The cultural evolution of natural birth.

摘要

Natural birth is not what it used to be. During my research on the newly regulated midwifery profession in the province of Ontario, Canada, in the late 1990s, Leigh, a 36-year-old midwifery client, had this to say about natural birth: "I think that natural is a stupid word. What does it mean in this society? I just wanted to have my birth. You know what I mean? I wanted to be the one who was making the decisions, or we were making the decisions. I didn't want to have a 'natural' birth...I just wanted to be able to trust myself in the experience of being pregnant and the experience of giving birth and I want to now be able to do that with raising my children."