I keep a copy of the obstetric bill for my birth and mother’s four day stay in the hospital. It was $63.29. Of course it was 1947, but still. The average hospital birth these days with a discharge in twenty-four hours is $8,000 to $10,000. Childbirth is the biggest source of income for US hospitals, and the four-million or so births a year end up costing over fifty billion dollars a year. One third of mothers undergo C-section when the recommended level should be one-third to one-half that number. One third of women have an episiotomy incision to assist in delivery of the infant head, whereas probably only a third need it .Somewhere around half of women have induced labor. There is a strong constituency out there who propose an alternative approach to labor and childbirth, that is, natural childbirth. They are very vocal about the “medicalization” of what amounts to a natural process.
» Read more: Natural Child Birth: What You Need To Know