The Business of Being Born (9w5d)

Last night I went to see Ricki Lake's documentary, The Business of Being Born. It was showing at the Bayou Bijou on campus and sponsored by Gentle Birth Choices, the birthing center here in town.

What an amazing film ... I laughed, I cried and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Amongst other things, the film followed around a home-birthing midwife in the Manhattan area and showed several home births, including that of Ricki Lake's. Missy came with me and I think she was in awe (and sort of shocked) of the content -- I was a little more prepared, I think, just because so many of the concepts weren't new to me.

Jennifer Block, the author of Pushed, was also there presenting her book and doing a Q&A session after the viewing. I'm on the waiting list at the library to read her book and I'm excited to do so. It was quite interesting to listen to her and how she came about writing the book, especially since she's never given birth herself.

I also met several doulas, one of which I was thoroughly impressed with. She's in a partnership with another doula, who mainly serves the Baton Rouge area, and their business is called "Mothers Touch Doula". Their fee is better than René's (only $500) and they do monthly visits at home with me (and then every two weeks after 34w) instead of meeting once after 36 weeks. They were also both very excited at the idea of doing a Lafayette birth.

I'm going to schedule a consult with them as soon as I can.

We're also supposed to be meeting with Erica Norris tomorrow sometime. She's the doula from Alexandria. I met her last night and she seemed very nice. I'm looking forward to speaking with her as well.