I knew I shouldn't get back on yet, haven't even reached bottom in the snail mail pile after a week away, but this is so much more fun. The word deliver in obstetrics has nothing to do with delivery of freight. It is used in the archaic way, meaning deliverance, such as 'deliver us from evil', and it is the birth attendant who delivers the mother. She is delivered of a child, or children in the case of multiples. If she doesn't need help, she has delivered herself of a child. The baby is not 'goods' in this use of the word. And yes, I know it is universally used in this incorrect way in North America, but that doesn't make it any more correct. I believe that language matters, and especially language about what happens to us and our children during their births. There is a brilliant book called 'Delivered at home', written a few years ago by Julia Allison, (former ?) General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives in England (ISBN 1-5659-3352-4). I resisted reading it for a time because I didn't like the allusion that women who gave birth at home were delivered by anyone. But when I finally read it, I learned that she chose the title from the birth logs of the Nottingham district midwives of the time, and she interprets it in two ways. They were delivered of their babies at home, and they were delivered from the necessity of hospital admission by the availability of a district midwifery service which by the way, had excellent statistics and results and continued to provide their safe, woman-and-baby friendly care to the majority of women in Nottingham until the 1970's when a number of other factors combined to make hospital birth more common. Women 'delivered' at home were generally poorer, less healthy and less well educated than those who went into hospital, and their breastfeeding rates were consistently higher, another reflection of the excellent care given by the midwives. Phyllis wrote that most Swedish women are now delivering themselves in the squatting position, unless I have misunderstood her post. Phyllis, what is the source of your information? Most Scandinavian women have freedom of movement throughout labor, but I am not aware that squatting is particularly preferred in Sweden, and in fact thought that kneeling or all fours was more popular. But there are still plenty of midwives practicing who work in the bad old-fashioned way, woman in semi-reclining position with legs in the air, unfortunately. Even so, the babies manage to get breastfed. It isn't just one thing that matters. Where the whole society is committed to breastfeeding, it takes a lot more to foil it. Anyone else want to climb on the soapbox? I think I've said enough for now... Rachel Myr back in Kristiansand, Norway listening to autumn rainstorms at my window and wishing we had just a little of the Aegean weather here too. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html