So I just finished watching The Business of Being Born, a movie about home birth and midwifery. I had heard various things about it, and was quite curious to see it myself. I also knew myself well enough to know that I would be best off not going somewhere to watch it within earshot of others.
Honestly, as a movie, I think that it was well done. Did it change the way I feel about things? No. I don't support home birth. Because do you know how many bad outcomes you have to be a part of to feel that way? One. And then forever more, the very mention of home and birth in the same sentence will conjure up immediately the image of a family completely devestated by an outcome that could have been prevented.
Is that the way that all or even the majority of home births go? No, it isn't and I know that most home births are exactly what the participants are looking for. Which is great for them; but their experiences added together still aren't enough to replace the one that springs to my mind.
I'm sure that everyone takes something different from seeing the movie. The thing that stuck out to me the most? They interviewed a physician about his thoughts on home birth, and he said that he felt 'having a home birth is no different than me saying to someone that they don't need a seatbelt in my car because I'm a good driver'. And honestly? I couldn't have said it better myself.
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