Childbirth Trends have changed throughout Time. For most of our human history, birth just happened to women because ‘There’s no way to know what your birth will be like’.
Then modernity started to happen especially after World War 2 when electricity, indoor plumbing, cars, refrigeration became the norm. At this time, modern medicine developed and expanded.
Each country made that change slightly differently. The US had outlawed midwives in the 1950s in all 50 States but most modern countries had incorporated midwives into the medical system.
While more women birthed in hospital in all modern countries, those with midwives also integrated home births in the maternity system.
In the 1950s the Childbirth Trend was pretty much known as ‘Follow Your Doctor’s Orders’. Then in the 1960s-mid1970s, the very first childbirth preparation classes were taught. In the US, Lamaze was taught in most hospital. The Bradley Method was always available. In other countries, Grantly Dick-Read was taught.
These classes were Skills-based so that was The Skills-based Childbirth Trend. Skills were used alongside all the medical assessments, monitoring and procedures. Fathers were just coming in as birth-coach. Women no longer ‘suffered’ in the vast numbers associated with global childbirth.
Suffering had NOTHING to do with a ‘problem’, it had to do with a lack of skills. For a generation of women in the US at least, multiple millions of women and men used skills to birth their baby. Obstetricians and labor and delivery nurses had the pleasure of working alongside skilled birthing families.
In the mid1970s the Childbirth Trend became the Choice-based trend that still exists. Skills were dismissed and choices were elevated instead of working alongside