Homebirth: Ricki Lake's documentary - any thoughts?

[raye123]

here

Anything that promotes homebirth is good in my opinion! Have a friend in NY who hadn't even heard of it though! What do you think?

[SnafuBecalmed]

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and v. much enjoyed it. Especially loved the clips of the mw preparing for a birth at the start - quietly packing her stuff up and getting into the car and driving through the dark, everyone talking in whispers. Some good stuff about the cascade of intervention and it really brought home to me just how dire the state of childbirth is for so many women in the US. It is so sad, imo, how little influence midwives have on birth culture in the mainstream USA.

But the current situation in the US is the UK in ten years time, imo, unless we get our collective arses in gear and a) stop the erosion of independent midwifery and b) demand more money, more midwives, more REAL choice for women.

[raye123]

Thanks Snafu... I haven't seen it yet, but looking forward to it. My friend in NY is pregnant and confused about her options. I was amazed she hadn't even heard of the Ricki docu.

[bobsmum]

I've got a friend who saw it last week and raved about it.

I didn't realise until reading Ina May's book, that midwifery is actually illegal in some parts of the US and that m/ws are only allowed to attend around 10% of all births!!

I know the UK isn't great at supporting midwifery, but it made me feel really grateful about what we do have!

[bobsmum]

Having just read the article the stats in the US are worse than I'd thought!!

[middymee]

WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!!!!!!! Big up us middy's a bit for a change!!!!! Thats what we want tooooooooooo......we want to help women acheive that and we're being strangled by litigation and the NHS!!


Ahem.....sorry ladies

[mom2latinoboys]

I haven't seen it, but have seen her promotions for it and it looks interesting.

Just to set it straight. Midwives are not illegal in some states. A CNM (certified nurse-midwife) is legal in all states. However they must be affiliated with an OB/GYN. My practitioner is like this. There are three doctors in the practice and about 5 midwives. And we choose if we would prefer to have a doctor or a midwife for our care.

A lay midwife is not legal in all states. Because they don't have the licensing. These are women that have not gone to school for midwifery, and have gained their knowledge by doing. Not all states recognise them, but mine does.

The reason why so many women don't know about homebirths here is because most insurance companies won't cover them without a fight. It is up to the individual states to determain whether insurance companies should cover them or not.