Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Midwife: The Documentary

Last night my husband and I attended the premier screening of Midwife, a documentary that follows a homebirth midwife through four births and also touches on what happens when states outlaw midwifery.

Sarah Biermeier, homebirth midwife
Here's the trailer.

This is an amazing documentary! I have personal connections to both the filmmaker, Allison Kuznia, and the main subject of the film, midwife Sarah Biermeier, whose midwife practice is Geneabirth. Sarah is the midwife for our birth which should happen in the next couple of months.

Allison Kuznia, photographer and filmmaker


The Midwife website has more information on Allison, Sarah, and the other subjects of the film, including Melanie Moore, a certified practicing midwife in Iowa, where midwifery is illegal. She has been arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license and was served with a cease and desist letter. She is also a qualified examiner for NARM (North American Registry of Midwives). Sarah drove to Iowa to take her NARM exam.

I found the irony of having midwives illegal in Iowa, yet offering the examination in Iowa for midwives to be quite compelling. I can not imagine the added stress a midwife must feel knowing that practicing the job she feels called to do could land her in jail for many years.

I thoroughly enjoyed the four very different homebirths shown in the documentary. Each one had a "flavor" of its own, which reminded me that birth should be as individual as the mother involved. Some were water births, while some were not. Once was a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC), the others were homebirths after vaginal hospital births.

One involved a double shoulder dystocia, which did not respond to the Gaskin manuever, however the 11 pound 6 ounce baby was finally freed and resuscitated quickly.  I appreciated this birth being included for a number of reasons. Almost universally, hospitals and OBs feel an 11 pound baby would need a Cesarean section. It also showed Sarah's medical training and ability to deal with emotionally heightened situations quickly and thoroughly. In a discussion after the screening, Sarah elaborated that she had been on the phone with 911 preparing an emergency transfer for the baby when he finally responded to continual trained neonatal resuscitation efforts by her supporting midwives.

Sometimes when discussing my own upcoming homebirth, I get the impression that people feel a homebirth midwife is just some woman off the street who has attended a few births. That is generally far from the truth. Sarah trained with her preceptor for seven years before finally feeling ready to take the NARM exam. After passing the NARM exam, she regularly works with a partner midwife as well as a backup midwife. If a birth presents an unusual set of circumstances, such as breech presentation or VBAC, Sarah can utilize other midwives' wealth of knowledge to help with the birth.

The common thread from all four births was the level of respect levied for each birthing family. In fact, one father underscored this idea repeatedly as being the single biggest difference between their homebirth experience and their previous hospital experiences. He seemed to feel very disempowered during his wife's hospital experiences by the providers regularly giving only enough information to support their opinion rather than all the facts available to allow he and his wife to make an informed decision.

I feel very enthused about my own upcoming homebirth, especially after having seen four successful, yet very different, homebirths with my own midwife. This provided me a glimpse into what ours might be in a way that hearing or reading birth stories had not.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in what homebirth really is. A number of screenings are upcoming in the next two months. You can find the schedule for those screenings here. After the first of the year, DVDs and purchased streaming will be available on the website as well for those who are not near a screening.

Whether you are interested in a homebirth for yourself or are a birth provider of any kind, Midwife: The Documentary is an informative and emotional look into homebirth midwifery as it is practiced today.

On a side note, the theater chosen for the premier screening  was beautiful. It reminded me of the old theaters I would attend as a child. So if you get a chance to go see something at Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, MN, I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I did.


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