From I didn't know I was pregnant:
"Amazingly without any drugs D gives birth vaginally..."
Myeah, human females have been giving birth for aprox. 100.000 years and suddenly it doesn't happen without drugs!? Though I have heard American programs claim similar things, how amazing it is that a woman would give birth without medical attention. (Maybe if your baby's head is the size of a beachbal, ok)
Medical attention is for sick people, pregnant women are not sick. It's like having a period, even without the pads and the paracetamol you're still going to have it. Be it a lot more messy.
In fact the really poor statistics for mother and baby health for childbirth in the US is often due to the popular medical intervention. It doesn't make birth safer, actually the opposite unless you happen to have a real emergency. The drugs that numb the pain make you less able to push so the delivery takes longer (pain is a tool in delivery, not just a byproduct) and then they give you drugs to make you cramp harder so the baby comes faster and that gives you more pain and the baby gets in distress due to the speed and frequency of contractions...resulting in the need for c-sections. Which gives an added chance for complications.
But the mother isn't informed about that so they'll leave the hospital with a smile that the good doctors saved her baby!
The same commentator also said something in a tone of surprise about a woman being in labor for 6 hours! Maybe he should go get a bit of schooling because this birthing thing...not a half hour deal, even 24 hours of labor or longer is not rare. That is how a normal birth goes, it takes time to stretch the tissues without harm. And the heavy pushing and some screaming doesn't happen till the end.
We used to have a show on tv that showed real women giving birth right to the crotch shots and I have never seen any midwife or doctor (or mother for that matter) gasp the labor had been going on for 6 hours. And women here tend to give birth naturally, as in no drugs. Home birth is also not seen as primeval. If nothing points to a health issue babies are delivered by midwives where the mother wants to give birth. It works just fine.
Though I have to say I'd probably feel more relaxed in a hospital but I am not going to be subjected to a doctors timetable. The natural speed is safest. If you feel nervous about hospitals the labor can actually progress less well there so a home birth would go smoother.
Man I really can't even post a little quote without ending up in a tangent. Anyways if you are planning to give birth in the US watch the documentary The Business of Being Born by Ricky Lake, you can find it OL. It's scary but good. If you are not in the US it's still a very informative documentary filled with fascinating information.
~Iflie