The Business of Being Born

In one of my many preggo-related e-mails with Danielle, she brought up the movie "The Business of Being Born" which one of her friends had recommended. I immediately got on google and was sucked in instantly by this preview: 

As you know, I have decided to try for an all-natural childbirth. I didn't make this choice because I want to try and be a hero or even because of findings that natural is better for you and your baby. I always thought I wanted a medicated birth and I don't for one milli-second judge someone who decides to go that route. After reading a bunch of books and articles online I just decided that natural was better for me {and frankly, most of that decision comes from being more scared of a needle in my back than the pain of childbirth}. After watching this movie it was absolutely confirmed that I want an all natural childbirth and will do whatever I can to make sure that happens {again, I know things don't always go as planned}.

I really found everything about this movie super interesting, but the main thing that stood out was the sort of vicious cycle of using medication. For example....you get Pitocin to speed up labor which causes your contractions to be more intense and more painful pushing you to want an Epidural but because the Epidural numbs you, you don't feel the contractions or have the urge to push so labor slows down leading to an increase in Pitocin...and this cycle continues on and on until soon you are exhausted and have all this medicine in you and aren't making progress so they take you in for a C-section. Obviously, this isn't always the case...but it makes sense. They give you 10 different things to solve 10 different issues, but it seems the combination just makes everything worse.

After watching The Business of Being Born I found that the producers (Ricki Lake) had made a sort of sequel of episodes covering different topics in more detail.

One thing that really stuck with me from the "More" episodes was that your whole pregnancy you're told all the foods and medications and habits that are bad for you...no Advil, no deli meat, no alcohol, etc. etc. etc. but then all of a sudden when it's time to give birth they want to load you up with medication. I thought that was an amazing point! 

I could go on and on for hours about these movies but I won't bore you. I will say that I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is, has been or eventually wants to be pregnant. I found the whole thing so fascinating. Jason watched it with me too and also found it interesting, not to the extent that I did, but I think it's good for the boys to see.

The Time Traveler's Wife

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Last night I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I loved it! It was a nice change from the good but mindless Emily Giffin books I just read. This book is both a romance and science fiction novel, but somehow is neither at the same time. The time travel of the main character Henry, drives the story but it's not what it's about. This book is about love and not just between man and woman but between friends, and parents and siblings. The novel is a love story but also pushes the philosophical question of purpose and meaning. My favorite thing about the book was the style in which it was written. Niffenegger write from the perspectives of both Henry and Clare, but also includes dates and times so the reader has to follow along in the time travel instead of writing with a linear time line. I loved how Niffenegger often left out punctuation while writing from Clare's perspective, especially when Clare is younger. Without the  punctuation you find yourself reading faster and you get the true feeling of what is racing through Clare's mind. The style was hard hard to get used to and was confusing at first. Initially, it's hard to keep track of whose perspective is being shown, what the date is and the order of the events taking place, but once you get in to it you're so engrossed in the story you just follow right along. I also found myself feeling uneasy while reading this book, which I attribute to the ever changing story and unsureness of the events that may take place. If you haven't read this book I highly recommend it!

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Immediately after I finished the book (which was at 10:30pm by the way) I ran out to the nearest RedBox and grabbed the movie version starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. After being so engrossed in the book I was so curious to see how they portrayed this amazing story in film form. I didn't dislike the movie but it certainly didn't even compare to the book. First of all, the book is 536 pages of deep intensity and the movie runs 1 hour and 47 minutes. I really wish they would have created a longer more epic movie version. The film is really just a compacted, G-rated version of the book. There were so many crucial details left out the movie, which I suppose I understand if you're trying to cram it all in to under 2 hours. I really just wish they would have spent a little more time establishing the relationship between Clare and Henry and the individual characters themselves. I didn't feel the deep and everlasting love between Clare and Henry and I didn't see any of the dark side of Henry or the painful optimism of Clare. The book has some really dark aspects to it and the movie just flew right over all of that. With some more time and some more details from the book this movie could have been much better. But, I will say that if I hadn't read the book first I probably would have loved the movie! And, Rachel McAdams is amazing in everything she does, I love her!

Did you read the book? See the movie? What did you think of both or either?