Knocked Up

So, I admit it, I laughed my ass off at Knocked Up. Even at the fart jokes. And I haven't seen so many honest-to-goodness authentic-looking geeks on screen since that spelling-bee documentary a few years back (the men, that is; in Hollywoodland, all the women are gorgeous, of course). And that childbirth scene. Wow. If you hope to deliver naturally, then that scene might make you grab your Ina May book and run screaming for the nearest birth center. But let's put this in perspective. Would a doctor really promise a patient he never takes vacation and then go away for the weekend without telling anyone, without having a partner cover his patients, and without having his patients meet that partner? I've heard of some pretty callous behavior by docs, but nothing as inane as that. And when Alison and Ben find another doctor to come in off the bench at the last minute, he's hostile, negative, and impersonal. How would a doctor like that have any patients to begin with? I had to remind myself, THIS IS A COMEDY! So therefore, everything is completely over the top. (Check out the deleted scenes on You Tube to see the actor have an even scarier psychotic meltdown.)

But as crazy as that scene was, the part about the doctor telling Alison that she's taking too long and he has to break her water and get her moving is very, very real. I heard that detail repeated over and over in the interviews I did for my book. So basically I think Judd Apatow took some very realistic concerns about hospital birth and blew them up to widescreen proportions to get the laughs. Funny, yes. Alarmist? Um, yeah. I just hope that women who see this movie take it as a reminder to be very careful who you choose to deliver your baby, discuss all possible scenarios with him/her, and meet your backup person before you start dilating!

Two interesting points of view

I have to give a huge shout-out to the brave souls who came out in that torrential downpour on Monday to take part in my book talk at the Jericho Public Library. Whenever I do these talks, the most interesting thing for me is to hear from other new moms. Since I started working on this book, I have spoken to hundreds of women about their birth experiences, and every single one of them has something new and different to add to the conversation. A woman named Alexa came to this event, who had given birth to four children in Israel, and was now pregnant with her fifth and wondering how it would be different to deliver in the U.S. She talked a lot about the spiritual aspect of childbirth and wanted to deliver as naturally as possible; however, her husband is a doctor, and she feels safest in a hospital setting, so she was trying to figure out the best way to satisfy both needs. Pam, a mother of three, talked about how her experience as a medical-malpractice lawyer informed her birth choices. Whereas Alexa said she was uncomfortable with the idea of following standard hospital protocols, because they do not treat the patient as an individual, but as a set of medical symptoms, Pam said she felt safest when she knew a set of rules was being followed, since she had worked on case where they hadn't, with devastating consequences. It was really an interesting conversation, and everyone was respectful of everyone else's opinion, even when they were diametrically opposed. And there was even a guest appearance by baby Samantha (formerly Eightball), who stole the show with her big blue eyes and adorable Maryjane socks.

Tonight I'm going to see "Knocked Up," which I hear has a very realistic birth scene. I'll let you know what I think in my next entry...