Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross

Better Orgasms. Better World.

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But some births are reall awful, and there is nothing you can do about it. My first one was face up with the cord around his neck, I had done all the prenatal classes I could find, knew everything about breathing and stretching, had a birthplan, etc, but when the first hard contraction hit I threw up from the pain, and from then on it took 12 hours till I was fully dilated, if I hadn't gotten the epidural I would have been too exhausted to push by the time I could. Second birth was super easy, and if I had wanted to I could probably fairly easily have managed it without drugs.
Giving birth is messy, there is blood, feces, tearing, etc, and some women just have an easier time doing it than others, to me the natural birth movement is in some ways just as bad as the medicated birth movement. In Denmark where I come from you have to fight to get an epidural, in Belgium where I live they think you are weird if you want to have an unmedicated birth. . All women I have heard who advocated natural child birth had a high threshold for pain and fairly straightforward labors, good for them, but it's not like that for everybody.
Women need to educate themselves and then make the choices they feel are right for them, not feel like they should live up to some ideal.
Every day 800 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, 99% in the developing world, doulas are not always the answer.

I had the typical hospital births for my children, never an epidural that worked though (doctor arrived too late for one, the needle was inserted but it was too late to start the meds for the other) but I don't recall screaming, yelling or fighting. Screaming takes away energy needed to give birth and it never occured to me to fight with my husband, he was my walking buddy when I was allowed to walk, and helped me laugh no matter how much pain I had. I know I panicked at some point during the birth process for all ( I thought 2 children were stillborn, one was blue and the other took too long to cry. Also discovered that I do not like breathing oxygen from a mask, I felt like I was suffocating.) but got through it just fine. It would be good to have a plan, but it should also be okay if that plan needs to be changed due to emergency or the mother's preference. A doula would be wonderful for a woman either without a partner, with a partner who does not wish to be present during the birth, or a partner who might not be as helpful as a doula.
I look at these images and hope that my daughters can experience this type of peaceful birth if they choose.

Its still a beautiful image, and it is still more possible than not for most. I don't think anyone that advocates for natural child birth denies the fact that it is messy and hard and painful, but its painful either way. I had a natural childbirth with my only child, and like you threw up when I transitioned, I tore, I bled, shit...all that. And I would do it again. because the experience I had when I pulled my son out of me and held him was like nothing I can attempt to describe. Ofcourse there are circumstances with some pregnancies and births that a natural plan has to be altered. But to fear monger the way your post kinda does by implying that because some births are awful people shouldn't try to educate women about what their bodies are capable of is unnecessary, it is also unnecessary to feel pressured either way. I agree with you that women should do thorough research and decide on what they are most comfortable with. But you can't deny that most females are misled by media to believe that birth is much more chaotic and scary than it is for most. Some births are awful, but most are not. And most don't need the amount of intervention that happens.