: Essential
Summary: 5 Stars
As a 77 yr. old librarian and mother of three plus one stillborn,
I would hope this film on DVD becomes available in all public libraries
for nation-wide access. Ladies, feet up in the stirrups is an obsolete
method of delivery as you can see your yourself. Sylvia Mitchell,
Honolulu, Hawaii.
DVD Review: A fair look at home birth in the US
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I bought this, I saw what some people wrote about nudity and profanity and was a little bit skeptical. Those people are so WRONG!!! This film is amazing!! It is an updated film about the benefits of home birth. This film is a documentary not a movie. It has not been edited to cut out the parts that may not sit well with everyone. It shows real women (including Riki) in their unique birthing processes. They do not claim to be comparing home vs hospital birth. It is simply a film that shows women that there is another birthing option out there. If you know that a hospital birth is not for you but you are unsure of what lies ahead, get this film. It is honest. Even when some births end up going to the hospital they didn't edit it out. It shows women at home and in birthing centers giving birth. They don't shy away from certain parts of the process as many films have done in the past. This film bares all. The nudity is shown within the context of birthing and the profanity as others have noted is by the mothers themselves in the heat of labor. Not just some foul mouthed women spewing swears just because. Even though the nudity is minimal, if you are uncomfortable in your skin as a woman and nudity bothers you then refrain from this film.
It is a film that I will be recommending for years to come, to open the eyes of women who are afraid of birth. This film sheds light on the fear-mongering that the AMA and the obstetrics industry have done since the 1900's. It questions why everywhere in the developed world except the US is home birth and midwifery the norm and not the exception? It questions why insurance companies will sometimes make it difficult or sometimes even refuse, to cover non-hospital or doctor based care for mothers to be even though it is thousands of dollars cheaper.
It is a film that at the very least will make you check up on your chosen hospital and see how many C-sections they do, how many interventions and episiotomies they perform. At the most it will set you on the path to making home birth a viable option for your future births.
DVD Review: Informative and Enlightening Documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
This personal and compelling documentary explores current attitudes toward home-birth in the United States. Following a home-birth mid-wife as she makes the rounds from prenatal to postnatal checkups as well as a few live births in the homes of women in New York City, "The Business of Being Born" asks the viewer "what kind of birth do you want, and why?"
Helpful and informative interviews with myriad birth authorities (from Farm midwife Ina May Gaskin to OBGYN Dr. Jacques Moritz) are sprinkled throughout this film, offering both pro home-birth narrative as well as explaining modern medicine's reluctance to accept and facilitate natural drug-free, intervention-free, home-birth for low risk mothers.
Particularly interesting is the presentation of historical reasons in the United States for moving birth from the home to the hospital.
This documentary is both touching and engaging. It puts a human face on the birth experience.
While it exposes the medical community as generally uninformed about home-birth, it is not a condemnation of hospital birth.
I recommend this movie for anyone who is pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant. I also recommend this film for those employed in obstetrics. If watched with an open mind, it has the potential to improve the way that many hospital employees treat laboring women.
I believe that the most useful message this movie offers is that women should feel empowered to be active participants on birth rather than passive, unknowing and generally untrustworthy vessels.
DVD Review: Every expecting woman should see this!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film articulated so well the feelings that I had about my birth experience. My son was born in a hospital 9 years ago. I did not head to the hospital completely na?ve about things. I had read some books and taken a class but I had never really discussed a birth plan with my OB. I was young and very introverted at the time and I did not feel comfortable speaking up for myself. I went to the hospital after a routine weekly check reveled that I was "borderline" for preeclampsia. Since this is a very serious condition, SOME of the intervention I received was probably necessary, but some definitely was not. They gave me pain medication in my IV without asking if I wanted it. They instructed me to push before I felt I was ready and I ended up pushing for over an hour. They removed the bottom of the bed and had me put my feet on plates that were way too far away from me and way too far apart to be comfortable and when I asked if they could just put the bed back the way it was they refused. God forbid my comfort as a laboring woman inconvenience them. In 11 hours of labor I was stuck to a bed the whole time. I was told what to do, what I was not allowed to do, and what they were going to do whether I liked it or not.
I am planning my next pregnancy in the next year or so and I have already started searching for Certified Nurse Midwives in my area to facilitate a home birth. I do realize that preeclampsia is a very serious and dangerous condition for both mother and child. If there is any indication that I may need to go to the hospital I would be totally open to that. However, this time around no one is doing anything unless they explain to me why they feel the need to do it and I agree.
Thank you to Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein for re-affirming my belief that the hospital birth experience was designed for the doctors, staff, hospital and insurance companies and has very little to do with the mother and child. My husband thought that the whole home birth thing was for crazy granola and tofu yoga hippies, but after watching this film with me (to my surprise) he agreed that a home birth should be our plan A.
DVD Review: Watch before giving birth!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Business of Being Born" is a fascinating and eye-opening documentary about the current state of our maternity health system and the alternative of home births.
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein produced a compelling movie, that helps educate women on their options. It explains, why a lot of times giving birth in a hospital, with all its routine interventions, is "over-kill". The movie reminded us that giving birth is something that women know how to do intuitively. But somehow the medical community took over and now views pregnancy as if it were a disease that needs to be treated.
Yet, the statistics show that way of thinking isn't necessarily safer. The United States, with its high rates of scheduled C-sections and hospital births, also have very high numbers of infant deaths compared to countries with higher rates of natural births.
The bottom line is, if you are having an uncomplicated pregnancy, then giving birth at home with a trained professional (aka midwife) might be a very rewarding experience for you and your baby. Definitely something you should look into.
Description of The Business of Being Born
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 05/06/2008 Rating: NrIs 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
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