In the mid-twentieth century, with medical advances it was possible to reduce maternal mortality, but in hospitals, births were the least similar to a natural event. Women were drugged with various substances: antipsychotics, torazine, nitrous oxide (the "gas of laughter"), benzedrine ...
Then, he stood between "dreams" without being aware of the process and thus eliminated fear and pain at birth. Fortunately, around 1950 in the United States a new trend emerged that claimed natural childbirth, without having to drug women. You could give birth without fear and with little suffering if you helped the woman to it.
It was also relegated that way not wanting to know anything, total anesthesia or unjustified caesarean sections that were requested too frequently.
The "Washingtong Post" in 1949 spoke of "an advance in psychosomatic medicine": natural childbirth did not "rebel" against anything earlier, but was the logical advance of the investigations of the time that related body-mind. A mother with fear could influence the state of the newborn.
And, although the Freudian side of this statement is evident, the latest research suggests that this statement is not misleading (we talk about the baby's stress, the development of his brain, the contact with the mother ...).
Then the focus was on the mother's muscle relaxation: had to distend the muscles because childbirth would hurt less. The relaxation techniques were diverse: meditation, yoga, physical exercise ... and even hypnosis or religion. Of those "methods", some survived and come to our day as effective relaxation techniques.
Childbirth began to be seen, not as suffering, but as an intense life experience that had to be felt and not drugged. The Lamaze method, which emerged in France, became popular in the United States and others emerged claiming relaxation, natural and painless delivery such as the Bradley method.
Gradually, starting with Yale's, more hospitals added to this trend. "Natural delivery", "prepared delivery"... were some of the names he received. It became popular as a way of giving birth that presented many advantages for the mother and the baby. In 1950, the magazine "Life" on its cover bore the headline of "Birth without fear", which reproduced the title of a popular book a few years earlier.
Inside, there was the report of a mother who was not hypnotized or drugged, and who was not afraid. He relaxed playing cards during contractions, gave birth with narrowed eyes and held his son happily. More women in the country received the message and began to claim this way of giving birth.
But also, as today, this "novel" way of giving birth had many detractors, it was said to be back to the past. And not only among medical professionals. Fortunately, many of them opened the way to non-medicalized deliveries in hospitals.
The figures were there: fewer deaths than in the past, happier mothers, more professionals and hospitals in favor of natural childbirth... The road was open and unstoppable. Many scientific studies proved the benefits of "the natural." In the 60s and 70s he was tirelessly vindicated.
Until today, when giving birth does not have to be synonymous with instrumentalized delivery and anesthetized by system. When WHO highlights the advantages of "controlled" natural births in medical settings, "normal births." When the benefits of relaxation, of walking during contractions, of non-pharmacological systems to relieve pain have been scientifically proven.
When the mother becomes the protagonist of her own birth (with her baby) and is not left at the expense of what others want to do, she expresses her wishes and wants to be respected, living the birth intensely (which does not mean that pain can be mitigated with different techniques that do not "nullify" your conscience).
However, there is a long way to go and sometimes even if the woman wants to give birth "wake up", consciously, naturally, without fear ... other factors involved in doing so in certain hospitals may cause the delivery to not end as you would have liked. And then childbirth ends up being an experience that can be called in any way less "natural."
