Chatham Film Series Explores The Birth Experience

by Tim Wood

            CHATHAM --- Paige Eastman Dickinson is often surprised by the reaction she gets when she tells people that she is a midwife who helps women give birth at home.  So far removed from the birth experienced have we become, she said, that what was the dominant method of birth for centuries is now considered radical.

            “There’s a lot of misconceptions out there,” she said, “which I think really stems from the way midwives were outlawed because of competition from doctors.”  Even today, the medical establishment opposes home births as unsafe, even though the outcomes are no different than hospital births.

            Dickinson, a New Bedford resident who holds office hours at the Harwich Health Center, is vice president of the Birth Year Network of Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Along with the Massachusetts Friends of Midwives, the group is sponsoring a series of films and panel discussions at the community center here, beginning Saturday.

            The purpose of the series is to get information out to the public “that women should be less afraid of birth, and have a real belief in their bodies,” Dickinson said, the Cape’s only certified professional midwife.  “A woman makes a baby in nine months, and birth is a continuation of that process. If she can make a perfect baby, of course she can give birth, with the right support.”

            The films focus on natural childbirth and are meant to show women that there are safe, healthy birthing options to hospitals, options that put women at the center.  Dickinson noted that the rate of Cesarean section continues to climb in the United States, with one in three births being surgically assisted.  While the U.S. spends more money than other countries on obstetrical care, it ranks 28^th of 29 western nations in infant mortality, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

            The films present two different models of care: mainstream obstetrics and midwifery.  While there is a place for obstetricians when complications or illness arise, the midwifery model follows more closely with the way women’s bodies were meant to give birth, she said.

            “We’re not against obstetricians, we just think there’s a time and a place for them.  I think midwifery is more appropriate,” she said.

            The Birth Year Network and Friends of Midwives are working to pass legislation that would create a board of midwifery, rather than requiring, as is the case today, that midwives work under a physician.  The bill would essentially make midwives independent, and create practicing guidelines based on medical evidence, Dickinson said.

            “Once licensed, insurance companies would have to pay for our services,” she said. Doctors oppose the legislation, though Dickinson said there are some 80 studies that show midwives provide safe, healthy outcomes for mothers and infants.

            The bill came close to passage last year and will be reintroduced to the legislature in December, she said.

            The first film, “The Business of Being Born,” was made by filmmaker Abby Epstein, who was recruited by actress Ricki Lake to explore the subject. It questions the way American women have babies, looks into the business of birth and investigates the nation’s maternity care system.  Epstein discovered she was pregnant during the filming, which made the moviemaking process even more personal.

            The film will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in the large conference room at the community center.  The other two films are both Massachusetts premiers.  “Orgasmic Birth,” which presents birth as an ecstatic experience, will be shown on Oct. 25, and “Birthing Under an Illusion,” which looks at how movies, TV and the media treat birth, will be shown Nov. 1.  Both are at 6:30 p.m. in the large conference room.

            Following each film, there will be a panel discussion featuring Dickinson, maternity nurse Amanda Haddad, and doula Ruby Anistasio.

            A $10 donation is suggested to cover the cost of screening rights for the films.  Admission for students is free.