Until the early 20th century, childbirth was the domain of women. Pregnant women gave
birth at home, generally with other women attending the birth. Anesthetics and pain medications were not used. By the 1940s and 1950s, women flocked to hospitals to give birth,
under the care of male physicians. In the hospital, the common practice was to anesthetize
women during labor to minimize or eliminate any pain during childbirth. The expectant
father was relegated to the waiting room to shield him from the “gruesome reality” of
childbirth. During that time in France, Dr. Ferdinand Lamaze developed “childbirth without pain” (now known as the Lamaze method) based on his observations of women in the
Soviet Union giving birth without anesthesia. The Lamaze method gained popularity in
the United States after Marjorie Karmel wrote of her childbirth experience using Lamaze
in the 1957 book, Thank You, Dr. Lamaze. By the 1970s, “natural childbirth” was in
vogue. Although most women continued to deliver in hospital settings, couples weredrawn to the Lamaze method. Women began to demand alternatives to the sterile hospital environment with its cold, hard delivery tables and stirrups. Eventually, many women
and natural childbirth advocates regarded birth as a normal process that should occur in a
warm setting with the family present. The consumer demand for change grew and resulted
in changes in hospital practices. As natural childbirth was gaining recognition and popularity, physicians were making advances in pain management during labor. The development of the epidural anesthetic dramatically altered the birth experience for women.
Suddenly, a woman could obtain pain control with drugs without losing alertness or
awareness of the birth and without delivering a sluggish, “drugged” baby. Even women
who required cesarean sections no longer had to have general anesthesia that deprived
them of the awareness of the arrival of the baby. Many still regard natural childbirth as the
ideal method, and the vast majority of women in the U.S. deliver in hospital settings. In
addition, most men remain at their partner’s side during delivery