RICKI LAKE LAUNCHES  EXCLUSIVE CELEBRITY WEBISODE SERIES ON MYBESTBIRTH.COM

Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Laila Ali, Melissa Joan Hart, Alyson Hannigan are  among featured celebrities sharing personal birth stories as part of the series

Watch the trailer now on mybestbirth.com and see how these celebs are just like you! The series starts July 8th with Cindy Crawford’s story on mybestbirth.com.

 Last week Abby sat down to interview Christy Turlington for our next DVD and discuss Christy's latest project: a documentary on maternal mortality. You can read Abby's blog post about the day at:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog/2009/03/17/our-interview-with-christy-turlington/

And our latest newsletter with more updates on events is at:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/lists/email.php

 Plan a Community Event with Us!

Our book YOUR BEST BIRTH by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein is being published May 1 by Wellness Central and we are organizing events all around the country for the month of May to encourage women to take back the birth experience and raise awareness about their local birth options.

Many of you planned or attended grassroots screenings of BoBB, which were tremendously successful to raise awareness and funds for community groups and local chapters of national birth organizations.  We heard countless stories from women who changed their birth plans after seeing the film and hearing Q&A panels afterwards. Our hope is that with similar events for the book, birth advocates and professionals can bring resources and empowerment to the women and parents-to-be in their community.

Anytime during the month of May you can host a book event in your home, a local bookstore, yoga studio, baby store, or any venue that will attract pregnant women and parents. We can arrange for to you purchase a stock of books at a 40% discount which can then be sold at your event at retail price, with proceeds to cover event costs or be donated to local birth-related non-profits (any unsold books can be returned and refunded).  We also are preparing for a live web cast of Ricki and Abby discussing the book, which can be shown at the event. We invite you to celebrate the book launch with us by bringing people together to discuss their birth options and introduce them to local providers in your community.  Contact us at info@thebusinessofbeingborn.com for more details.

 BoBB director Abby Epstein visited Brazil recently and was interviewing doctors and women for our upcoming DVD about the country's C-section phenomenon, now up to 93% for the middle-class. Her blog about the trip is now up at:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog/2009/01/21/report-from-rio/

Check it out!

 In her first book, “Labor of Love: A Midwife’s Memoir,” (Kaplan
Publishing) Cara Muhlhahn, the certified nurse-midwife featured in 
the documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” tells her fascinating  
personal story while providing an insider’s look at natural 
childbirth in the home setting.

Muhlhahn will be participating in a panel discussion on home birth on 
Thursday, January 8, at 7 p.m. at McNally Jackson Books at 52 Prince 
Street in N.Y.C.  She’ll sign copies of her new memoir after the 
discussion.  The home birth panel will be moderated by Daphne Beal, 
contributor to Vogue and The New York Times.  This event is free and 
open to the public.

 We are working on DVD #2 and Abby Epstein & Ricki Lake recently went to The Farm to visit with and interview famous midwife Ina May Gaskin.  To read about their trip and see photos, go to our blog at:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog/2008/12/09/down-on-the-farm/

 Today's NY Times has a great article on the rise of homebirths and the effect of BoBB on that trend. We're so excited!

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/garden/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1226595879-rimxy1zvV6pwaBcZuAhG3w

 We've teamed up with Moby Wrap to create a new BoBB "Born Free" wrap, with proceeds going to CIMS.  Abby & Ricki are pictured wearing them on our site and in our latest newsletter at:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/lists/email.php

Baby’s Birth Date: 14 March 2006

Birth Story: I visited my lay midwife on Saturday. I’d been having contractions all morning, but no serious ones. I was checked and dilated to a 5. I thought this must be the day! I continued ALL that day, but right around bedtime they stopped. Nothing the next day and only a little activity on Monday. Finally, Tuesday morning around 5:30am things started going. I stayed in bed to get my rest and just deal with it. I told my husband and friend who came from out of town to assist in our birth, to just leave me alone. I had a notebook and pen and a clock by my bed. I would write the times down and let them evaluate them later. I did that until about noon and they decided it was time to get the midwives to the house.

Just around that time I went to the bathroom and when I wiped, it didn’t feel right. My husband checked and it didn’t look right. It didn’t look like cord or baby. Our midwife asked if we wanted to transport or wait for her to arrive and check things out. We decided to wait for her to check on it. So I went into the head and knees position on my bed and waited for over 40 minutes for her to arrive and check. She discovered nothing out of the ordinary. It had corrected itself (later we realized I had developed a prolapsed cervix due to multiple births and large babies). But I was dilated to a 10 and could push anytime. She told me to not worry about rushing, but to do what my body felt like doing. Brilliant advice considering when I got into the birthing tub my labor came to a screeching halt. I had maybe four mild contractions every hour for 2 hours. My husband ordered pizza for everyone and when the delivery guy was at the door asked if we were having a birthday party. He said “Yes, as a matter of fact!” After my 2 hour rest, my body decided it was time to get back to work. I had very little to no urge to push the entire time. I HATED to have to get out of the tub. The contractions would hit me one after another. I stayed in for all checks and monitoring.

I remember getting tired and asked for a pillow, which my husband put on my shoulder. It was distracting to have one shoulder warm and the other cold and it felt wonderful when my husband rested his hand on my other shoulder so I told him to leave it there. Which, of course, he did. I did 2 hours of this work until I felt this great urge to push so I turned over into a sitting position where everyone was now able to see the bag of waters bulging out. One push the bag breaks and there’s my baby’s head seriously crowning. I pushed again and his head was born. I stopped for a minute and touched his SO soft hair. The very next contraction he was born and I lifted him up onto my chest. He gently coughed and snuggled up with me. NO crying.

Side note: I’m terribly indecisive about names so I gave my husband a couple that I really liked for a boy and a girl and told him he could pick from my choices. After I delivered, he told me I had earned the right to name him. So, what was it going to be? Well, I didn’t WANT to be the one to pick. I said I didn’t know and to pick one. So he turns the camera toward my 7 year old son who was sick on the couch and asked him what we should name him. He blurts out “Jason”. Did I mention THAT wasn’t one of the choices!!! They ask if that’s ok and I say, “Sure”. And that’s what we stuck with. Jason was 9lbs even.

Please visit www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog to read more about home birth stories and experiences.

Baby’s Birth Date: March 25, 2007

Birth Story: We gently welcomed our son into the world, at home, in the water, in the presence of our incredible midwives. It was the most awesome day of our lives. The birth was magical and wonderfully natural. Our son initiated the birthing process, without the need for intervention, and guided my body throughout the whole process. After his birth we all snuggled up together and went to rest, in the comfort of our own bed. I can’t imagine it any other way!

Please visit www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/blog to read more about home birth stories and experiences.