The Business of Being Born- On Its Way

I have been waiting to see Ricki Lake’s documentary, The Business of Being Born, for what seems like forever now.  When it was released last year, it was only shown in selected theaters, in selected cities.  While there were a few showings of it in cities around me, I was never able to go.  Then the DVD release was delayed by about a month.  Nevertheless I put the DVD in our number one spot on our Netflix’s que, and today I received the e-mail: The DVD is on its way, and should be here tomorrow!  Hooray! 

I am really hoping to watch it tomorrow night, but Wednesday’s are a really long day for us, so I might have to wait until Thursday night.  At any rate I am doing a happy dance.  I will of course blog about it once I view it.  There has been a lot of buzz around this documentary, so I can’t wait to see it for myself.  Here is a summary of the film from The Business of Being Born’s Website:

Birth: it’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies.

The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal.

Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?