>mothers who
>deliver in hospitals are generally treated as if they are ill. Hence the need
>for the IVs,,hydration and rehydration.

And hence, I think, the "need" for so many pain meds.  My best analogy for
the pain of labor (my pain, at least) is the time I had to help carry a
heavy, floppy mattress several blocks up a steep hill and then stairs.  I
almost cried from frustration and exertion and pain.  But if someone had
walked up to me with a hypodermic and asked me if I wanted pain relief, I'd
have thought he was nuts.  It just wasn't that kind of pain.  Stick me in a
hospital, give me the exact same kind of pain, and "pain relief" suddenly
wouldn't seem so out-of-place.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY