And now...your moment of Zen:

[The following is an excerpt of an interview from GivingBirthNaturally.com]

"...in the UK, midwifery is the standard of care. A pregnant woman would not go and even see an obstetrician unless he was high risk to begin with, or having some sort of complication later in the pregnancy that the midwives identified and then felt that you needed to be seen by a specialist. The obstetrician is really seen as a specialist rather than as the primary caregiver for that pregnant woman. "

And now...your moment of Zen:

"$13 to $20 billion a year could be saved in health care costs by demedicalizing childbirth, developing midwifery, and encouraging breastfeeding."

- Frank Oski, MD,

Professor and Director, Department of Pediatrics,

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

And now...your moment of Zen:

“Healthcare is the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the safety in our environment, having shelter. That is healthcare.

Medical care is surgery, pharmaceuticals, invasive procedures and tests; that is medical care, not healthcare. There is an important book called Expecting Trouble: The Myth of Prenatal Care in America, written by Thomas H. Strong JR. M.D., obstetrician, neonatologist from Prescott, Arizona. In his book, he points out that the poor outcomes increase in direct proportion to how much “prenatal care” the woman receives.”