Thank you, Kermaline, for sharing that story about the mother who had an epidural and whose baby was born without her even realizing it. It made my blood run cold. Is this what we are coming to? That our new *ideal* is to numb out bodies, minds and souls to the extent that we are mere onlookers in one of life's greatest miracles? Whatever happened to *active participation,* let alone joy? When my second child was born in 1977, I was the first mother in that hospital ever to have been awake and aware during the birth. They laughed at me when I said I wanted to walk to the recovery room instead of being in a wheelchair, and when I got there, they panicked because nursing on the delivery table had contracted my uterus to such an extent that they could not find it manually. I was an oddity in 1977. What a terrible thing that I would be an oddity today too. It makes me want to weep. hugs from norma, who also remembers a workshop she attended where Doris Haire was drumming up support for a Pregnant Patients' Bill of Rights. She turned down my suggestion of adding that every mother be entitiled to breastfeed her baby soon after birth as being too contraversial. Norma Ritter, IBCLC private practice in Big Flats, NY [log in to unmask] ___________________________________________________________________ Why pay more to get Web access? Try Juno for FREE -- then it's just $9.95/month if you act NOW! Get your free software today: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. *********************************************** 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