The Business of Being Born

A few nights ago, as M snapped away photos and edited some side business, I finally got the chance to watch a movie on my "to-watch" list: The Business of Being Born.

It was a documentary I had heard about two years ago when I was pregnant that discusses the birthing business in the United States. Someone had suggested that every woman, destined to be a mother or not, should watch it. Conveniently I didn't watch it...and ended up begging to be induced at 40 weeks and ended up on the table in the OR 20 hours later. Irony much?

Nonetheless, the movie was pretty intense and at times found myself on the verge of tears, clutching my stomach and reliving my c-section. It was a little dramatic and brutal.

Overall it made me think about giving birth and a lot about my expectations and thoughts on my 1st pregnancy/birth and what my expectations and thoughts are on the next births I may have. Would I change anything? Does my induction and c-section dictate my next births? Am I even interested in VBACs or HBACs as an alternative to how my birth went the 1st time around? Do I trust my OB-Gyn, who went through my pregnancy, labor and birth with me? Etc, etc. To say it was thought-provoking is to say the very least.

While I really enjoyed the movie and the idea of natural birth, homebirths, VBACs, HBACs, etc., I have to admit it was hard to not feel like the movie was a little ambiguous (and disappointing) at the end when the director Abbey Epstein ended up needing a c-section. Granted it was to no fault of her, it just felt like the movie worked up all this great information, gave me a great perspective on birth and how the woman's body is designed to work and then totally left the movie ambiguous at the end.

Do I regret my decisions in my 1st birth? No. If I could, would I change them? Knowing me, probably not. Does it change the situation for my future births? Maybe. Only time will tell. But every woman should definitely watch it. And probably BEFORE they give birth ;)