Birth Day, Extended Edition DVD

Naolí Vinaver Lopez and Family

[2007, Tiburon, California: Sage Femme, 66 minutes, DVD. Volume II of the Home Birth Series. A Sage Femme Production. Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and English with German subtitles. NTSC format for viewing in the US, Canada, and Mexico.]

[Review first published in Midwifery Today Issue 82, Summer 2007, © 2007, Midwifery Today, Inc. Review by Cheryl K. Smith.]

I think everyone who is going to have a baby should watch a variety of birth films to get an idea of what to expect. I would definitely include this video in that collection. It is an expanded version of an 11-minute video of the birth of Tamaya Okumura Vinaver. Videographed by the baby’s grandfather, Georges Vinaver, and narrated by the baby’s mother, midwife Naolí Vinaver Lopez, the DVD contains not only the original film, but an additional 10 chapters of footage of the birth, family bonding and placenta. We get to meet Naolí’s parents, her husband, and midwife Cindy Lara Haag, as well as others.

My favorite chapter was entitled “Besos” (kisses). It showed the whole family in the birthing pool together initially bonding with the new baby. The chapter “La Placenta” (the placenta) shows the birth of the placenta and the family’s rendering of an artistic “placenta print” as a momento.

Beautiful and inspiring, Birth Day gives insight into what is needed for birth to be safe and natural. It will help parents and practitioners alike understand the true and sacred meaning of birth.

Reviewer Cheryl K. Smith is managing editor for Midwifery Today and publisher of Ruminations, the Nigerian Dwarf and Mini Dairy Goat Magazine, as well as raising a small herd of mini dairy goats in the coast range of Oregon.

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