Women's first experiences of childbirth: two hospital settings compared

This study analyses expectations, experiences and the aftermath of childbirth from interviews conducted with 60 mothers nine months after their first child was born. Half had given birth in a 'family birthing centre' (FBC) and half had used the conventional delivery suite (CDS). Findings showed that the two groups of women had different antenatal orientations to the birth, different experiences of the labour, different experiences of motherhood and different levels of satisfaction with childbirth in retrospect. In particular, women using the FBC wanted to be and were more actively involved in the birth process than women from the CDS, experienced fewer medical interventions during labour and were more satisfied with childbirth afterwards than users of the CDS. FBC mothers reported more breast feeding than bottle feeding at nine months and a greater incidence of self-attributed 'depression'.