By the 1920's, obstetrics and gynecology became a medical specialty. Training and education in this area started to develop rapidly as medical science looked for ways to fine tune and improve upon natures process,. The goal was to reduce pain and risk through the use of technology, medical intervention and a surgical approach to childbirth. With the media highly praising the glories of medical childbirth as safe and pain-free, home birthing and midwifery became less popular as more and more women turned to birthing in hospitals.
By the 1940's, more than 80 % of all pregnant women gave birth in a hospital in a surgical environment. They were given heavy drugs to disconnect them from the perceptions of pain, and put under general anesthesia for the birth of their child.
In January of 1940, my grandmother went into labour early at what she calculated was 7 months pregnant. She gave birth at home with my great-grandmother between her legs, acting as her midwife. My great-grandmother, who I always referred to as Nanny McKenna, was not officially trained with midwife skills, though she delivered many healthy babies. She herself had birthed 4 children with women family members in attendance, and her skills came through practical experience and wisdom passed down through the generations. My mother was born tiny, and healthy into the arms of a loving grandmother.
By the 1950's less than 5 % of births were occurring at home. The North American mass- consciousness perception. that childbirth was a natural life cycle event had been shifted. In our new, medically dominated culture, pregnancy was now perceived as an illness and a pregnant woman, or woman in labour perceived as a patient.
In June of 1962, my own mother laboured with me. She was admitted to the hospital on a Tuesday morning at 6 am. I was born the following day at about 4 in the afternoon. Periodically a nurse would check in on her, but hospital policy did not allow for her to have anyone familiar with her. She was not allowed to have her mother with her, or even her husband. To maintain the integrity of an antiseptic environment, she was left entirely alone. She was also expected to watch the clock continuously and chart her own contractions.
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