Thanks Hoob! Obviously, it's not always a case of mind over matter - but I'd say that mostly it is!!

It's funny Cat, I think that about a lot of parenting - breastfeeding, cloth nappies, drug-free birth - what do people think used to happen even 50 years ago?! I agree that formula's brilliant if you can't breastfeed, disposables are good, um, if your washing machine's broken, drugs are great if a medical situation arises - but I wonder if these things weren't options, whether we would think that we needed them?
Like, for a trivial example, sometimes I have to get out of bed at night cos I NEEEEEED an icy pole, but it never happens when I know there's none in the freezer. Only when I know icy poles are an option! Or like, when a little kid knows there's choccy biscuits - they might never usually ask for/have choccy biscuits, but once they know it's an option - nothing else will do! (told you it was trivial!)

I think, for me, giving birth in a Family Birthing Centre, made birth perhaps a bit more like the Dutch model of care (going back to my roots, hehe). There wasn't the option of strong drugs, and it never occurred to me to ask for them. It's not that I wanted drugs, but resisted the urge to ask - I actually never once thought - 'I need pain relief in the form of drugs'.

So yeah...I wonder, if drugs weren't routinely offered, and not recommended, weren't seen as such an integral part of birth - how many women would birth without drugs - and birth just as well, if not better?

ETA: By the way, I've heard that people with a Dutch heritage are really awesome, like, super people. Just passing it on.