Childbirth All or Nothing: BBC Documentary 2015

This documentary follows four women and the different choices they make to birth their babies. It focuses on extremes, hence the name "All or Nothing". From a home birth with a midwife, a home birth in water, an unassisted birth aka a free birth, and a planned C-section you'll see why they made the choices they made. Other topics discussed are . . .

• A blessing way
• Consuming the placenta in a smoothie 
• Cord prolapse
• Delayed cord clamping
• Doulas
• Gestational Diabetes  
• Hypnosis for childbirth
• IVF
• A lotus birth
• Natural induction

You can watch the full 50 minute documentary on YouTube and read more about it at In Pursuit of Midwifery. You might also be interested in The Business of Being Born. There's also a sequel, called More Business of Being Born, which has four parts.

1. Part 1: Down on the Farm
2. Part 2: Special Deliveries
3. Part 3: Explore Your Options
4. Part 4: The VBAC Dilemma

Two other good films are: Orgasmic Birth and Organic Birth and Organic Birth. 
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Tender Embrace Birthing offers childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care classes and support.

Free Online Childbirth and Breastfeeding Classes

Updated 25 September 2016

Buy from Amazon

Some people are not able to attend a face-to-face class. Here are some places where you can do a free online course.

Breastfeeding 

• The Colorado government has some information about breastfeeding and baby-friendly hospitals.  
• Northside Hospital: Sign up needed.
• Pregnancy.about.com: Sign up needed.
• Pregnancy.about.com: No need to sign up.
• The Newborn Baby: 30 minute webinar.

Childbirth, Breastfeeding, and Newborn Care

• Baby Center: 51 videos, no need to sign up.
• Lesly Notes: 20 part class, no sign up needed.
• Very Well: 6 part class, no sign up needed.

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Tender Embrace Birthing offers childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care classes and support.

Organic Birth: Birth is Natural!

The first move, Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret (85 minutes), follows 7 families through their birth journeys. It shows how birth should be safe and personal without unnecessary interventions. They show how the media has distorted how births should be and treats it as surgery with women being wheeled uncapable of walking. Doctors are seen as being able to fix this "problem"  or perform an unnnecessary C-section despite the fact that women's bodies were made to do this.

Organic Birth: Birth is Natural (52 minutes) is adapted from Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret and will change everything you thought you knew about childbirth. It tells us how the general public have been brainwashed into thinking that birthing is an emergency instead of a natural process. Women in labor need privacy, dark rooms, and little interruptions: things which most hospitals don't provide. Instead of turning your body over to medicine. Birth is meant to be an emotion, spiritual, transcendent moment.

No longer are women automatically signing up for lots of drugs or a C-section. More and more women are becoming empowered. Women are fighting back. In addition to the two movies mentioned about, The Business of Being Born with Ricki Lake, garnered a lot of media attention and showed women that they should do research about birthing, create birth plans, and decide how they'd like to birth their baby. Ina May's TED talk about reducing fear during birthing is also an eye-opening video that makes you re-think about all the interventions done to women in labor. Ina May Gaskin is a pioneer in the natural birthing field.

The World Health Organization has created a Baby-Friendly Hospital Inititative (BFHI) that more than 152 countries have signed up for since 1991. Sadly in the USA, there are only 170 BFHI facilities (search by state) that have earned this title. I can't find a list about Korea, but here are reviews of birthing facilities in Korea that expats recommend as well as birth plans for Korea.


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Tender Embrace Birthing offers childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care classes and support.

The Business of Being Born

While it talks about medical practices in the US, The Business of Being Born still resonates with me since many of the interventions they do in the US are done here in Korea. You can watch the video on Youtube. There's also a sequel, called More Business of Being Born, which has four parts.

1. Part 1: Down on the Farm
2. Part 2: Special Deliveries
3. Part 3: Explore Your Options
4. Part 4: The VBAC Dilemma

Released in January 2008 with Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein it raises many questions about birthing in the US. This isn't the first time that the US is under the microscope. The State of the World Mother's Reports also points its finger at the US. Despite being a first world country, the US rivals third world countries with some of its statistics about infant mortality rates and breastfeeding.

While the US seems to have changed some of its practices over the year, Korea hasn't and many things that happen here in Korea are what were happening in the US a couple of decades ago. Shaving, enemas, and episiotomies are all part of the assembly line birthing practices here. Natural birth isn't for everyone and C-sections are necessary, but there shouldn't be a one size fits all birth plan for everyone.

In both the US and Korea, the C-section rate is about 30%, however, they can vary widely from doctor to doctor and hospital/birthing center to hospital/birthing center. Many women are given interventions, such as shaving, enemas, episiotomies, pitocin, IVs, epidurals, spinal blocks, cord traction, etc.

There are other videos about natural birthing. You might want to watch Orgasmic Birth and Organic Birth and Organic Birth. Another good video to watch is Ina May's TED talk about reducing fear during birthing is also an eye-opening video that makes you re-think about all the interventions done to women in labor. Ina May Gaskin is a pioneer in the natural birthing field and has many women get the birth they want. 
 
Reviews about The Business of Being Born

• Amazon
• IMDB
• NY Times

Resources

• Birth Plans for Korea
• Hospitals and Birthing Centers in Korea
• Signs Your Doctor Will Perform an Unnecessary C-section

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Tender Embrace Birthing offers childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care classes and support.