Maybe Baby

A frank and intimate exploration of single women pursuing motherhood in a brave new world of technology, absent partners and biological clocks that may run out. O'Rourke's casting, the trust she engenders from her subjects, combined with the clarity she brings to the medical and cultural issues involved, make for a timely and compelling film.

Shannon O'Rourke's Maybe Baby is extremely engaging, intimate, and ultimately highly educational. O'Rourke invites us to experience first-hand the very real issues and dilemmas of single women trying to conceive, and the effect is powerful, going beyond emotionally satisfying portraiture to deliver sharp insight regarding contemporary American values and notions of family. Maybe Baby also demonstrates the power of immersive documentary filmmaking, as O'Rourke was clearly closely involved in the lives portrayed on screen, relationships from which viewers, students, and advocates for these issues will ultimately benefit.

These women's interwoven stories make up Maybe Baby, Shannon O'Rourke's heartfelt documentary about baby love, the fertility gamble, and the changing face of the American family. Filmed over four years with remarkable candor, the film follows the "emotional endurance test" of donor selection, shots, symptoms, and side effects, pee sticks and blood tests, ultrasounds, and fateful announcements. Meanwhile, it raises questions about the social and personal ramifications of single motherhood by choice.

Filmmaker Shannon O'Rourke's Maybe Baby was another bright spot (and much more than a catchy name.) It's an intimate documentary that traces the emotional and physiological journeys of four middle-aged women as they pursue pregnancy ... It's a heartrending tale that sheds light on what motherhood means in contemporary America.

This terrific documentary follows half-a-dozen single women (including one lesbian couple,) trying to have children through in-vitro fertilization. We take the ride with them through donor selection, pregnancy tests, impregnations, miscarriages and a few real live babies at the end. The amazingly unobtrusive camera captures their hopes and misgivings, joy and despair as these very brave women weave their way through medical appointments, support groups, and family discussions. Anyone actually considering in-vitro, let alone just interested in the human dimension of reproductive science, should see this film.