That being said, the job of the doula is to respect the wishes of the mother and to try and make the labor and delivery as positive an experience as made possible by the circumstances.

Just because birth can be non-medicated doesn’t mean that it has to be. I wanted a medicated birth. And, should I get pregnant again, I will be asking for the epidural to be on tap when I waddle through the hospital doors. That does not make me less of a woman than someone who chooses a more painful path. It does not make the miracle of the birth of my children any less miraculous than one born at home or to a granola mom.

That is the issue here — not where or how one delivers. The issue is that members of what I call the Nature Nazi movement have a bad habit of looking down their noses at women who choose a different path to deliver their children. I have been around many, many medical professionals and many, many nature nazis. And the nazis are the ones with chips on their shoulders, giving out false information, and using scare tactics to get birth out of a hospital setting. For that reason, I side with the medical professionals. And, in my opinion, the dark side of this doula hype is pretty much hidden under the molly-sunshine image that is touted by pregnancy magazines and books. Kudos to the NY Times for printing this story.

To clarify my comment, by “well-behaved”, I mean following the standard norms for public behavior. I do not mean disagreeing with the doctor. I mean yelling, throwing things, not moving out of the way when requested, physically interfering with the doctor (excluding when the doctor is clearly violating the mother’s stated wishes), etc. The majority of doctors wish no one other than the partner (and sometimes the parter too) were in the room. Every extra person makes things more crowded, complicated, and stressful.

I do NOT think this is the way the typical doula acts. However, plenty of other people do, and it’s one reason doctors are wary of letting any extra people in.