Customer Reviews

Pregnant in America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

As a doula, childbirth educator, and low intervention birth advocate, I had looked forward to the release of this movie with high hopes.

In the end, I was disappointed with the film. The film style was clearly directly copied from Michael Moore's style without any attempt to express this filmmaker's own style, Mr. Buonaugurio has passion, and he is right that many people are left in the dark when it comes to childbirth practices in America. But he offered very little in the way of HOPE for people.

I've had 3 home births myself, but right from the begining I was put off by the flip chart in the background that had boldly written on it "The hospital is our enemy." The hospital is NOT our enemy. It certainly is excessive for the majority of women in America to birth in hospitals rather than at home or in birthing centers, but the hospital serves a necessary role in keeping birth safe.

I continue to be annoyed at how the natural birth community misrepresents the Cytotec issue. I am not a fan of Cytotec, and believe that it should only be used with full informed consent. But that informed consent is being denied by BOTH sides of the debate. The medical establishment does not make women aware that it has an increased risk of causing uterine rupture, meconium passage, and hyperstimulation of the uterus even in women with no previous cesarean sections. The natural birth community does make women aware that the "contraindication" on prescribing it to pregnant women only applies to prescriptions for the treatment of ulcers because it can bring on labor. The package insert for Cytotec specifically addresses use for labor induction, and while it does not specifically "approve" its use, it only contraindicates its use in women with a previous cesarean or who are on their 5th or greater pregnancy.

I was most especially annoyed by the failure of the moviemaker to more fully address the NICU stay of his daughter. He invited us into this deeply personal area of his life, and then for reasons unknown, did not provide a full explaination of what happened in the NICU. It was clear to me from looking at the baby in the hospital that the original transfer had merit--her respiration was clearly not normal. But the days of "observation" after she was released from the NICU...what was going on there? I suspect it was an unnecessary treatment that may be part of the reason the movie provides no real hope for the viewer. Mr. Buonaugurio learned first hand how difficult it can be to stand up to the medical establishment and say "this treatment is not needed. I'm not accepting it."

In the end, I think this film has value if it is used as a discussion starter...but I don't think it has value if viewed as a stand-alone product.

I can't begin to describe how irritating I found this movie. Although I am totally pro home-birth and alarmed by the birth statistics in the US, I could not get past how self-absorbed the filmmaker/father was. I really regret having watching this film, except for the brief clips of Ina May Gaskin. She's awesome and outshines any penny-ante Michael Moore wannabes.

I am currently a midwifery student at The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery. Naturally, I am an advocate for home birth, and a woman's right to choose her own special birthplan. However, the hospital IS NOT THE ENEMY, nor is the medical community. This documentary only served to make me feel sorry for the wife of the selfish man who created it. His aggressive behavior is silly and confrontational, and his communication skills are poor. Not all hospital births are horrible. Obstetricians aren't all hell-bent on making women suffer through torturous and traumatic births. Placing blame and pointing fingers will not heal a broken system, but only hinder it further.
If you are interested in birth related dvds you may want to check out the following: Orgasmic Birth, Birth As We Know It, Open Minds to Birth, Birth Day, or even The Business of Being Born. If you want an informational "classroom" style DVD try Laugh and Learn About Childbirth. (There is also a Laugh and Learn About Breastfeeding dvd that is pretty good)
Also, I believe the baby may have had Group B Streptococcus (GBS) which is a type of bacterial infection that can be passed from mother to baby during birth. If a family is choosing home birth, testing for GBS is optional. I think perhaps the creator of this film and his wife opted not to test for Group B Strep. In the end of the film he claims that the hospital never told them what was going on with their newborn, but I got the impression that he was fibbing and didn't want to own up to the fact that they had decided not to test for GBS. Of course, this is just my own guess.

There are far better films about childbirth and homebirth vs hospital birth (see The Business of Being Born). The film makers of Pregnant in America are inexperienced and the film is difficult to watch on a technical, as well as a cognitive, level. The narrative and narration is slow and frustrating. Important pieces of information are dropped and then never dealt with or fully explained. Do not watch this film if you are pregnant! In fact, skip it all together. My husband and I feel we wasted 2 hours of our evening.

Every human in the U.S. should see this. It is a valuable resource shedding light into what has become a criminal misuse of medical authority to medicalize birth for profit, taking and endangering lives all the while. Dr. Wagner is a personal hero of mine and one of the few with the integrity and courage to stand up and shout in the face of this particular hurricane.

Pregnant in America (DVD)
Written and directed by Steve Buonaugurio
Intention Media ([...])

This is a well-balanced view of the health system surrounding being pregnant in America. It asks questions such as: "Why is it that the cesarean rate is 30 percent in the United States while the rest of the world considers 7 percent too high? Why are we charged so much more for fewer services in our hospitals than in other countries? Why do we give a drug to induce labor when it clearly states on the label: "Do not give to pregnant women"? Why do most childbirths happen Monday through Friday in our hospitals? Why are we discouraged and even penalized for not wanting a cesarean birth or wanting homebirth? If you're looking for answers, you're not alone--order this DVD.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide magazine [...]

