hey Bon, I know exactly how you feel...my best friend had her first baby last week - completely normal, trouble free pregnancy...her and her DH educated themselves about birth and decided an active, natural birth was best for them. Birth plan specifically stated 'no induction unless medically necessary', 'do not offer me drugs for pain relief, I am aware of the options and will ask if I need them. I will use hot water, heat, aromatherapy and massage instead,' 'no episiotomy unless absolutely medically necessary', 'physiological 3rd stage unless absolutely necessary to have injection but absolutely NO cord traction'...and the plan was to labour at home until she was almost ready to push to avoid any unnecessary intervention.

her waters broke 6 days before EDD, hospital insisted she come to hospital immediately, despite no mec in waters and healthy pregnancy. Contractions hadn't started within 4 hours and she was informed she MUST have syntocinon (induction) or she was risking infection...agreed to start a low dose with the mw's promise they could stop it once labour had started and if they were satisfied her body had taken over contractions. Mum laboured like an incredible birthing goddess for 9 hours in the bath, shower, walking around, squatting, kneeling, being massaged...ready start pushing after 9 hours of contracting...and after 5 hours of pushing and little progress due to a cervical lip, my friend was completely exhausted, she had a shot of pethidine which made her vomit and feel dizzy...in fact, it made her vomit so much she couldn't push anymore and the OB came rushing in with a pair of forceps, despite baby's heart rate being a steady 130-140bpm the entire 14 hours. Forceps meant an episiotomy and a shot in the leg to 'deliver' the placenta, which the OB pulled out of her.

Right now she's loving getting to know her baby but has expressed a few times that things didn't go to plan and that she is disappointed by this...when she's ready, I'll be there if she wants me to, to debrief with her and help her to work out what the plan of attack is for her next baby to achieve the birth she wants

It makes me so angry that such a well informed woman's needs and wants can be ignored by medical staff to do things to her that are not evidence based and against her wishes