Hitting without anger – is appalling. Just as appalling as hitting in anger. My parents did both. When without anger, it was in ‘cold blood’ s it were. HOW can anyone do that without either being a sadist and enjoying it or a completely uncaring person? I felt they hated me either way. It turns my blood cold thinking about it even now – I am 56!

And the ‘sting of the paddle ‘ or anything else for that matter .. doesn’t go away quickly !!! I can still remember that agony thank you very much! It haunts me and I suppose now it always will. I fully understand MaryAnn’s husband and my heart goes out to him and the little boy he was. The hate that being spanked caused me to feel towards these ‘caring’ parents who just hit me [You must never hit another person!] and who just taught me that they didn’t love me [It's over and we love you so much!] has lasted with me too.

Thank you Beverly for some loving, caring, kind and gentle answers !! I too taught my children right from wrong, without terrorising them, hurting their feelings or their bodies. Words, instruction and showing a child by example work far better – and are not cruel !

Slavery and wife beating was once ‘the norm’, as was the rape and buggery of little children in Ancient Rome – all of which has been outlawed with good reason and spanking and hitting children should be outlawed too! At home AND in schools!

I’m not sure how you can really make that claim, but I suppose that a doctor could be quicker to suggest a c-section on a weekday morning than on a weekend afternoon. But I don’t really know. If you take out all the women who were weekday scheduled inductions and scheduled c-sections, and look only at those who had an emergency c-section after a trial of labor, then what? The article doesn’t make it clear. If a woman goes into labor spontaneously on a Tuesday morning, and goes into the hospital after labor has progressed for awhile, that’s a different situation than a woman who is going in for a scheduled induction. Is her risk greater on a Tuesday than on a Saturday? I don’t think that argument has been made.

And as for the hostility towards vaginal birth advocates, let me just say something: I’ve done it both ways. Twice. Two c-sections, two all-natural vaginal births. I’ve had big babies (biggest was 10#8oz, vaginal) and tiny babies (3 26-weekers, c-section). I fight for education and birthing rights because I’ve been there, I know the difference, and I feel nothing but heartache for women who have never had the chance to experience birth the way nature intended. I don’t feel like I was a better mom with my vaginal births. I do feel like my c-sections were very painful, and I feel blessed to have been able to have it the other way. I don’t judge you for having a c-section; rather, I wish the joy of natural birth for you. I certainly would never force it on you.

People who say they “went through” all the same things with their C-section as a woman having a natural birth are wrong – the one major thing you didn’t “go through” and didn’t do for your child was allow them the passage through the birth canal which is immeasurably important for their lungs as well as their intestinal flora (which recent science is proving problems with can be connected to pretty much every single ailment we have, especially auto-immune disorders like lupus, Chrone’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, even autism, to name just a few). Babies born by C-section carry bacteria from the room/hospital while babies born vaginally carry bacteria from their mothers’ legs and vagina (i.e. bacteria the mother has already processed and is making antibodies for in her breastmilk). Babies born by C-section are drugged, yanked in a frightening way, usually have their much needed cords severed immediately, are subjected to painful and assaulting suctioning procedures, are often late preterm with underdeveloped lungs, are often separated from their mothers for longer periods of time and I believe are imprinted by these painful and assaulting procedures, giving them the immediate and irreversible impression that our world is pain.

Furthermore, why is it about “going through” anything? I’m not “proud” that I gave birth the same way every other mammal on the planet has for millenia – that’s silly – it would be like being proud that I pooped without needing an enema. It’s got nothing to do with pride and, no, I didn’t expect a gold start afterward, either. Women choose to give birth naturally because it’s the NORMAL WAY TO GET A BABY OUT OF THEIR UTERUS and it’s the BEST THING FOR THEIR BABY’S HEALTH, not because they expect applause and accolades. I had a natural birth unassisted at home and I was able to do everything I’d done before giving birth immediately after, save for the fact that I was tired and my perineum was a little tender. The only thing that hindered me after having my baby was the extreme fatigue and there’s no way to avoid that with a newborn in the house. On top of that, I didn’t find giving birth to be a horrible, worst-pain-of-my-life kind of experience at all. Sure, there was discomfort (and I mean it, I’ve felt far worse pain than labour in my life) and sure, there was about 15-20 minutes of transitional labour where I felt I might not be able to go on but pushing felt great. Discomfort, yes, during active labour. Pain, very little. I attribute this to giving birth in an environment that was my own with only my husband there so I could choose any position that was comfortable for me, be unhindered by machines, beds, doors, staff, checks, monitoring, mandatory positioning and the eyes of strangers. I went inside myself to a “no mind” sort of state (though I remember everything) and just let my animal self take over to do its job.

Sure, C-sections save lives in a very small percentage of cases but I feel they should be reserved for those true emergency situations. When places like the Farm Midwifery practise have C-section rates lower than 2% I think we need to reexamine what’s happening in mainstream medicine.