British midwife calls for end to pain relief during childbirth - Video

I feel EXTREMELY angry about this! Many women have terrible labours, for them I have a lot of empathy! I have felt the pain of a bad labour and believe me I have suffered trauma. Some women are lucky and have it easier than others. When my baby came out, all I had was gas and air. I was offered an epidural but I could not think for myself, every thought I had in my brain was concentrated on the pain. I had turned into a child who could not think for myself. I could not see myself coming out of this alive. I had a very dry birth. I was in stirrups for hours because i could not hold my legs up. My clitoral area had ripped and I did not know this, the pain of the contractions were so much worse. As a man you will never know the pain some women will go through and as a man, you don't even have the right to make a comment!!!
Talking about bonding..... i didn't have the strength to hold on to my baby who was just 4 pound 2, she didn't see me until the day after. I was left on my own asleep because i had passed out with the pain. Im sure that did more damage to my bond with my child. If i had had an epidural, I could have held onto her and breastfed. You are treading on thin ground and I think you should not be working in the field you are in if this is how you feel!

I'm sorry but this kind of blanket statement re childbirth is a joke!
I felt manipulated out of using pain relief by the midwives for my 4840gm huge baby at Wellington hospital. Midwives have lost the plot when they dictate to their "sisters" how they should give birth when that was the very problem with the old school medical model of delivery.
It reminds me of "Animal Farm" There needs to be more power given back to the birthing mother.

Wow, it is really sad to see how negatively so many women view childbirth! I was lucky enough to have a mother with really positive stories to tell me about giving birth, and to have watched her give birth at home to my 2 younger sisters with midwife and GP attendance. So when I had kids, I planned homebirths, and really prepared myself for the immensely challenging task of giving birth. So yes, although giving birth is so unbelievably challenging you can't even describe it, giving birth to my two kids was the highlight of my life!! I would not give up that experience for anything. I felt really safe and respected in my own comfortable space, with the love of family all around me. And it left me with the sense that I COULD DO ANYTHING! What an awesome way for a woman to feel as she embarks on the massive new role of motherhood! I was so blown away by the whole experience that I am now in my first year of training as a midwife, LOVING it, and learning heaps about the science behind labour pain, experience and bonding. When women feel private, safe, and not 'watched' their labours go better and they feel less pain. The same applies when they are active, upright, and spontaneous, or in water. How many people feel this way in the bright lights of a busy hospital? It is really sad that so many women go through labour in intense pain lying on their backs in an unfamiliar place without preparation or the support they need - under those circumstances I'm amazed anyone manages to give birth without drugs!! But it doesn't have to be that way. When you are in the right environment with the right frame of mind, your body's own hormones and painkillers keep things manageable and giving birth can be both painful, intense, challenging and absolutely wonderful. The cocktail of hormones you and your baby experience after a drug-free birth 'prime' you to fall in love with eachother in a way that cannot be repeated at any other time ever, though this does not mean there aren't other times and ways of bonding later