We get serious about it when we can see our figures expanding to impossible roundness. We attend childbirth classes with pillows and anxious coaches to learn to cope with it. Pregnancy is months long, giving every woman plenty of time to contemplate the problem and be offered frightening stories by well-meaning friends. At The Maternity Center, the nurse-midwives understand and appreciate these concerns. From the first introduction to the moment of birth, we work to help women have a realistic understanding of labor and birth.
Labor is hard physical work and includes some pain.
Like everything else in life, it is harder for some than for others. In recent years, epidural anesthesia has been presented as a wonderful cure-all for labor pain. Indeed, an epidural can be the best answer for some women in some circumstances. However, before we use a major anesthesia with its own hazards and problems, perhaps we should begin with a different way of caring for women. In the birth center, women may walk, eat, drink fluids, and wear whatever is comfortable.