Obstetrics: Fewer Drugs for Happier Mothers

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Sister Charitas' observations are based on sound medical theory. Obstetricians are increasingly aware that an overdependence on anesthetics can lead to fetal damage. On the other hand, nobody expects mothers going through natural childbirth to be martyrs. St. Mary's Dr. Carl Dreyer tells all natural-childbirth mothers in the delivery room: "Any time this ceases to be fun, we can give you gas." But a surprising number never ask for it, prefer instead to reap the psychological benefits of wide-awake participation in their baby's birth. "It is common for a natural-childbirth mother right after birth to talk about having another baby," says Sister Charitas, "but I have never known a mother who had a general anesthetic to mention having another baby that soon."

Nonetheless, among U.S. medical men, nonbelievers still outnumber believers in natural-childbirth methods, and many obstetricians tend to deride the evangelical fervor of the naturalists for drugless childbirth. But even doctors who are not advocates of natural childbirth are willing to acknowledge that there is good in what the naturalists preach. Nowadays, fewer mothers are anesthetized in delivery—a practice long scorned by naturalists. There is also a growing trend toward the type of prenatal preparation and exercise that naturalists have been strongly recommending as standard obstetrics for more than three decades.