mimitabby, great job explaining midwifery. Really nice. Wanna come live with me and go on my first dates and go to parties with me? Cuz I get a bit tired of telling the story over and over... ...but I will keep telling it. It's important for women to know they have the option to see someone who truly is a specialist in normal pregnancy and birth. Our colleagues, the physicians, specialize in complications, disease, and surgery. We're a good team, when each does what they're best at.

www.midwife.org --the website for my professional organization.

I got interested in midwifery when I was getting my degree in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. I wrote my research paper for Medicine & Culture on the history of midwifery in the US. You won't be surprised to learn that it was more economics and competition for business that lead to OB docs taking over the majority of births. Birth was not profitable until anesthesia became popular (1930s), and birth became a medical/hospital event. Then midwives became "dangerous" all of a sudden. Interesting.

Should some pregnancies and births be attended by docs? Absolutely. Should 94% of the births in this country be attended by surgical specialists? Probably not. L.