Healing Through Natural Birth

In this 4-minute digital narrative, Claire Wyeth (pseudonym) reflects on self-transformation through natural birth. Claire, a twenty-four year old woman, shares her mind-body-spirit perspective on labor. The film promotes the expansion of birth choices for women in the U.S. "Healing Through Natural Birth" is an exploratory project, and we're excited about its possibilities. Thanks, in advance, for watching and giving us constructive feedback.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• birth
• BirthMattersVirginia
• natural
• midwifery
• doula
• clinical
• spiritual
• visual
• narrative
• digital
• models
• anthropology
• medical
• applied
• alternative
• medicine
• obstetrics
• childbirth
• healing
• healthcare
• cesarian
• labor
• induction
• mother
• adoption
• birthmother
• ethnography

[lizt1000]

Wow this is amazing! This is a great video to encourage a holistic philosophy and to remind everyone how powerful the female body is, and that medicine needs to have greater trust in the innate ability of our physiology to have healthy natural births! I have also heard that cesarean births interfere with the rush of post birth hormones that promote the release of milk and aid in preventing post partum depression

[arizentari]

Well done, extremely original work it conveys the point quickly and seamlessly. Great mixed methods approach with a combination of qualitative and quantitative information provided to the viewers. I would use this in a classroom, a physicians office or any other place that would be appropriate for this dialogue.

[coconutcow]

What a wonderful young woman! I imagine she's going to do so much for other women, enlightening them to their own power through owning their experience of the birth process.

[lmullin55]

Pregnancy and birth is a life-altering experience... with the potential of being one of the most empowering experiences in a woman's life... if she truly listens to her body and her inner voice. I loved this video... the story was powerful and personal, one that many of us can relate to in part or in total. The art integrated thru out and the upbeat yet mellow music enhanced Claire's story. It truly touched me... well done!!

[briangaschler76]

It's more than a little awesome...the alienation which occurs in the dominant biomedical paradigm between the self and its parts...and it's truly a sad manifestation. The medical industry has a demonstrated power to re-conceptualize the very notions of what the human body is, essentially separating the human body from its parts, and thus, disintegrating the natural, organic unity of the self with the whole.

[briangaschler76]

The current neoliberal medicalization of life itself dehumanizes all individuals into categories and commodities sold for profit. Women are targeted especially hard in the marketable sphere of medicine and health, in that they are essentially reduced to reproductive potentials and unrealistic notions of what beauty is supposed to be, alienating them from themselves, reducing them to little more than breast and wombs and youthful faces.

[briangaschler76]

To wit: The entire birthing process, which your video so wonderfully presents alternatives to---a natural process that could for all intensive purposes proceed without any medical staff intervention at all---as you note, has been reduced to the very epitome of false needs being made to seem like true needs to the pregnant, soon-to-be-delivering mother.

[briangaschler76]

Here we see a woman who is lead to believe she *needs* the doctor to deliver the baby in order for the baby to be born; that she *needs* to be induced in order for birth to proceed; that she needs an epidural in order to handle the birthing process...

[briangaschler76]

The markets propensity for creating false needs in the psyche of individuals has run rampant; The problem with the markets intrusion into health care is that the market, by nature, is indiscriminate and tends to reduce everything to a status of differing value, a status of commodity.

[briangaschler76]

...I'm glad Claire found a much more spiritual, much more healthy alternative to standard Westernized protocol pertaining to birth. Wonderful video!