I really hope we can get this revolution going again! I am just doing final
revisions for a book I am writing (with Dr. Joyce Barrett) about what the
current research tells us about pregnancy and childbirth (and a section on
initiating breastfeeding, of course!). As part of the research, we
advertised in a couple of Canadian magazines for people to send in their
birth stories. I got thousands of letters, and they were fascinating - but a
bit scary - to read.

The letters could almost be divided into two piles. The women in one pile
found midwives, doulas, read up on the issues, and had positive, largely
unmedicated births. The women in the other pile began by having a lot of
prenatal tests, frequently ended up being induced for one reason or another,
with a fetal monitor, and soon the interventions were piling up on top of
each other - often leading to a Caesarean. I could almost predict on page
one of the letter what kind of birth they would end up having. (Of course
there were exceptions - but I'm talking about the overall picture I saw in
these letters.) And then of course I'd read about the problems with getting
breastfeeding going, and wonder how much was due to the heavy medication at
birth.

These issues are tied in together, and  I hope we can do something to make
some changes.

Teresa Pitman