Last week, our midwife told us about a movie that was going to be shown on the weekend, called “The Business of Being Born.” It was made by Ricki Lake following the births of her two children – one in hospital with all the standard hospital rules and regulations, and the second at home with a midwife.
The movie has not been released yet, this screening was set up as a fundraiser for various midwifery groups, and the tickets were sold on a donation basis. Our midwife said that she thought the donations started at $5 each, and we decided to make a date of it. We had sold some stuff at the consignment store near where the movie was being shown, and we had $34 to pick up when we got there. Then we went out to dinner ($13) and then headed over to the movie. We waited in line and just as we were getting up to the donation table, I saw a sign that said “tickets: $15 – $25″ Oops. Luckily, we had an extra $20 bill with us, and we decided that we both wanted to see the movie, and that the money was for a cause we felt strongly about. So we paid our $30 and went in.
We both liked the movie, and felt that it did a good job of showing how birth can be if we just leave things alone and don’t interfere so much. And it pointed out what a large portion of obstetric care is done for financial and legal reasons rather than for the wellbeing of the mother and baby.Â
After the movie, we both agreed that we were glad we went. It’s a good thing that our midwife didn’t know the cost of the movie when she was telling us about it. Had she said that tickets started at $15, we almost certainly would have decided not to go. But after we went, we felt that the $30 was money well spent.Â
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