Letters to the Editor
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Hospitals are improving their "cold" image
I can appreciate that some people have felt the medical community stripped birth of its natural quality, but hospitals are getting that message. Some near me offer water births, doulas and massage all in a quiet, serene environment far from the sterile image most associate with feet-up-in-the-stirrups birthing back in the day.
I too have had personal experience with home births going horribly bad: a boyfriend's sister is mentally and emotionally handicapped because she was deprived of oxygen during her birth. She nearly died. Her next sibling did die as a result of the same thing. Her parents were what you would call religious about the home birth movement.
I think holding extremist views either way deprive people of the variety of choices out there. Bringing the best both experiences offer together- as many hospital are doing- seems to be the general trend. Instead fitting birth into a personal philosophy, we should approach it with a mind free of ideology so there is more room for facts.