Rochester Hills

Stars share birth stories during benefit screening for new wellness center

By Mary Beth Almond
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo provided The film “More Business of Being Born” will be shown this weekend as part of a fundraiser for a local birth and family wellness center at Emagine Theatre in Rochester Hills. Filmmaker Ricki Lake and producer Abby Epstein’s all-new, four-part documentary “More Business of Being Born” features various celebrity birth stories, including Alanis Morissette’s. Photo provided The film “More Business of Being Born” will be shown this weekend as part of a fundraiser for a local birth and family wellness center at Emagine Theatre in Rochester Hills. Filmmaker Ricki Lake and producer Abby Epstein’s all-new, four-part documentary “More Business of Being Born” features various celebrity birth stories, including Alanis Morissette’s.

ROCHESTER HILLS — A host of celebrities, including Gisele Bundchen, Cindy Crawford, and Melissa Joan Hart, will share their personal birth experiences during a documentary shown as part of a fundraiser for Live With Awareness at Emagine Theatre in Rochester Hills.

Live with Awareness is a group of local business women — including Kathy Whitmore of Health & Healing Chiropractic, Janice Rex-Weaver of Peaceful Birthing and certified HypnoBirthing educator Natalie Fuoco — who have teamed to create a birth and family wellness center in Rochester this spring.

The goal of the new birth and wellness center, according to Fuoco, is to help empower families in their birth and wellness choices through education and encourage conscious living choices.

“We hope to create a paradigm shift in wellness through support, education, and awareness,” she said in a statement.

The center is the first of its kind in southeast Michigan, serving expectant parents and families of all ages, and will provide pre- and post-natal care, pregnancy and childbirth education classes, a birthing suite, family chiropractic care, massage, nutrition, an eco boutique and much more. The center will also include a nonprofit entity in order to provide care and classes to community members in need of support.

Rex-Weaver said all three of the center’s co-founders have very personal passions relating to birth and wellness that led them to team up to open the center.

“We’re very committed to giving choice to women and families through education, much like these movies are, that’s why it was the perfect fit for a fundraiser,” she added.

The special benefit screening, which serves as a fundraiser for the new center, will feature filmmaker Ricki Lake and producer Abby Epstein’s all-new four-part documentary, “More Business of Being Born,” a follow up to the 2007 documentary, “Business of Being Born.” The documentary continues the exploration of the modern maternity care system, offering women information about their birth options. The film focuses mainly on hospitals and birth centers, and various features celebrity birth stories — from well-known faces including Cindy Crawford, Alanis Morissette, Gisele Bundchen, Melissa Joan Hart, Christy Turlington Burns and Laila Ali — with a wide range of birth experiences.

Lake said in a statement that she and Epstein created the follow-up film to answer essential questions about labor and childbirth, covering topics that are not typically discussed in detail at a routine obstetric appointment.

“I want to empower women and educate women so that they can make the best choice for them. We’re not telling women, ‘Oh, you should do this. I had a home birth so you should too.’ I think today’s modern woman needs to know what the true statistics are and what the risks are, both for a natural, un-medicated birth and for a hospital one,” Lake said in a statement.

Those interested in watching the documentary and taking part in a related workshop have two opportunities to do so over the weekend. Participants of the first weekend workshop, which will be held 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Emagine Theatre, will see “PART 1: Down on The Farm: Conversations with Legendary Midwife Ina May Gaskin” and “PART 2: Special Deliveries: Celebrity Mothers Talk Straight on Birth,” followed by a presentation on “Benefits of Midwifery Care: The Birth Center and Homebirth Options.”

The second workshop, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at Emagine Theatre, will include the screenings of “PART 3: Explore Your Options: Birth Centers, Doulas, & C-Sections” and “PART 4: The VBAC Dilemma: What Your Options Really Are” as well as a presentation on “Overcoming VBAC Obstacles – What it Takes to Have a Successful VBAC.”

Ticket prices are $28 per day, which includes two showings each day, speakers and a light breakfast. Proceeds will go to nonprofit The Sanctuary New Family Foundation and to support the opening of the birth and family wellness center. Tickets can be purchased at www.Emagine-entertainment.com or at the theatre location.

For more information about Live with Awareness, or for viewing information, visit www.BirthCenter2012.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1060.