Believe it or not, it will mean you ultimately experience less pain overall. If you really find out about normal, healthy birth and follow the guidelines in Preparing for a Healthy Birth you'll find your labour is much shorter, safer and even easier than it would otherwise have been.

They all have side-effects of some kind or other, or affect the process of a woman’s labour and birth. Pethidine for example, makes it less easy for a newborn baby to breastfeed successfully because he or she is unable to suck as well at birth. Diamorphine—which is another name for heroin—has the same effect and, like other opiates, can leave the mother (and her baby) feeling drowsy for some time after the birth. Epidurals can make the second stage of labour very difficult and also come with various risks, which necessitate other interventions. Having blood pressure continuously monitored is standard procedure after an epidural is administered; other drugs (e.g. syntocinon or pitocin, which are artificial hormones) are also frequently necessary because epidurals often slow down a woman’s labour. Even gas and air—which women use without a second thought in the UK—carries risks. You can find out about those in Preparing for a Healthy Birth.

This is perhaps the most shocking thing of all… Much, if not most, of current practice (in hospitals and at home) is not what researchers recommend. Take a few simple examples…

• Having electronic fetal monitoring on arrival at hospital has only one certain, proven outcome: the caesarean rate increases
• Labouring in bed, or immobile (because the woman is connected up to a drip or a monitor) means more pain and slower progress from the point of getting the baby born
• Being moved from a labour ward to a delivery suite moments before the birth is the very worst time to disturb a pregnant woman
• Lying on your back to give birth means going against gravity
• Taking the baby away to be ‘checked’, weighed and cleaned up directly after the birth is also a very dangerous disturbance and can lead to fatal maternal haemorrhage
• Interfering with mother-baby interaction moments after the birth can affect long-term bonding

If you’re not disturbed while you’re in labour, interesting things will start happening… Your body will produce a powerful cocktail of hormones which will help you to cope with the pain. These same hormones will also help you to feel that you’re ‘going to another planet’. Women who experience a totally drug-free, normal birth generally report having enjoyed the experience afterwards!

No. You can have an entirely drug-free birth in hospital, with all the expertise and technology available in case it’s needed.

Not at all. In Preparing for a Healthy Birth you’ll read about engineers, teachers, financial analysts, doctors, midwives, writers and psychotherapists who’ve given birth entirely naturally. These days, normal birthers are usually people who’ve done a lot of research and discovered the advantages of going without drugs or unnecessary interventions.

Things are changing… More and more, the short and long-term effects of drugs and interventions are becoming known so you may not have trouble finding someone. In any case, you can reassure anyone you approach that you are hoping to have their full support, so that you can have the safest birth possible.