A birth film for men....

[Tobily]

Oh gosh. I cried for that baby, that family - being subjected to all of that! WTF were they doing?? The baby is screaming its lungs out....it obviously hasn't aspirated meconium!!

What an important film, will be certainly keeping an eye out for this one.

And just like alot of what we saw in the Business of Being Born - don't kid yourselves that this sort of thing doesn't happen here. It does. And it's so, so wrong.

I recently heard of a birth in a private hospital here in brisbane - an unscheduled caesarean and the baby was taken away and BATHED before the mother was able to hold it. We like to think that this archaic 1950's practice wouldn't happen anymore - not only does it happen at this hospital, it is policy. This same hospital still doesn't allow newborns to be with the mother in recovery. It is a disgusting abuse of women and babies at their most vulnerable for nothing more than institutional convenience.

I particularly liked this comment -

It's quite ok for us to expect/demand respect and gentle care and honoring of our baby ABOVE petty hospital needs.

This is so key. We have to start demanding better, expecting better, and knowing we and our babies deserve better.