The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Collected Quotes about Birthing Exertion and Accomplishment

I use a similar analogy about mountain climbing and natural childbirth.  The feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment can't be beat, even though you can get almost the same view from a helicopter.  I got this from a book called (if I remember correctly) "flow" a few years ago.  It was not about childbirth at all, but had so much wisdom that could be applied to anything difficult or challenging.

 "Think of birth in terms of a marathon runner: she prepares for the race, runs 26 miles, experiences fatigue, pain in her legs and feet from running, but reaches the finish line with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. If someone on the starting line said "Listen, I can give you drugs to put you to sleep and you can wake up on the finish line" do you think that person would have the same sense of accomplishment about finishing the race?" Sue LaLeike, CBE

"It is considered unthinkable in traditional societies to speak to pregnant women about birth as something which is traumatic, physically painful, unpredictable, or unbearable." Linda Rawlings

"Western women are so often overloaded with irrelevant information, frightening anecdotes and conflicting advice around childbirth, that their faith and confidence is diminished long before their birthing begins."

Linda Rawlings "When left to their own devices, babies work their way out and are welcomed into the bosom of mother, father, family and friends in breathless attendance. Birth is indeed a sacred event." Ellen C. Waff, RN

"Women under medical authority do not do, do not even dare to think about doing, or ask for permission to do, and any how usually would not be allowed to do , what would come naturally in childbirth." Marie Reid "Giving birth is not a matter of pushing, expelling the baby, but of yielding, surrendering to birth energy - experience Marie Reid "There is, in fact no scientific support for the vast majority of interventions that are commonly used in maternity care today." Doris Haire, President, American Foundation for Maternal and Child Health

"If all an expectant woman hears is "EPIDURAL" every where she turns, is she truly being given choices? Or are her options whittled down to only one?" Judy M. Wimmer, RN, ACCE

"A Calm, familiar environment is the most natural setting for a birth: there are no "shift changes", no arbitrary time limits, no routine technological procedures, and no medical interferences." Nancy Wainer Cohen

"Midwife means "with woman". In countries where midwives are the primary birth attendants, the rate of natural birth rises significantly, the use of medical technology and cesarean section is dramatically reduced. Though out the world, the midwife is recognized as the "guardian of normal childbirth". Nancy Wainer Cohen

"We try to give a birthing woman freedom to find the right position for her own needs and comfort. Unfortunately, in our society we think of birthing as something done while lying down." Michel Odent

"Studies show a correlation between the level of complication occurring at birth and the level of difficulty that an individual experiences in life". John Thompson Natural Childhood