I don't get it. What is it with women? As a gender we seem to be our own nemesis. The rubbish we tell/sell ourselves is far more detrimental to the modern female psyche than the shit men mete out.

My natural birth was made chemical, forceful, medical and surgical. The most important question here though is... Am I bothered? Well if you'd told me in advance this was how things might go, then I would have thought I'd be devastated. But in reality I'm happy.

Hospitals may prefer to have women - mothers and midwives - under their control. Guess what: women lacking control have more pain during labour and overworked midwives lacking control have more days off sick with stress - and so the cycle goes on - fewer midwives spread ever more thinly until the maternity services are at breaking point and the mortality rates go up.

If you look back through history, normal births were carried out at home yet although they are becoming more popular, they are still seen as different from the norm.