The Business of Being Born

We watched this movie last night. It's release was very timely for us, right when we were starting to think through these issues. Neither K nor I are 'granolas', and are not the people that would typically use 'alternative birthing methods'. A & C are totally granolas, especially C who hates all medications. I remember once she said that she doesn't like to take midol because then she doesn't 'feel' the period. And I said 'why do you need to feel it?' So of course they are giving birth in a birthing center in Annapolis. It would be expected of them.

So I'm not a granola and not prone to doing things alternatively, but I have been noticing a trend lately of everyone having a c-section. It's crazy. I know we can do it without the surgery - we've been doing it for thousands of years without surgery. But then, childbirth used to be the leading cause of death among women, and I certainly don't want to die!

In the movie it explains that the c-section rate is increasing because of the drugs we use. The drugs make the contractions more intense and if it goes on too long, the baby becomes distressed, and then it becomes an emergency. We have to use the drugs because doctors don't like long, drawn out labors. Also, laying in bed, strapped to it, is not the best way to give birth. You need to move you hips around so the baby can reposition itself. And standing/squatting let's gravity do it's thing. Laying down means we all have to work harder. So giving birth in a hospital just seems wrong in so many ways.

But what are the options. I'm not giving birth at home! We've got white carpet, for christ-sakes. And we're not going to the birthing center in Annapolis. It's way to far away. My preference would be a birthing center attached to a hospital in case there is an emergency. My friend almost died in childbirth and needed 2 pints of blood. Would she have made it if she hadn't been in a hospital? I don't want to take a chance. I guess I need to do my research and figure out what options we have in our area. But not now. First I need to get pregnant.

Sicko

We finally saw Sicko last night. It's been at the top of my netflix queue since it came out with "Long Wait" next to it. A coworker came by one day and said "You have to see Sicko!" I said "I'm trying!" So finally they sent it to me. That is a scary movie.

I don't know how I feel about universal health care. We have a British friend and some British family who say things aren't as rosy in England as they are portrayed. Like you have to wait months to see a doctor. And we all know the British have bad teeth! But we've got to have something better than what we have in America.

My parents are small business owners and growing up we had the worst insurance ever. We never went to the doctor unless it was absolutely necessary. I remember in middle school having a temperature of 104 and not going to the doctor because my mom wanted to see if it would go down. And our regular doctor was just the local walk-in clinic. I also remember my cousin breaking her arm and going to the hospital and only paying $25 to fix it because her dad worked for the county and had good health insurance. These things made an impact on me and I would always tell people that when I grew up, I wanted a job with benefits. It's a strange thing for a kid to say, but the insurance thing made an impact on me early in my life.

But after watching Sicko, it's like maybe just having insurance isn't enough if they can deny your claims. Watching it made me thankful that I changed insurance. Kaiser, my old insurance, invented HMOs, and are very good at denying coverage and keeping their money. I've heard this before and it's why I switched insurance before I even starting trying to get pregnant. And I switched to a POS, which just has to be better than an HMO, but they are still in it for the money, so I'm sure you can still get fucked.

Juno

A few weeks ago we saw the movie Juno. Great movie, as everyone else has already said. I love Michael Cera. Afterwards, one of the friends we saw it with asked if movies about pregnancy seemed different now that I want to get pregnant. I said that no, teenage pregnancy had nothing to do with my life, so I didn't feel much. At least not now. Maybe that would be different if I was actually pregnant.

However, I do find myself gravitating to movies about pregnancy now more than I used to. Like Netflix recommended to me The Business of Being Born, crazily because I said that I liked the movie Cry Baby. That was a great movie. The scenes where Ricki Lake drank Johnny Depp's tears and where she licks the glass that separates them in prison stuck themselves forever in my 12-year-old mind. But somehow I think the audience for Cry Baby and The Business of Being Born are different. Maybe not. Maybe we've grown up and so has Ricki Lake. Anyway, I don't think this would have interested me previously, but now it's near the top of my queue. I also added some movies that I saw in friends' queues - Making Grace and Casa de los Babys. And if something else comes along, I'll probably add that too.

It's like when we were planning our wedding. I started watching all of those cheesy wedding planning shows on the Style network, and tearing up sometimes. Thank god for Logo and that short lived wedding show with Scott Thompson (my favorite Kid in the Hall), and for Bravo and the Gay Weddings series. After our wedding, those Style network shows had little appeal. But you get caught up. At least I do. K never found those shows interesting. I'm sure if we had cable now, I'd be watching Baby Stories on Discovery Health. I tried watching Notes from the Underbelly the other night. That show is horrible. That's what the insult "Television writing" means.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

When I first heard about that movie, I wrote it off as a stupid Adam Sandler movie mocking gay men. But this weekend my dad said that's the movie they have waiting for them at home from Netflix. Interesting that they can still laugh at gay people and be mad at me at the same time. Doesn't it hurt to laugh? I don't understand. Anyway, I wonder what message they will get from this film. I know that it is about domestic partnership and attempts social commentary about same-sex marriage. Maybe this crude, offensive humor is the only way to get the message off to people like my dad. Or maybe not, and it really is just crude and offensive.

I know my dad's politics are shifting liberal. He has made lots of comments about Bush and the war and economy and said that things were better when Clinton was president. My mom always looks angry, like she'd like to defend Bush but she's just a woman who doesn't like conflict so all she can do is scowl. But really, it doesn't matter because they don't vote, they just complain.