Yesterday the Netflix arrived in the mailbox! I was excited to sit down and watch Orgasmic Birth. Jason, on the other hand, was...not as excited. Here's the trailer:
I was a little bit hesitant before watching this movie. I know that birth can be powerful, moving, exciting, and incredibly emotional. But, orgasmic?
The movie followed 7 families in their quest for natural, comfortable birth. Some women gave birth in pools, another in a shower, one on a deck outside, one in the hospital. I watched pretty much in awe as all of their births took place--they were all so "in the zone" and embracing what was happening to their bodies instead of freaking out and fighting it. It was beautiful! Most of the mommies didn't actually have "orgasmic" births, but said afterwards that they chose to embrace the sensations as pleasure rather than pain.
The movie was full of midwives, doctors, and professors talking about birth as they know it and understand it. There weren't a ton of statistics, or "research-based" knowledge. However, there is an "extra" on the DVD that is completely statistics and research about birth in the US compared to birth in other countries. I wish that information was actually in the movie, but I guess that would make it too much like the Business of Being Born.
My only problem with this documentary is that all but one of the births were shown at home. We KNOW from this movie, The Business of Being Born, and a gazillion books and blogs that birth at home is the "best" way to go, the most relaxed, calm, and just as safe as the hospital. But, what about for those of us who live in a place where home birth just isn't possible? There are ZERO CPMs (certified professional midwife) in Champaign, not to mention it's illegal for any of them to actually do home births in our state. The closest birthing center is in Chicago, and then one in Northern Indiana, which means that if we want THAT option, we still have to go practically live there ahead of time to be ready when labor starts. So, realistically, our only option is a hospital.
I want to know how to have a relaxed, uninterrupted, calm, natural birth in the hospital. I want to know that I can bring candles (or flickering lights that look like fake candles), bring quiet music, wear my own clothes, use a jacuzzi, a ball, my husband, and not be interrupted for fetal monitoring, IVs, "time checks," vaginal exams, or reminders that there are drugs available. Is that type of birth even possible? I want to see a documentary about THAT.
documentary review: Orgasmic Birth
5 comments:
Thank you for taking the time to watch and review our documentary Orgasmic Birth: The Best Kept Secret www.orgasmicbirth.com. As director of the film, I so appreciate your comments and while we did include one very ecstatic hospital birth, early in the film with Piper and Chaz, I had hoped to share more blissful hospital births, but sadly when we were filming our hospital births turned into the "typical" medical model. We do share a 2nd hospital birth with an epidural and assisted birth.
I completely agree women and their partners should be able to plan and have pleasurable births in any setting, yet it is becoming increasing difficult to achieve this in our current climate.
Our book that does include more pleasurable birth stories in hospital will be release this June - Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth Experience, and I am working on a new DVD series that I hope will provide the tools to help women, and their partners to plan for and advocate to have sacred hospital births. I could not agree more that we need to provide access to low tech - high touch comfort techniques such as: doulas, warm water, balls, massage, aromatherapy, electric candles, music and art that helps women have easier, safer and more satisfying birth experiences in any setting.
Please share your pleasurable hospital birth stories with us on our web site as we are collecting them for future projects and to share
Warmly
Debra
Debra, thank you so much for your great comment! I'm honored to have you visit :) I'll definitely be looking for your book coming out in June, and for the DVD series later on--it sounds very interesting! There just aren't enough "middle of the road" resources out there for mommies that want to or have to birth in a hospital, but also want a natural, relaxing, "orgasmic" birth. I'm glad to see that there will be two more in the near future.
Jill - the type of birth you are describing we were able to have in the hospital using the midwives and a doula. We wanted a home birh too, but this was as close to perfection as we could get!
I am getting Orgasmic Birth from Netflix very soon!!! I am excited to watch it!
We watched Orgasmic Birth last week (courtesy of the lending library of our Bradley instructor!) and it was a great conversation starter for us. It reinforced for us the importance of the role of the birth coach/husband in being the advocate for the mum, and the importance of his role in creating a positive birth environment.
I get what you're saying about the middle of the road option. We have a birth center here in our city, which is the route we're going unless something goes sideways and I'm hoping it's going to give us the best of both worlds.
Kirstin
Post a Comment