...The Business of Being Born. Of all the documentaries that we watched, this was our favorite. Babies was adorable but lacked substance and The First Cry was bad unless you are planning to give birth with a dolphin between your legs! The Business of Being Born was informative and entertaining enough for a pregnant lady with digestive issues and a husband who really doesn't care about Ricki Lake (executive producer).In the French part of Canada, we have two hobbies: bitching about the weather and bitching about our medical system. After I watched this documentary that questioned the way American women have babies, I realized that I should maybe focus more on the weather and less on our medical system.
It truly breaks my heart to think about women who have no choice but to work until they give birth, who have to wait for insurance approval before they can get a medical follow up, who are forced to go through medical procedures while in labor and who have to go back to work two months after they gave birth.
I know that it sounds naive but I told my husband that pregnant ladies that have to work with painful backs, water retention in their feet, ligament problems in their bellies and without proper rest in weeks should have a refugee status and move to Montreal (hello, one year paid maternity leave)!
And then I told him that all those women and I would have get-togethers and we would drink herbal tea, knit baby clothes, stitch receiving blankets and do prenatal (and postnatal) yoga! Yes, maybe I need to have more pregnant friends in my area!
8 comments:
Yeah... I worked right up until the day I went into labor and was back at work seven weeks later. Pretty lame indeed.
agreed - lame!!! I told my boss that if I haven't gone into labor before my due date, that the Friday before {my due date is a Monday} will be my last day. I'm sure I'll want to leave sooner, however, I only get a certain amount of time for maternity leave... AND I have to work some from home.
It is lame! But you already know how I feel about this. :) I told my husband I'm ready to pack up and move to Montreal to drink tea and knit with you! Also, that documentary really is fantastic. One of my favorites.
Monteal has one year paid maternity leave? Oh! I should try and get transferred to our Montreal office! My husband and I really liked Montreal!
We are entitled to one years maternity leave here, but only 6 weeks is paid by the company then a further 18 from the government but the govt money is as minimum wage (which is better than nothing). My American friend went back to work 8 weeks after giving birth- so unfair.
The maternity leave in Quebec is different from the ROC (rest of Canada). It's almost scandinavian in a way. Mothers get 18 weeks, Fathers 7 weeks and the rest can be split between parents. The weekly paycheck is an average 70% of our salary. Some employers even add up a bonus to make it 100%. Adopting parents can have acces to the service too.
P.s.: Claudia: va sur mamanpourlavie, il y a une section rencontres de mamans-future mamans par quartier.
thank you. ;)
That's a must watch! Thanks for sharing
I agree. We are really lucky in France in terms of medical care (I didn't spend a dime throughout my entire pregnancy & birth) but we could seriously do with an extention of the maternity leave which is only 16 weeks long (6 weeks before and 10 after the birth). I was able to stay longer with my little boy because I saved so many days of holiday. It's torture to leave your baby at home, let alone when he's only a few weeks old...
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