Midwifery Today, Issue 46, Summer 1998

Theme: Prolonged Labor

If someone on the starting line said, “Listen, I can give you drugs to put you to sleep and you can wake up on the finish line,” do you think that person would have the same sense of accomplishment about finishing the race? Perhaps our culture-driven concern about prolonged labor robs women of their power. Issue 46 looks at the physiological, psychological and emotional issues having to do with this often-feared phenomenon. Also, a childbirth educator with twenty years of experience explores the politics of her profession.