Before watching "The Business of Being Born", I wasn't aware of the many dangers of the medicines that mothers were given during birth. I think that if women knew how much the drugs that they took could harm their children, there would be fewer taking those drugs. I am puzzled on why midwives are illegal in Alabama. It seems as if the legislators are uneducated on the role that midwives play in births. Midwives have evolved over the years and are no longer random women, they are educated nurses that are doing well at their craft. Before watching the film, I didn't know that midwifery was so complex with agencies and women who were dedicated to midwifery alone.
If more people were educated on midwifery, the attitudes towards it would more than likely be different. Since the norm today for births take place at hospitals with medicines and doctors, it's going to take awhile for people to even consider having children at home with a midwife instead of going to a hospital with a doctor.
I was very surprised when the doctor in the movie said that labor pains increased when the mother is given certain drugs during the delivery. This goes back to people being uneducated on the fact of midwifery. I don't know anyone who would choose to be in more pain when there is a way that the pain can be reduced. Although I am indifferent on whether people choose midwifery of not, I do believe that women should have a choice in the way that their children are born.
I agree with this post. I think that if people in general and in the government were more educated about midwifery and the benefits it can have on a pregnancy, it wouldn't be illegal. Unfortauntely, since we are so stuck in the norms of the hospital, it would take a lot of time for people to get used to the idea of midwifery. Like Sylvia said, women should have a choice in the way that they have their baby.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of all the medications that were used in the hospitals either. It is scary to know how much a birth could be manipulated. I believe that women should have the choice in what way they have a child. I did not realize midwifery agencies were alive and running. I disagree when the movie said that the drugs in the hospital did not take away the labor pains, because an epidural does make you numb from the waist down. But i do believe natural birth is fearless and extraordinary. Midwifery or going to a hospital alone, a woman should be able to choose the way she has a baby unless there are dangerous consequences.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the only real reason why either that those women were experiencing all of that pain because of the fact that the medicine was speeding up the process. This really makes you really rethink about going to the hospital to have a child if you know this. I think that women should have a choice in whether or not they want to go to hospital or not and that Alabama should change this.
ReplyDeleteI think that if more women would research the birthing process, they would be more open to having a midwife help them. Not only are women rushed to have their babies in a hospital but they are causing themselves and their baby more stress than necessary. I agree with what the movie said about hospitals, having babies born at the hospital is a business, all the doctors do is catch the baby, so why have someone catch your baby when you can be at home, comfortable, and surrounded by people you love. I think having your child at home is intimate and gives the birthing process a more beautiful meaning.
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