"The Business of Being Born"

Let me start off by saying that this was single-handedly the HARDEST documentary I've ever had to watch. I can't handle doctoral things or blood very well and there were good-sized portions of both going on in this doc.

"The Business of Being Born" had two different approaches: the first being they used pictures, sound bytes, clips and all sorts of forms of media in a series of montages to overload the audience with information about how hospital births aren't natural and that hospitals are not where mothers should be to birth their child. They used a series of shocking statistics about how the U.S. has one of the highest mortality rates in childbirth amongst developed countries and all sorts of horrific things. This all primarily existed in the very beginning to draw the attention of the viewer and to shock them into accepting midwives as an exceptional alternative. The second half the film consisted of many, MANY home videos of home births and how successful each one is. Throughout, there still exists interviews with experts who praise the midwife method of birthing and how important the setting is for a newborn baby and the mother. 

For me, these approaches were definitely effective: the bombardment of information about how impersonal a hospital birth is versus the empowering experience of a home birth is super convincing and they promote a valid point that humans are animals and are programmed to give birth without the help of painkillers, inducing drugs, or a C-section. 

Personally, after watching the film, I was definitely not eager to have a baby either way: it all looked painful, gross, and something that would probably give me nightmares weeks afterwards. So I could look at this documentary fairly observationally without any set opinions either way. There were a lot of experts on the benefits of using a midwife and home-birth, but for 2/3 of the film I felt that the filmmakers were being slightly manipulative in that they didn't get a good opinion for the other side. We kept hearing about how doctors are insensitive and give out C-sections because they want more business and C-sections are fast and get the mothers out of the hospital sooner, but never did we hear a doctor agree or disagree to such a bold statement. But I think that was the point of the film. Many people are already going to dismiss the idea of a home birth because they feel midwives are medieval and inexperienced. So the filmmakers had to not only move past that stereotype but they had to convince the audience that the best option for giving birth is through a birthing center or home birth.

Despite all the birthing scenes (and a LOT of female birthing nudity, I might add, so let that be my discretion for those of you curious about the film), I felt that all the scenes of the mothers holding their newborns right after the midwives instructed them to pull them out of their womb the rest of the way (which wasn't nearly as touching and sweet as it was cringe-worthy to those who are squeamish) were some of the most tender moments in doc history. They talked heavily about how that particular moment is important for mothers and babies because that's the key bonding moment. They contrasted the moment by stating that if animals had C-sections, they'd abandon their baby since they never bonded with it in the first moments. 

The ending was where I felt that the bias was the least apparent. ***SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING*** The filmmaker was pregnant throughout the entirety of the film and at the very end we experience the birth of her baby. She was planning on a home birth but 3-4 weeks before the baby was due, she started going into labor. Her midwife came to check things out and saw that the baby was in distress and did the best thing for her: sent her to a hospital. The baby was breach and it had to be surgically removed. It ended up that not only was it breach but the chord was wrapped around the neck and the baby wasn't nearly strong enough to have a vaginal, natural birth. Everything was working against her. And so they ask her after 8 months if she felt cheated in her experience. She said "yes and no" because the baby was in no state to have a natural birth and that he was meant to come this way, but that she really wanted the joys of having a home birth.

Thus, because of how it ended with the filmmaker having a C-section and not bashing it, I felt that it was a very informative documentary on the other options out there and that you don't have to have a baby in a hospital with tons of needles, blood, and creepy doctors in masks and stuff. You can have a baby in the comfort of your own home, in a warm pool of water, with your spouse helping you along the way, and it can be a heart-warming (if not extremely painful) experience with the people you love.