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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?
I had a similar experience in a Family Birth Centre, but I do remember thinking that pain relief would be great - thinking, oh gee, wouldn't an epidural be nice right now! - even though I've never had one, and I had put in my birth plan that I didn't want one, and the whole idea of having to go up to the hospital wasn't an option for me. I did NOT want to birth in a hospital, and so the epidural just wasn't available, so I didn't ask for it.

I'm sure if I'd have been in a hospital situation, I would have had one. And probably more intervention as well - as it was I narrowly avoided a episiotomy (sp?) and vacuum because I'd been pushing so long... again, the threat of going to the hospital just made me try a bit harder, and lo and behold, he was born then and there, with no pain relief.

I wouldn't deny the relief to women who need it, but like others have mentioned, it's as if we expect that we can't do it on our own. I truly think that if we let women know how possible it is to birth more naturally, many more would feel they could do it.