I have no children, I’ve never been pregnant, and the idea of having children at this point in my life scares the living crap out of me … more than ghosts, and I’m really, really scared of ghosts. I relish in the concept of having kids someday—someday being the key word. Having a tiny being grow in my stomach for nine months only to push its way out of me, causing me unimaginable pain, and then having to deal with it crying and pooing all time—is really the last thing on my agenda right now. As magical and amazing as I am sure it is, thanks, but no thanks. Honestly, I can hardly take care of myself right now, let alone another human being. Basically, I don’t entertain the idea of having kids or getting pregnant, usually it’s more along the lines of planning how not to get pregnant.
With that said, when I saw the San Francisco premiere of the documentary The Business of Being Born, my eyes were widened to a whole spectrum of ideas about pregnancy and delivery I never even knew existed. It really amazed (and embarrassed) me how uninformed I was about the whole birthing business. I never even considered that there was a business aspect of birthing.
The Business of Being Born takes you on a visual journey with producer Ricki Lake and director Abby Epstein to question and scrutinize the way American women have babies. It transports you on a long, emotional roller coaster of diverse women who have chosen to have midwives, and follows them to the actual delivery of their babies. When director Abby Epstein coincidentally finds out she is pregnant during the filming of the movie, it adds an even more personal and poignant touch.
Before viewing the movie I had an archaic understanding of midwives from the little education I had on the topic. Basically, squealing babies being born in barns in middle-of-nowhere Arkansas circa 1930 came to mind. I know that sounds ridiculously dated, naïve, and let’s face it, pretty stupid, but with the lack of information provided on the subject, how was a twenty-something who’s never been pregnant to know any better?
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