This is a lot of the midwifery point of view, which is that given the right circumstances, a lot of women can birth without drugs, or with minimal drugs, but that the constant interruptions at the hospital, bright lights, and super gravity fighting backlying position all help the nurses and doctors do their jobs but make it a lot harder for the birthing mom to do her job.
When I was part of the midwifery advocacy group, we had several midwives as part of the group. We heard that one delivery nurse liked to wear a button with PAIN and the NO symbol through it. Wonder what her position on the drug thing is.
Another very disturbing thing that I found when I researched the issue of drugs during delivery is that one of the reasons (I found this on a presentation given to a group of Ob/Gyns by another doctor) to administer epidurals is “makes the patient more compliant.” Maybe sometimes this is a real benefit to the mom and baby, but I’m guess THIS benefit is mostly for the doctor.
HOWEVER, C-sections are quite safe, and babies almost never die from them, and mothers have more complications than from vaginal births but very rarely die either from C-sections, which is not the line I was told by my midwives. So - it’s a good idea to listen to both sides of this debate with an open mind.
