I was interested to read a short segment in the book Labor Pain about studies on fear about birth. A Swedish study indicated that it was not pain that caused women the most anxiety about labor (44% of women had fear of pain). It also wasn’t fear of death of the mother or baby (55% worried about this). It wasn’t fear of their physical or mental capacity to give birth (65% feared this), but it was “lack of trust of obstetric staff during delivery” (73%).

This is tremendously significant! As I mentioned in the post, can I really expect to have a great birth, it is important to choose your birth care giver and place of birth carefully–to ask questions before your chile is roasted! Considering that the Listening to Mothers reports by Childbirth Connection and the Millbank Report on Evidence-Based Maternity Care reveal that many doctors do not utilize evidence-based practices, it seems that women’s top fear is very warranted.