AWOB - The Business of Being Born

The 2008 documentary about childbirth in the United States, The Business of Being Born, taught me a handful of reasons why woman and doctors would prefer natural birth over normal birth, or vice versa. Because it seems, in the United States, threatening to the child’s health to have a natural birth, in comparison to a normal birth, the documentary exaggerates on how women should have natural births more often, to experience that kind of bond a mother and her child is supposed to feel, and to disregard the many medical interventions that are offered.

The film made me aware of the different risks involved in having both a natural and normal birth. I thought that both processes of having a baby had its pros and cons which the documentary described well. Ricky Lake, producer of the documentary, portrayed different perspectives of woman who have had natural births, which I thought was interesting. I always thought of natural birth was painful, just because it did not involve pain killer medications. When different woman described their experiences, they all seemed to have the same message; a mother can have a successful-natural birth by giving birth the right and most comfortable way. For a woman to feel uncomfortable during her both, which in most situations is taken place in a hospital room, the who process of giving birth to her baby throws the emotional connection off between the mother and her child—in my opinion.

Although Ricky Lake had a normal birth, with her first child, and natural birth, with her second child, she believes that when having a normal birth, a woman is more likely to alienate herself due to all of the interventions made when giving birth to a baby girl or boy. She also thinks those women who do decide to have a normal birth, to be aware of all of the long term affects that are most likely taken place after having an epidural, c-section, episiotomy, etc. She emphasizes on the fact that America views this process of giving birth to a baby as a kind of phobia where it is the most painful thing a woman can ever experience, when really it could be the most reminiscent experience—in terms of enjoying her newborn’s company of coming into the new world after nine months.

After watching the documentary, I am still undecided to whether I would one day want to have a normal or natural birth. I find it more convenient for a woman to have her first labor-experience to be in a hospital, just because it’s her first time and the risks that involved when giving birth for the first time. However, I do feel that every woman, at least one day in their life to experience natural birth for the sake of having the particular bond and emotion that a mother should feel when in the moment. For many centuries, women have been made to give birth naturally until interventions were made to disturb the process of natural birth. It is in the woman’s blood to have a natural birth.