The Business of Resurrecting Midwives

From the documentary I discovered that a midwife is someone who aids women throughout the normal succession of pregnancy and childbirth. Doctors are trained to treat sickness resulting in a focus on what can go wrong which makes for unnecessary interventions; while midwives believe medical intervention is only required during an emergency and focuses more on the natural process of giving birth. I always thought that women just fled to the hospital to pop out their newborns, and that epidurals and C-sections were a standard part of having a baby. Apparently, most women are in the same boat as I am.

What we don’t know, and what the movie eloquently portrayed, was statistically speaking, it is actually safer to have a baby at home with a midwife than in a hospital. It may be true, however, as Lake’s movie states, that doctors are quick to intervene unnecessarily with preventable C-sections and avoidable drugs that induce labor and potentially harm the baby and the mother. It’s somewhat of a huge political debate, where women are not given the proper information about their options in order to benefit hospitals and greedy insurance companies. It seemingly has transformed into a nasty turf war between doctors, hospitals, and midwives. It was shocking to see the history of birthing in America, and images of women tied down to their beds while giving birth in hospitals because the drugs doctor’s gave them made them “crazy.” Sigh, I never realized that it could all be so complicated.

I am not a fan of the phrase, “no pain, no gain.” I’m pretty sure a man wrote it; he doesn’t have to give birth after all. Though having a baby hasn’t been something I contemplated frequently, I always thought that if and when I have one, I would probably go to the hospital and have an epidural. Enough said.

After seeing the movie, I’m not so sure. The footage of women giving birth to their babies naturally in the comfort of their own homes, looked like this euphoric, beautiful, and other-worldly, albeit painful and scary, experience that a mother can only really have when it’s done au natural. On the other hand, the footage at hospitals looked terrifying, horrible, and not something I want to experience … ever. As this is a movie that promotes midwives, it does seem a bit biased, but regardless, and at the very least, I came out of it enlightened and realizing that I have options.