Trust in Birth? We Need Another Australian Birth Documentary

I realise in my previous post I gave an account of some of the stand out moments and themes of the Face of Birth documentary that stayed with me after its first viewing and in so doing I neglected to cover some of the pitfalls of the film. I've since had a second viewing. I maintain that it's a great film and one that every Australian about to welcome a new family member should see. On the whole it's very accurate, very insightful, essential viewing. But it is an introduction to the issues surrounding maternity care in Australia and choosing homebirth: a first step that raises questions as well as answers some.

Face of Birth

Some of the minor pitfalls of the documentary stem from a lack of time and space to cover every issue. For example, while the facilitators of pilot homebirth programs from Casey and Sunshine Hospitals spoke very well and demonstrated a great understanding of: women's needs, the value of homebirth and the importance of normal physiological birth, it would have been great to see more about the pilot programs and what is happening to women in these programs. For example: which women get into these programs, who doesn't and why, which women get kicked out and at what point in their pregnancies and why?

In a similar vein a better understanding of maternity care in Australia could have been gained from exploring the birth centre issue. There is mention of a birth centre, but nothing more. Do we have any birth centres left? Are they freestanding or bound to hospital protocols and definitions of "risk"? And this brings me to the biggest disappointment of Face of Birth: the repeated use of the term "low risk" with no critical examination of what that terms means or who defines it.

The emphasis of the film was definitely on the safety of homebirth WITH A MIDWIFE, for LOW RISK women.  Breech positioned babies, older mothers and larger mothers were thrown onto the high-risk list. There was also some uncomfortable discussion about "cervical lips" as a complication of birth, which was presented as a situation care providers must actively save a woman from, when there is reason to believe that cervical lips are in fact normal cervixes in the process of dilating rather than problems (see here). Thankfully homebirth after caesarean was not pathologised in Face of Birth. Hannah Dahlen touched on the issue of choice even in "high risk" cases. But it would have been better had the issue of defining risk been explored in greater length and the fact that so-called high risk women have greater cause to birth at home because their safety is even more compromised in hospital on account of the label put on their heads.

Since sharing these thoughts on my birthwork facebook page a couple of my 'likers' expressed concern that maybe Face of Birth isn't worth seeing, for those of us already "converted" to homebirth. I don't share this opinion. Face of Birth is absolutely, 100% worth taking the time to view for yourself! It is a fantastic introduction to choosing homebirth and the problems inherent to Australia's maternity wards. The fantastic insight and wisdom shared in this film through the women's birth stories and images of birth, alone, makes this film worth seeing, even for the long-time homebirth converts. 

Perhaps the biggest question Face of Birth leaves unanswered is: can Australians trust birth? Rather a perfect opening to leave given another team of Australian film makers are working on their own birth documentary entitled: Trusting Birth.

Trusting Birth

This film is being made by two mothers with a passion for birth and quite a collection of children between them. The focus of this Australian documentary is trust in birth. They've explored this issue with childbirth educators, midwives and birthing women and got some beautiful homebirth footage. They even spoke to me at a Gloria Lemay talk in 2009*. They have finished filming and are now fundraising to have their work professionally edited before we can all see it. Here's a sneak preview:

Face of Birth has got me primed, I'm desperate for Trusting Birth to get out there so I can see another take on birth in Australia. But it may be some time before we get that chance, depending on the generosity of donators. Here's a message from the film makers:

Their fundraising campaign website reads: " It's been a long labour, help us birth this film". If you would like to donate to the poject head to: http://www.indiegogo.com/Trusting-Birth-Film they're halfway to their goal. Please consider helping this project get finished and out into the community.