Home Birth Debate - Part 2

Dr. Lisa Masterson: I have seen thousands and thousand and thousands of deliveries, I know what can happen. And you don't want to see that happen at home and you don't want to be responsible for the death of your baby or the death of your wife. Dr. Travis Stork: I think the passion you get -- you have to understand that the passion coming from Lisa Ricki Lake: And we are laypeople and we don't claim to be doctors or experts. Dr. Travis Stork: And I think it's important and I want Ricki to make a comment here. As the moderator of this discussion, as someone whose cousin had two wonderful home births, who I think is a very intelligent woman and made that choice after researching the options, I respect a woman's choice and I know you do too. What you don't want is a misinformed choice and you're passionate because you do run the risk with the home birth of having a complication where you can't get to help in time. So, okay, having said that, Ricki. Ricki Lake: I think, our movie was a great tool for women and for me, personally, I had this incredible birth experience that's in the film but also, women seeing images of women giving birth in ways they can't even imagine. A woman at home standing up, pulling her baby out, a woman in a tub, in a birth center; those are images that I think are really important especially with the media painting these horror story pictures. You watch A Baby Story and all of these scary shows that are the -- emergency C-section, we save the baby, I think it's really great to see a woman give birth the way she chooses to and have this experience, so that people have that picture in their head of what it could be, if only they were comfortable. Dr. Lisa Masterson: It could be beautiful in the hospital. Ricki Lake: I'm not saying that. I know, I mean, I had a beautiful hospital birth of my first son. I'm not saying hospital or home birth is best. I am pro-choice in this area and I want women to have access to the information. Dr. Travis Stork: Give us a few words on the book. Ricki Lake: Yeah, it kind of takes it to the next level. It talks about VBACs, it talks about Epidural, it talks about all the interventions. Dr. Stork: VBAC, which is Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. Ricki: A Vaginal Birth After Cesarean, which is really controversial because a lot of hospitals are no longer doing it. I think it's 200 hospitals around the country won't offer VBAC to women, which is really unfortunate when you think a lot of women are given unnecessary C-sections with their first child, thus leads them to another C-section. Dr. Travis Stork: The book itself, it deals with obviously specifics. Abby Epstein: It's very down to earth. It's sort of like girlfriend language, goes through everything from sort of how to -- just how to envision what is your dream birth? What do you see; building your birth team. How to pick your doctor? Do you want a doula there? How to research your hospital? And it goes all the way through post-partum and bonding. If you have to have a C-section, it talks about what are ways to have a great C-section. How can you prepare for that? What can you talk to your doctor about doing in the OR, dimming the lights or --? Ricki Lake: It also talks about one thing that has ever really been talked about in a book like this is, sexual abuse and how your birth can really be a healing process for someone who's been the victim of sexual abuse and I experienced that personally. So it just covers a lot of ground in a very accessible way and I'm really proud of it. I am thrilled to offer this as a tool for women to make the best choice when it comes to their birth.