If the goal is this project is to truly empower women, perhaps the director would respect female intelligence enough by presenting an unbiased piece. This excuse for a documentary relied on the voices of only carefully selected "experts," and I often found myself left wanting cold, hard statistics. In addition, the personal experiences of the filmmaker and his wife only served as a 25-minute distraction rather than an enhancement to the documentary's thesis. Next time, sir, respect your audience to present facts with journalistic integrity. Don't endanger the lives of unborn children by scaring women away from hospitals.

First, I have to point out how poorly made this movie was. Everything from the lighting, to the background music, to the decision of when to cut an interview was tasteless. Probably the most nauseating part was Steve's inclusion of his own emotional and unintelligent conversations with himself, which show him to be the meat-head you well imagined as the creator of this vacuous project.

As for the content and the message, Steve's belligerent attacks on the medical community at large detract from what is truly a valid complaint against the American birthing system. He tries to vilify multiple health institutions for not allowing him to use his camera. Steve may have glossed over HIPAA as a silly excuse, but as a registered nurse I can assure you that those rules are real and necessary. What if the camera had caught a group of healthcare professionals trying to have a private conversation about a patient's HIV status? There is a reason you can't walk around a hospital with a camcorder.

Steve also criticized administrative personnel for their trivialization of his questions and concerns. Given Steve's unprofessional dress, demeanor, and conversational skills, I don't blame them one bit for asking if he went to college. I might have asked if he had finished high school.

What REALLY got me irate was Steve's commentary on the NICU staff. Just as everyone who supports the natural childbirth movement teaches, sometimes things don't go according to plan and mother or baby must go to the hospital. When Steve and Mandy had to take their newborn to the hospital Steve had the following complaints:
- He wasn't immediately given a list of evidence for treatment, alternatives, options, and percentages (Hey Steve, maybe they were too busy taking care of your newborn child to compile all the statistics for you.)
- The baby was poked with too many needles because the nurse missed the first time. (Ever heard the term needle in a haystack? That's kind of what finding a vein in an infant is like. I'd like to see you try, Steve.)
- The baby was moved in ways "a mother would never move her child" (Next time, just keep your baby at home where only you and mom can touch it. But don't get angry when the baby dies from lack of medical attention.)
- The baby was looking around frantically wondering where mom was, and instead was only able to see people "just doing their job" who weren't in love with the baby. (Again, keep the baby at home if this bothers you. But, well, yeah, it might die. And next time you see a NICU nurse, tell them thank you because by "just doing their job" they have saved the lives of countless infants.)
- The nurses wanted to hold the baby too much, and I'm the father. (But wait, Steve, I thought the nurses were heartless androids, just doing a job. Do you want them to care or do you not want them to care? For the love of God, please quite whining.)
- We never got a diagnosis after repeatedly questioning the doctors. (You're right Steve, they probably were avoiding you. Because you are just that annoying and obnoxious.)

And just when you think he couldn't be more of a pompous ass, he says, "It took a lot of work to manage the hospital staff, because they weren't perfect, far from perfect." MANAGE? You had to MANAGE them?? You must have had one heck of a quickie course to become an M.D. or R.N. overnight and start managing these people. Next time, I'll hold the camera and you can spend seven 12-hour shifts taking care of a sick newborn while the parents hover obsessively over your shoulder. And while you're at it I'll ask you to throw in a couple extra peripheral IV's. I'd like to see how you "manage" that.

More women do need to know that childbirth can happen without being "pitted" or speared by an epidural. Unfortunately this documentary leaves women with nothing but more fear and uncertainty and is completely counterproductive.

My husband and I watched this movie together as we are currently expecting. I made it further than my husband (almost to the end), but we still turned it off early because we were so frustrated and annoyed with the husband/filmmaker! We are opting to have our baby in a birthing center and definitely support a more natural approach to birth, but I agree with the other comments that say the filmmaker's attitude towards hospitals was ridiculous and over the top. He seemed so hell bent on making his point that by the end of the movie I was not sure I could even trust some of the information given. Even after the hospital staff saved his baby's life, all he could do was complain that the nurses wanted to hold her too much! Gimme a break! Yes, there are reasons to be informed and skeptical towards birthing in a hospital, but the way he portrayed hospitals and the people who work in them got to be pretty offensive. Do yourself a favor and skip this movie. The filmmaker is a dopey dumbo.

I'll start by saying I don't usually write many reviews, but as an obstetrical nurse and after sitting through this film, I feel the need to share my opinion. This guy's bashing of hospitals is over the top. I've seen many situations where natural childbirth leads to a NICU admission. With their daughter, I'm sure it was possible that her breathing issue was most likely transitional but it's very possible that it could have been an infection. We aren't told when Mandy's membranes rupture but if she was ruptured for an extended period of time, the risk of infection for the baby increases significantly. I had a really hard time with his lack of professionalism and unbiased approach. The filming quality wasn't fantastic either.