Check out the trailer for this new film!
Natural Birth on “The View”
Elisabeth Hasselbech, co-host of “The View” on abc is pregnant with #3 and due in August. She is “considering” a natural birth this time around. The other day on the show she was given a tour of a birthing center she “might” want to use. The midwife showed her a comfortable bedroom-like room with a jacuzzi tub. Elisabeth proceeded to put on snorkel gear and squat in the tub. She was introduced to a few labor/birthing tools like the birthing ball (which she bounced on for a while) and birthing stool (which she sat on and said “ten hut” as if to hike her baby under the stool.) She then visited a couple who had just given birth several hours before in that birthing center. The mom looked great and her husband shared how strong she was during the process. They were very encouraging and very happy they chose a natural birth. All in all, it made for entertaining daytime tv with some cheesy jokes BUT the great thing was the EXPOSURE. I’m hoping that this brief segment got someone thinking about their options for a better birth experience. Thanks Elisabeth and best wishes!
Celebrity Birth
Check out this amazing line up of celebrities who have had natural birth, primarily home births! Ricki Lake birthed at home and made a documentary called “The Business of Being Born.” Cindy Crawford also gave birth at home and happily comments “I birthed my baby. Nobody else did.” Elisabeth from “The View,” due with #3 in August, is considering a natural birth at a home-y birthing center. After having a child via c-section, Angelina Jolie set out to have her twins naturally. Nicole Richie gave birth naturally, not wanting to put any chemicals into her unborn baby. Pamela Anderson had both her babies at home, with two midwives and her then husband Tommy Lee present. Singer Nellie Furtado is a self-confessed ‘hippie mum’ and proudly talks of the birth of her daughter Nevus. More household names: Demi Moore, Meryl Streep, Lisa Bonet, Kelly Preston, Felicity Huffman, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette…the list goes on. How refreshing! You may be thinking “Oh sure, they probably have their own birthing tub and on call EMS services waiting outside their door. They can do whatever they want. They’re rich!” You may be right BUT we “commoners” can do it too. You don’t have to be a hippie or even a little bit granola. You don’t have to be G.I. Jane. “Jane Doe” (i.e. Y-O-U) can have a baby wherever she wants.
“Yes, we did it on purpose.”
We had our baby at home. Yes, we did it on purpose. We discovered that our hospital (like so many others) was not very supportive of our choice to birth naturally, without medical intervention. We wanted our minds and our bodies focused on the task at hand. WE wanted to be in charge of our birth. We feared that we would be constantly reminding the hospital staff of our desires and the details of our well thought out birth plan. So, we decided to hire a midwife around 20 weeks and plan to birth our baby at home. It was normal. It was natural. It was amazing. We look forward to our next home birth experience.
