Ione,

YES YES YES!! So well put!  Why do we not cheer our moms on to victory?  That
was the philosophy in the birthing center, and the support these moms got was
phenomenol!  So great, and they were so empowered.  Both my daughters are
cross country runners, and to watch them at the end of the race, faces
drained of blood, pain etched across them was agonizing for me to watch.
 This is fun?  But the exhileration at the end of the race, knowing they had
done their best -- the extra burst of energy as they beat someone close
coming into the chute -- the triumph of that moment was empowering, and the
glow of victory lasted for hours.

These mothers don't have that glow of victory that lasts for years (I'm still
pumped & Torrey is 17 -- Tim is 11).  I remember when Jill was born (primip
breech), I was lucky to have a vag delivery, but they gave me a spinal at the
end, much against my wishes.  I felt like a lump of meat with legs.  There
was relief, of course, but none of the tremendous feeling of triumph I
experienced after Torrey & Tim were born.

Oh dear, I better get off this soapbox before I die of the thin air.  I could
go on about this forever.  Thanks, Ione, for putting it much better than I
ever could.  Health Professionals do totally miss the point about birthing.
 The pain of childbirth has been made out to be so awful, that women go into
their pregnancies knowing they are going to have an epidural; their minds are
made up.  The pediatrician in our office is having her first in a few months
-- she's already decided to have an epidural; no way is she going to go
through that awful pain.  The usual jokes at the party about how having a
baby "natural" is like pulling your upper lip over your head... When I talked
about triumph & empowerment and the wonder of it all, they looked at me in
total wonder.  Oh well, I'm a bit of a fanatic in that crowd anyway -- bf,
"natural" childbirth, home birth.... sigh.

Jan B.