BIRTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Birth videos can be very informative, educational and uplifting to watch.
They are an excellent resource for Birth Doulas and Post Natal Doulas who “mother the mother” – see more here https://www.julieclarke.com.au/doula-training-course/
Most of these clips contain nudity and some show everything – so please use your judgement when and where you watch the videos. For some pregnant women (especially pregnant with first child) real life birth episodes could be a little confronting. So if you are not prepared to watch birth moments, you can fast forward through them and continue watching the movie as they give lots of information to think about your choice and attitude in birth.
“The Business of Being Born”
The Business of Being Born explores the contemporary experience of childbirth in the United States. It compares various childbirth methods, including midwives, natural births, epidurals, and Cesarean sections.
The film views the American health care system with its emphasis on drugs and costly interventions and its view of childbirth as a medical emergency rather than a natural occurrence. The film documents actual home births and water births. They follow a midwife, Cara, in New York as she takes care of and attends several births.
- official trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgLf8hHMgo
- full movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvljyvU_ZGE
“The Face of Birth”
The Face of Birth is an Australian documentary that examines contemporary birthing practices through the personal stories and journeys of women who choose to have their babies at home. Featuring some of the world’s top childbirth experts, The Face of Birth gives us the ‘big picture’ of the importance of respecting and protecting a woman’s right to choose how, where and with whom she gives birth.
- official trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puCu8lBWJMs
- watch online (rent or buy for 5 or 10 AUD) http://www.faceofbirth.com/FOB_Watch_Now.htm
“Orgasmic Birth”
Award-winning documentary by Debra Pascali-Bonaro. Joyous, sensuous and revolutionary. The Orgasmic Birth documentary examines the intimate nature of birth, an everyday miracle, and the powerful role it plays in women’s lives when they are permitted to experience it fully.
Orgasmic Birth brings the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see the emotional, spiritual and intimate nature of birth. This documentary asks viewers to reexamine everything they thought they knew about giving birth and the potential it holds.
- official trailer and watch online (rent or buy for 4 or 10 Eur) http://www.debrapascalibonaro.com/orgasmic-birth-documentary/
“Birth As We Know It”
Now in 57 countries since its release in 2006, Birth As We Know It is receiving global recognition as the most comprehensive guide to Conscious Birth in the world, because it delivers a powerful transmission of what it really takes to give birth consciously and gracefully.
- official site http://birthintobeing.com/index.php/birth-as-we-know-it
- instand download (12$) http://birthintobeing.com/index.php/dvds/film-downloads
“What Babies Want”
What Babies Want is a heart-opening film that brings together ground-breaking information about who babies truly are, what they know, and how we can support them to be their best as they develop and grow. The film is alive with captivating stories and remarkable personal experiences of infants, children and adults.
- watch on youtube (look for 6 parts) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl1zi_mjzIs
“Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and Farm Midwives”
The feature-length documentary BIRTH STORY: INA MAY GASKIN & THE FARM MIDWIVES tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each others babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land. With Ina May as their leader, the women taught themselves midwifery from the ground up, and, with their families, founded an entirely communal, agricultural society called The Farm. They grew their own food, built their own houses, published their own books, and, as word of their social experiment spread, created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generation’s approach to childbirth.
- official trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doXpyxbSZFs
- official site with buying options (13$) http://watch.birthstorymovie.com/
“The Other Side of the Glass”
A birth film for and about men. The film is about the effect of childbirth practices on newborn babies. It’s pretty extreme, I’d probably recommend fathers to watch it alone. We need to question the way babies are treated right after birth. It makes sense that those first few moments are really important, and the panic mode of a hospital birthing room right after the birth is not calming or peaceful.
- official site, trailer and buying options http://theothersideoftheglass.com/
Do you feel drawn to working as a Doula to help improve experiences for mothers-to-be?
visit this page for all the Doula Academy of Australia course dates and details https://www.julieclarke.com.au/doula-training-course/
