Birth

Modern Childbirth

Medical advances have brought a drastic reduction in infant mortality, and today the expectant mother is safer on the delivery table than on the highway driving to the hospital. Similar progress has been made in the area of education. The modern woman can actively prepare herself for childbirth and turn it into one of the most rewarding experiences of her life.

Hospital Births
Today, most women prefer to deliver their babies in the hospital where immediate help is available should something go wrong. Modern maternity wards are very different from the clinical environments of the past. After all, pregnancy and birth are not diseases but normal functions of the female body, and thus the attendant doctors and nurses see themselves as a supporting team helping a natural process along.

Home Births
In the meantime, there has also been an increase in home births because many women today do not want to be separated from their newborn children and also like to share their experience with their whole family. In addition, there are now experimental childbirth centers which are not hospitals and which try to avoid a hospital atmosphere. All of these developments are to be welcomed, as long as they are professionally supervised and as long as emergency medical help remains readily available.