Gentle Birth Choices.

Video by Barbara Harper, Global Maternal/ Child Health Association, Inc., 47 minutes, 1993, $39.95 (plus $4 shipping). Available from IH/IBP Books.

Are you looking for a dynamic new birth video to use at your next Birth Options Night? Maybe you're just looking for something new and affordable to add some spice to your birth preparation classes. Either way, Gentle Birth Choices fits the bill. This video is a powerful and eloquent teaching tool for all audiences.

Opening with a euphoric and empowered woman who has just had a successful vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), this video only gets better as the viewer is treated to six wonderful "alternative" births attended by midwives, doctors, or both (water birth, VBAC, home birth, birth center births, and squatting). None of these births are treated as anything but normal--no hoopla, no technology, no self-congratulatory scenes among the health care providers--just respect and support for the woman and her needs. Even when there are complications, like in two of the births, things are dealt with in a matter of fact manner, not with a crisis orientation.

Along the way, impressive testimony is given regarding the essentiality of midwifery as a major and critical component of women's health care, the mythology surrounding many common obstetrical practices, and the undeniable right of women everywhere to give birth wherever, with whomever, and however they please. This testimony is further enhanced by the fact that it is given by some fairly impressive folks--numerous parents; Michael Rosenthal, MD (obstetrician), Michel Odent, MD; Nancy McNeese, CNM; Marsden Wagner. MD, speaking on behalf of the World Health Organization; and Maggie Bennett, a direct-entry midwife. Through their testimony, common misbeliefs that many pregnant women and their practitioners hold about the birth process are exposed and dispelled.

Through the skillful crafting of this video, many of the important decisions that parents face during pregnancy arc addressed. Some of the most effective footage dealing with these decision shows Rosenthal, speaking to a group of parents, saying, "For the last couple of decades, we obstetricians have tried to sell you on the idea that the hospital is the safest place to have a baby and that safety resided in careful electronic fetal monitoring. . . . It seemed to make sense, . . . but it makes no difference. Baby outcomes are the same . . . . But was there any difference? Yes, In maternal outcome. Every one of the studies showed . . . there were three times as many cesarean sections when the monitor was used."

One criticism I have heard about this video is that it is too bad that men were used as experts. Although that may detract from this video for some people, I found it to be a strong point when we consider the audience. For the most part, the women (and men) that we hope will benefit from this film are those who probably have fairly traditional medical beliefs about birth. To have people that the audience will recognize as experts discounting many of the fairly common beliefs is probably the most effective way to approach the controversy (and let's face reality for a moment: in this realm, the public at large still considers male doctors to be the experts).

The only other criticism that I have heard about this video is that the soundtrack at times seems heavy handed. For instance, scary music is playing during one of the complicated births and following infant resuscitation. Most viewers would recognize the difficulty without the manipulative music. However, this is a very minor criticism when one considers the incredible value of this fine film for childbirth professionals and the parents that they work with.