For goodness sake, 'militant'? I don't think so. In my experience, this forum is moderate in comparison to some others I've participated in...where I was moderated, then banned from posting, within hours banned from reading...all because I chose to be moderate instead of foaming at the mouth in agreement with people holding more extreme views than my own!! I've been enjoying the diversity of responses here, even where I don't agree with a viewpoint. It all confirms my convictions about how childbirth ought to be.
The way I see it, the peddling of fear is what influences first-timers to believe that they need to be medically supervised so as not to risk their health and that of the baby. Ironically, women who trust the medical model of birth for the health and safety of mother and baby are the ones who will ask for/accept pain relief that overrides the health and safety of the baby and can interrupt the establishment of breastfeeding. The mother has foregone advocacy for herself (she's given all agency to the OB), most likely has no realistic birth plan (if one at all) and her partner is inculcated into this 'doctor knows best/has your best interests at heart' fantasy so has no concept of what kind of support the mother/baby dyad needs during labour (because it is criminal to let a mother believe she can make 'choices' during labour when she's in the most vulnerable state nature can render her). ETA: Here, I'm talking about the first-timers who have chosen medicalisation out of fear - I just read your post, Cassius, after I posted!
I don't know what it will take to get through to first-timers that they are not being negligent by foregoing medicalised care in normal pregnancy, and in fact enhance their bonding and establishment of breastfeeding (which leads to a happier, healthier human being, long-term, not just in the first couple of years when MCHN's obsess over charts and overlook the skill of simple observation - another story for another day!) .
The midwife-led model, from my experience, does not separate the mother/baby entity at any stage of the game. They treated us like a unit and even during some PPH, they made sure DS was on me while they treated me. They also trusted me - it was more than a matter of me trusting them. It was a mutual understanding and they could see that I was highly empowered. The attending midwife ended up thanking me for my birth because all she had to do was fill my tub and watch me birth my baby. They were not threatened by the knowledge that we had done a Hypnobirthing course, nor by the fact that I stated that I was going to labour, hopefully (and I did), entirely at home.
The referring OB for the birth centre that I had to see (for hospital policy) was great. When I presented to him and he asked me some questions about how I felt he said "well, you're fine, you're just pregnant". Duh!
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