Extra Credit

After watching both One Born Every Minute and The Business of Being Born, I noticed many similarities and differences between the two. One similarity I noticed was that many of the things The Business of Being Born frowned upon during labor in hospitals were evident in the show. The Business of Being Born really reiterated the fact that hospitals make it hard for women to have natural births because they in a sense persuade them into taking drugs. Once you take a dosage of one, you have to keep having more, therefore many women go in with the idea that they are going to have a natural birth and end up leaving without accomplishing that. In the show One Born Every Minute drugs were highly encouraged and more than one kind was given to the women in labor. A major difference I noticed was the way the women acted in labor. The women displayed in The Business of Being Born were very relaxed and in calm environments, free to walk around and do what helped them deal with the pain. The women displayed in One Born Every Minute appeared to be in a lot more agony and highly stressed out, which has to be less healthy for the baby. The women giving birth in One Born Every Minute had a whole team of people who helped with the arrival of the baby. The main doctor who delivered the baby was also a male. In The Business of Being Born, only one female mid-wife was present during the pregnancy. In watching both, it seems as though the women in The Business of Being Born had a lot more control over their pregnancy and that the mid-wife seemed to genuinely care more, because she had a more personal relationship with her patient. The interests and concerns of the women in One Born Every Minute are a lot less important. The doctors will pretty much do what they deem necessary to speed up the amount of time women spend in labor. In The Business of Being Born the woman giving birth is depicted as being knowledgeable because it is her  body that is going to naturally do what it is supposed to. In One Born Every Minute, it is definitely the doctors that are more knowledgeable. The doctors and nurses pretty much tell you what to do and why you should do it instead of letting a women’s body run its natural course. Birthing in One Born Every Minute is portrayed as being long, scary, and painful, while birthing in The Business of Being Born is portrayed as natural, peaceful and calm. I think all of this can greatly impact women’s health. There are clearly negatives and positives of giving birth at the hospital and at home. By closely looking at the two, we can figure out methods that work best and most efficiently for women, thus making the whole experience of birthing a much more positive experience for many women.