Mother's Advocate Tracks Down Historical Footage for Video Series

Share 

By Jill—Unnecesarean

Mother’s Advocate posted a five-part video called The Timeless Way: A History of Birth from Ancient to Modern Times on its website in March 2010.

I posted this five part series here with the fourth part first (simply because I feel it’s the must-see video of the set because of the nature of the footage included), followed by the first, second, third and fifth parts.

Part 4: Changes in Birth Practices

(Possibly triggering)

Part 1: Birth Images from Ancient Times

Part 2: European Birth Images from the 1500s

Part 3: Birth Images from the 1800s

Part 5: Consequences of Modern Birth Practices

Comments

[The Deranged Housewife]

All I keep thinking is how people perceive those "poor, uneducated women" in the south who had less access to modern hospitals and maternity care - little does anyone realize how good they had it. What a totally different birth experience. There is something so comforting about seeing the grandmotherly image of the black midwives in this footage - I would much rather have birthed with them than any doctor in a hospital.

And every time I hear the name of Dr. DeLee I want to vomit.

[Linda]

Nice series. Although I take issue with two absolutist statements: "Women need assistance in labor" and "women risk their lives in childbirth." Neither were true for me.

[Birth Unplugged]

I love these. I do agree with Linda about the absolutist statements, but otherwise a great series on childbirth history and birth art. I was disturbed by some of the film footage in part 4 (I had never seen a baby pulled out with forceps on film before), but it's a positive kind of disturbed, if that makes sense.

[Kathy]

I loved that last birth, in which the mother just sort of stares in disbelief, shaking as she reaches to pick him/her up, repeating, "It's a baby!" Sounds like she had gotten so involved in labor/birth that she forgot why she was pushing or what she was doing.