Film Review: Natural Born Babies

Film Review: Natural Born Babies

South Coast Midwifery, 2009
DVD, 24 minutes, $24.95

www.naturalbornbabies.com

Reviewed by Molly Remer, MSW, CCCE

This lovely short film produced by a midwifery service in California, is a great “ad” for the benefits of homebirth and of midwifery care. Natural Born Babies has a very clean, fresh, and contemporary feel and features a multicultural collection of homebirth families talking about their experiences in front of a white screen. Something that is particularly striking is that some of the people speaking with love and enthusiasm about their midwives and their birth experiences include a cardiologist, an anesthesiologist, and an ER physician!

The first part of the film is titled Interventions and features both men and women speaking about birth, referencing how pregnancy and birth are treated like medical conditions and including a lot of discussion about the prevalence of cesareans. The point is made that, “no epidural can replace human touch.” The second part is titled The Birth Specialists and points out that OB/GYNS are pathology specialists, whereas midwives are trained in normalcy—“we take low-risk women, and keep them low-risk.” Midwives are specialists in normal pregnancy and birth. Because of the film’s emphasis is wholly on out-of-hospital birth and hospitals are critiqued very soundly, hospital-bound couples viewing the film may find that it causes their defenses to rise.

Several of the parents are holding their babies as they speak and a CNM speaks briefly as well (citing both ACNM and MANA). The CNM manages Orange County’s only accredited birth center. I enjoyed the presence of a bio-physicist dad originally from Holland saying, “everyone I know was born at home” and noting that “you give birth the same way you live.” Several of the couples speaking do refer to the father as “delivering” the baby, which is a long-term pet peeve of mine.

Special features include a 10 minute version of the film, an outtakes section, and a look inside the South Coast Birth Center. At the end of the film we see that one of the couples is the director/producer of the film.

Natural Born Babies is a fast-paced film and though it is filmed in a “talking heads” format, it cuts quickly from person to person, thus keeping the viewer engaged. If you are looking for an informative video that is homebirth and midwifery friendly, but that does not include any birth footage, this would be a good addition to your library.

—

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the film for review purposes.

Tummy Tub Mini-Review

Dec16

When my two children were babies, I struggled through many a bath with them in a shallow little white plastic baby tub. It was hard to keep the baby warm in the water and it was also hard on my back to lean over the big bathtub to bathe them. We actually preferred sink baths (which are quite messy). Bathing together in a big tub was not an option because we didn’t have one available.

So, I was delighted to recently discover a new type of tub for infants and to receive one for review purposes—The Tummy Tub has an appearance similar to large bucket with a flared out top. It can hold a nice level of water to keep the baby comfortable, but still safe. The idea is that it duplicates some of the elements of being in the womb for babies, thus making the bathing experience more pleasant for everyone. You can also purchase a separate little stool/stand for the Tummy Tub so that you can sit comfortably with it instead of leaning over and straining your back.

I’m pleased to have this new resource available to show to my clients. During our last week of classes when we cover postpartum, newborn care, and breastfeeding, I bring along a variety of products to demonstrate and let parents see and touch and experiment with hands-on. I bring a variety of baby carriers, plenty of cloth diapers, and now a Tummy Tub as well.

Resources for Fathers to Be

Aug17

“The transition to fatherhood is one of the most significant and challenging experiences a man will ever face. In order to have a satisfying and successful experience fathers must feel safe, supported and confident. To optimize the possibilities for our families, we need to provide appropriate educational, physical and emotional support for ‘father love’.

—Patrick M. Houser (Fathers to Be)

I recently learned of a book for fathers called Fathers to Be Handbook. I always have my eyes open for resources for fathers and this looks like a great one. I look forward to reading it soon.

Other books I’ve recently read and recommend for fathers to be are the nurturing, respectful, encouraging book Fathers at Birth and the practical and informative The Father’s Homebirth Handbook. In classes, I also hand out the short publication Dads Adventure. I love photos of dads and babies and one on the homepage of Fathers at Birth is priceless. I like the pictures in Dads Adventure also. There was also a great picture in the article in New Beginnings in which I learned of the Fathers to Be Handbook in the first place.

I have a smallish collection of other books for fathers and I also have the DVD Homebirth Dads (the resources mentioned above without “homebirth” in the title are for fathers in any birth setting, the homebirth specific titles have a special emphasis on homebirth, but are still useful to anyone preparing for birth).

If you have any other favorite resources for fathers please tip me off about them! I am constantly seeking ways in which to become a better resource to families.

I just wrote about this subject on the ICEA blog as well.

For other posts I’ve written about fathers, click here.

Recent Publications

Jul17

This has been quite a month for me for publications!

My short article Centering for Birth was published in the International Journal of Childbirth Education (page 20)

My book review of Fathers at Birth was published in The CAPPA Quarterly (page 14).

My film review of Birth as We Know It was in The CAPPA Quarterly (page 15).

And, my piece of creative nonfiction Nursing Johnny Depp was published in Literary Mama.

I’m excited about all of these! 🙂

The Daddy Brain

Jun10

Two media items caught my eye today that relate to fathers. One was a short clip from “DadLabs: taking back paternity” called “Are birth classes worth it for dads?” The clip debates whether men belong in birth classes–as a birth educator who strives really hard to “reach” men in my birth classes, I was holding my breath on this one! They talk to several fathers, mothers, and one doula. I think the conclusion seemed to be that birthing classes are important and dads can benefit from them, but I’m not totally sure because the two hosts were kind of arguing about it!

