A second area of growing relevance is the effect of Medically Assisted Reproduction Technologies such as IVF, whereby the investment in each pregnancy is so much higher and the desire for a child so much greater. Such methods greatly increase the chances of multiple embryos, leading to the need to prematurely induce labour or perform caesarean sections, followed by the necessary intensive care.
   Every pregnant woman wants a life for her growing baby, so to utilise modern means to maintain a tiny baby which arrives somewhat early, and not to waste 5, 6, 7 or 8 months of pregnancy, or several years of medically assisted conception attempts, is a completely understand-able desire. They would indeed be unusual parents who would consider withdrawing permission for life support if there is even a chance that a baby might grow up to be as healthy and happy as any other.
   However, medically supported, extremely premature babies do not always make it to a self-supporting life of quality. Whereas some babies may “pull through” and “catch up”, others grow up with severe developmental problems, requiring a life of continued medical treatment which is (ironically) the result of compulsory medical intervention at the onset. Their obligated existence can cause some parents enormous short and long term suffering far exceeding the alternative of accepting a child’s death arising from a premature birth. In retrospect (and in secret) many parents may not thank the laws, the expertise and the technology which have created a situation for which they were unable to take responsibility for at the time.
   In the end, I personally believe that a couple should be allowed full choice according to their own conscience. This opportunity – to choose according to spiritual or religious belief, to respond to nature’s way, to respond according to maternal instinct and intuition, or to respond according to faith in modern medicine – would relieve much of the anxiety women feel about the possibility of a premature labour and remove another of the shadows of omnipresent medicalisation which hangs over every woman’s own reproductive affairs.
   Any woman who is pregnant again, subse-quent to a previous premature labour, needs to be sure that she has resolved any previous trauma and be careful to alleviate renewed anxiety which may cause any chance of a repeat situation. Healing such situations is dealt with in Chapter 3 – “Resolving Previous Reproductive Traumas”.

	~The Process of Birth~

   Progress through labour and birthing is, according to medical convention, nowadays divided into several different stages. Defining set stages for this often unpredictable and irregular process is not adopted so rigidly during natural birthing. However, in the following brief run through of labour and birth as well as the following sections, I will use these conventions to explain the different phases of childbirth most women do experience.

Pre-Labour Activity
   When beginning normally – and by that I mean when not heralding a premature birth or induced labour – the first signs of labour can occur anywhere between 36 and 42 weeks of pregnancy. A few hours, a few days, or even some weeks before labour is properly estab-lished, the woman may experience contractions varying from light tightenings felt in the abdomen to quite strong pain in the back and groin. What differentiates them from “true” contractions is that they occur in isolation, usually only one or two at a time, and often at night when you are relaxed in bed. In true labour, the frequency and strength of these contractions gradually increases, along with other signs of imminent labour – for example, there will be an increased frequency of bowel motion; there may be an increase of vaginal mucus, either continuously or in one big sticky lump as the mucus plug of the cervix "comes away and which may be bloody. Some women also have a day or so of unusually low energy followed by a sudden burst of high energy and a happy mood.
   This pre-labour activity may occur on and off for up to 4 weeks, but is more common during the final 7 days before full labour begins. Whilst these fluctuating symptoms can be frustrating, you should be happy to know that your uterus is already working and opening up.
   The amount of pre-labour uterine activity can vary greatly between women and between each pregnancy in each woman. For example, my second pregnancy proceeded towards labour with very little pre-labour activity. The labour established quickly at 37 weeks, with only 12 hours of mild pre-labour before the main show. In contrast, when I was pregnant with my third baby, I experienced lots of pre-labour contrac-tions and symptoms all during the last