My Take on One Born Every Minute

Watching birth as portrayed by the media is my idea of a good televised sporting event. I cheer for the rare cases that go well, stand up and tell characters to get off their backs while they're pushing, and now that I'm pregnant, I cry when the baby comes out all tiny and gooey.

Tuesday night, One Born Every Minute debuted on Lifetime. Based on a UK show, this docu-series is a reality show that takes place in Columbus, Ohio's Riverside Methodist Hospital maternity ward. My Bradley instructor warned me not to watch sensationalist, dramatized tv shows about birth, but as the ACNM communications manager, I had to watch...right?

The first episode went straight into tackling drug-free verses medicated birth. The cameras followed 3 women. One had an epidural/vaginal birth, one had an epidural/c-section birth, and one had an epidural-free vaginal birth. All 3 women left the hospital with healthy babies.

Despite the variety of patients in the episode, as a pregnant woman intending to have a drug-free birth, I was really disappointed with how the stories unfolded. From the beginning, I felt belittled by the quotes and scenes they chose to air. And while it was a relief to watch the women leave with healthy babies, it made me feel like the way they got their healthy babies didn't matter.

The lady with the epidural-free vaginal birth was portrayed as a difficult patient who made funny noises while she was laboring. The lady with the epidural/vaginal birth came off as a dream patient who had an easy birth because she accepted the hospital protocols. The poor lady with the c-section never had a chance. She had zero support for her original plan of a vaginal birth. At one point her mom was lying flat in a recliner dropping Cheetos into her mouth, and the baby's father was scarfing a giant burrito-looking meal while she trudged through labor pains and an empty stomach all by herself.

After viewing this first episode, I don't know how anybody could come away understanding why in the world a woman would choose an unmedicated birth. There was no mention of how pitocin makes contractions stronger and faster so that you don't have a chance to rest between peaks. No one told viewers that induction of labor may increase your risk of cesarean section two fold. A patient briefly mentioned that an epidural slowed her last labor, but the notion was quickly dismissed. And there certainly was no mention of the pain that persists long after birth for many women, which may be related to cesarean section, episiotomy, and other medical interventions.

In short, if you look at just the experience of labor and birth, drugs seem like the no-brainer choice. Why let your body do its own thing and feel the discomfort if you don't have to? But if you consider the health of the mother, health of the baby, and the discomfort before, during, and long after birth, the choice is not so obvious.

I acknowledge that medication has its place. In fact, a certified nurse-midwife in the show recommended pitocin for the lady who ended up with the epidural-free, vaginal birth. She was 2 weeks overdue, in labor for nearly 24 hours, and the pitocin seemed to get her to the finish line. But medication does not belong in every room in the maternity ward. An epidural does not belong in 90% of the births at Riverside Methodist Hospital. C-sections are not appropriate for one third of US women.

Unfortunately, One Born Every Minute contributes to the one-sided perception of birth that the majority of women are presented with for their entire lives. I didn't expect anything different, but shows like this are what makes my job so difficult.