Cesarean Births: Personal Stories.

This is an excellent video discussing women's reaction to unexpected cesareans. One woman felt she went down the primrose path of leaving everything to her doctor (she had a labor assistant and VBAC for her second birth). Another developed high blood pressure and was accepting of the need for the cesarean and felt it was as positive as possible. A single mother had lack of progress in labor and was diagnosed with a face presentation; her midwives were able to stay with her to support her and the baby. The fourth woman had a placental abruption after weeks of bed rest for threatened prematurity.

The women's stories are interspersed with footage from the mother's point of view - what she sees, hears and smells. This is especially effective; the footage about the effects of demerol are great!

Very little surgery is shown in the main part of the video, but a special section after the main film shows detailed information about cesareans. This addendum is the weakest part of the video, however. Our local cesarean support group liked the video a lot, but thought the way the possible causes for a cesarean were listed during the operation at the end without saying that many of these causes were preventable and advising the mothers to ask for a second opinion only served to reinforce the doctor's judgement that a cesarean was necessary (lack or progress and cephalo-pelvic disproportion can be valid causes, but only a small percentage of the time they are cited as reasons why a cesarean was necessary).

The video neither overdramatizes nor whitewashes the cesarean experience and provides the facts without setting women up for having a cesarean. It is an excellent addition to childbirth education classes and a great springboard for discussion for cesarean awareness groups.