Childbirth Enlightened - The Business of Being Born

The Business of Being Born - By Ricki Lake; Directed By Abby Epstein

"Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business.

Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.

The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?" - excerpt taken from The Business of Being Born website

I was turned on to this documentary by a good friend of mine. Since the hubby and I are trying to get ourselves baby ready (whatever that means ha ha) I am like a sponge right now when it comes to anything pregnancy or baby related. So I grabbed the film from iTunes (you can rent for $4.99, or buy for $9.99 - such a good deal!) popped some corn, and cozied in on the sofa.
I cannot recommend this film enough. Created by Ricki Lake, and directed by Abby Epstein, this film completely changed my view of childbirth. I think every person who is either thinking of having children (men and women alike), or anyone who is pregnant, should be required to watch this film before giving birth. There is so much valuable, and even powerful, information in this film, that I am sincerely changed by having watched it.

The epiphany moment for me was this clip:

"Until recently, Love was a topic of poets, novelists, philosophers. Today it is studied from multiple scientific perspectives. With mammals in general there is immediately after birth a short period of time that will never happen again, which is critical in mother/baby attachment. Until recently(such as prior the to last 75 years of human history), in order to give birth, a woman, like all mammals, is supposed to release a complex cocktail of love hormones. As soon as baby is born, when mother and baby are together, both of them are under the effect of a sort of morphine, an opiate, natural morphine endorphins. We know the properties; they create states of dependency, addiction. When mother and baby are close to each other it is the beginning of an attachment.
"But today, most women have babies without releasing this flow of hormones... I'll just give you an example of animal experience. In general if you disturb the normal balance of a female giving birth (in the animal kingdom), it's simple, the mother does not take care of the baby. If monkeys give birth by cesarean section, the mother is not interested in her baby. It's simple....So you wonder, but what about our civilization? What about the future of humanity? If most woman have babies without releasing this cocktail of love hormones, can we survive without love?"