I think this is a bit OTT - women have ALWAYS been assisted by other women when giving birth (and I reckon those poor bugger cavewomen who were alone while everyone else was off eating wooly mammoth were pretty ticked off that no one was around). I am all for natural birth and so on, but this kind of birthing, IMO, seems as "competitive" as the whole "my post-baby body is perfect in 6 days" thing that goes on in Hollywood.....

ETA Cherie not saying you are competitive darl - I would love an unassisted birth too in a perfect world but I think it is more a backlash against the over-interventionist climate we live in than anything that is actually ideal....