Had to put this in here. To those of you who have cable (I don't) you probably have 'Lifetime' and have probably seen ads for the new birth show "One Born Every Minute". This show, with their first episode, have created a flurry of angry, frustrated, reactions in the natural birthing world. Since I don't have cable I went to the website and watched the episode to see what the fuss was about. Mind you, I don't watch these shows anymore and for a good reason. I watched "A baby story" when I was a teen, not all the time, but if it was on I would watch it. Which if you are a teen, I really don't suggest watching these shows, because they can just make you afraid and form opinions for you as to how birth is. When really birth is/can be nothing like what is portrayed.
The first episode told the story of three women, two second births and one first time.
The hospital that it was filmed at reminded me a lot of where my son was born. A hospital that touts a high epidural rate and claims that they are there for the comfort of the moms and protecting the babies. A nice hospital, but not the best place to go natural. Watching the women on it, I organized them each into their niche in birthing.
First: there was the 'Doctor Favorite': the mom who comes in, her labor is progressing normal, she doesn't put up a fight over interventions and has her baby within the allotted "Time Slot" that birth is supposed to take place in. I know many moms like her, who just go in and go along with whatever the nurses and doctors say to do. They have a "happy" birth experience and think nothing else of it. I have nothing against them, I'm happy they had their perfect birth, that nothing went wrong, and that they are happy and healthy. Kudos to them, it's just not for me.
Second: the 'Medical Emergency' (the reason not every women needs intervention): I felt sooooooooooo bad for this poor woman. She was progressing fine naturally and was in severe need of a doula, nurse, or family member to step up and help her through the final stage of her labor. From how her legs were twitching and dancing, I personally think she was having back labor and it was completely disorienting her and making her lose her focus. Of course the staff recommended the epidural and pit to help with the end of her labor. After that, it just snowballed. The pit made the contractions too much for her baby, his heart rate dropped and she had to have an emergency c-section. I felt so so so so sad for her. This is a mom who didn't want a c-section, who had to have one because she didn't have good support during her birth. Just because her mom and husband were there, doesn't mean they were supportive. (STOP EATING YOUR FRIGGIN' CHEESE DOODLES AND HELP YOUR DAUGHTER!!!")
Third: the 'Natural Couple', an almost unnatural ending: Kudos to them. Her husband and Doula were doing everything right. Helping her vocalize, moving her around and being completely active participates in her labor. Yes, it's not comfortable for others to listen to a woman in labor vocalize, but oh well, they aren't in labor. The nurse in charge was nice, but had a hard time with anything not in the procedure handbook. (You don't need to be checked every hour and the risk of infection is increased because of the checking. Vagina's aren't vacumes!) I felt bad that they ended up having the pit in order to finish birthing, but that's what happens at a un-natural birth hospital.
I do however understand why they were birthing in a hospital and not at home. The same reason I did with my son, first child, just in case something does go wrong, never done this before, etc. Her being in her thirties and him in his forties, may also have had something to do with it. I don't know, just going on what I saw.
What really, really irritated me was the music. They had calm, normal music playing with the doctors favorite, dramatic music playing with the emergency intervention, and that 'bum bum' corny music playing with the natural couple. They TOTALLY used that to help avert the feelings of the viewer emotionally to go along with the commentary and helped the viewer form opinions based on that. Very irritating. Hence the reason why I never watch these shows.
See for yourself: One Born Every Minute: To Medicate or Not: that is the question
Read what really happened during the natural couples labor from the view of the mom: Interview with Susan: The "Natural" childbirth mom from OBEM
No comments:
Post a Comment