Read other letters about this article
I wouldn't know a photo of "Britney Spears" if I saw one. But I'm left wondering what positions the women were in in the births the writer HAS seen. I gave birth to my first son on my hands and knees at home, and pushing that kid out was a mountaintop experience--awesome. My second son was breech, so I went to a hospital. Declined a C-section, and gave birth vaginally to a 9-pounder who came butt first with his legs crossed.
I worked like a draft horse, but the only PAIN involved was when the ob-gyn made me climb on the frigging gurney so they could take the baby's heartbeat in between contractions. If I'd had to deliver on my back on that thing, I would have opted for the C-section. My spine was beyond misery when they asked me to be in a position that has a baby working against gravity to be born. (The nurses finally figured out that they could take the heartbeat by holding the monitor against my stomach while I stood on the floor and leaned over the bed. Hallelujah.) The implication that giving birth in a fashion other than the "traditional" delivery bed scenario drives me nuts. Especially in a column that's ostensibly "woman-focused."