The second piece was an article from Greater Good Magazine called The Daddy Brain. The article is about a stay-at-home dad and also addresses biology and child-rearing. A section I liked explains:

“In researching my new book, The Daddy Shift, I read every word I could find in peer-reviewed scholarly journals about caregiving fathers, breadwinning moms, and the science of sexual difference. I also interviewed dozens of parents….Here’s what I discovered: Where once it was thought that the minds and bodies of men were hardly affected by fatherhood, today scientists are discovering that fatherhood changes men down to the cellular level. [emphasis mine] For more than a century, it was assumed that mothers, not fathers, were solely responsible for the care, life chances, and happiness of children. In recent years, however, we have discovered that father involvement is essential to a child’s well being, and that dads provide unique kinds of care and play that mothers often do not.”

Labor is like stairsteps…

Apr29

I have a pile of things to blog about about and one of them was this quote from the book Fathers at Birth:

“Labor is like stairsteps. There is an incline, then a plateau. Another challenging incline, and another plateau. The inclines get steeper and more intense as labor progresses. The plateaus get shorter. However, in deep labor, the incline can go straight up, off the charts, without a plateau. Sometimes women are very close to pushing when this happens and do not know it.”

As a father-to-be, if you notice inclines with no, or very short plateaus, you will know that your baby is very close to being born. Reassure your partner about the wonderful job she doing, how great everything is working, and that she is getting closer and closer to meeting the baby!

Birth Affirmations for Fathers

Apr28

In my classes, I suggest the use of affirmations. Affirmations are short, positive statements that inspire confidence and positive feelings. I have a handout that is printed on the front side with affirmations for mothers to read to themselves and the reverse has the same affirmations worded in such a way that they can be easily read to the woman.

The book Mind over Labor by Carl Jones, there are some affirmations listed specifically for fathers:

I am able to make the best possible choices for a healthy, joyful birth.
I see my partner as a strong and capable woman.
I am able to support my partner during pregnancy and birth.
We are working harmoniously together. We are grateful for this powerful experience.
The power of birth strengthens me, my child, and my partner.

For women he shares the following ideas for affirmations, some of which are really nice and I should add to my handout above!

Childbirth is a normal, healthy event.
My body is my friend.
I trust my body to labor smoothly and effectively.
I am able to birth in harmony with nature, in the best possible way for myself and my baby.
My baby and I are working harmoniously together. We are grateful for this powerful experience.
The strength of my contractions is an expression of my feminine power.
I fully feel the force of new life within me.
I allow myself to celebrate the birth of my child with every sensation I feel.
I am giving our baby the very best start in life.

Non-verbal Communication

Apr13

Birthing women tend to enter “birth brain” while focusing during labor–this is a more primal, instinctive, intuitive, primitive part of their brain and it tends to be fairly nonverbal. I often remind fathers-to-be in my classes not to ask their partners too many questions while they focus on birthing, because questions pull women out of “birth brain” and into the more analytical, rational side of the brain that we use in day-to-day life (this “thinking” brain is not as useful during labor!) Instead, I encourage birth partners to just “do” and then pay attention to the woman’s nonverbal cues (or short, verbal cues) about whether to keep it up–an example I often use is with giving her a drink of water or juice. Instead of asking, “do you want another drink?” Just hold the straw up to her lips! If she is thirsty, she will drink, and if she is not she won’t. No words need to be exchanged. Other reactions might be that she might push the drink away, say “no,” or shake her head.

As I referenced in a prior post, I recently finished reading through The Pink Kit. It has some more related thoughts to add:

Childbirth is such intense work that sometimes a woman just can’t get a full sentence (or even a short one) out of her mouth. You can’t read her mind. However, it’s not too difficult to read her body language…During labour, it will be easier for her to push your hand away, say ‘shhhh,’ grab you and hold on, or put your hand on some part of her body, than to talk. Often a woman can THINK something so loudly, she’s certain she’s said it aloud.”

For Labor Support Remember TLC or BLT

Apr10

When supporting a woman in labor, remember to use “TLC”:

Touch–this can be massage, hand-holding, foot rubs, stroking her hair, and encouraging frequent position changes. It also includes the use of water (hydrotherapy).

Listen–this is half of the emotional support in labor. Listening builds trust and meets emotional needs. Use active(reflective) listening and lots of encouragement.

Communication–there are two types in labor. One is information sharing–about her progress, her choices, ideas of things to try, interventions, complications. The second is mediation with hospital staff–this can involve reminders about mother’s wishes, and assertiveness about care.

Or, you can use “BLT”:

Breath–remind her to breathe if she is holding her breath. Model a “cleansing breath” if she is stressed. In through the nose and out through the mouth (like a sigh) can be helpful.

Language–this can be mind-body communication, internal conversation, or verbally telling, showing, or modeling (body language).

Touch–as discussed above. Large muscle massage or firm pressure usually feels better to the laboring woman than light patting, stroking, or “tickling” at the skin or clothing level of her body.

Material on TLC is drawn from the International Journal of Childbirth Education, June 1998. Material on BLT from The Pink Kit–New Focus: Breath, Language, and Touch.