Dr. Grantly Dick-Read: Pioneer in Obstetrics

Pioneers in any field are usually scorned, ridiculed, and ostracized for daring to go off the beaten path and suggest that there may be a better way; but when their innovative methods are eventually proven to indeed be "the better way," it is something worth preserving.

Dr. Grantly Dick-Read was one of the most controversial figures in the obstetrical field-- not only did he dare to state that childbirth is a normal event which, barring rare complications, should be allowed to proceed in its natural fashion, but he dared to say it first in England and then, in 1944, in the United States. Dr. Dick-Read's philosophy and practices were met with trepidation by his colleagues and the public in general; but despite opposition he persevered to bring this information to light as "the better way."

In mid-forties America, the obstetrical field was not exactly open to progress, especially something of this nature. Dr. Dick-Read's method of viewing childbirth as a normal event which should proceed in its natural manner with as little medical intervention as possible was considerably different from the American process of childbirth where women routinely underwent general anesthesia and were unconscious during the births of their children. Dr. Dick-Read proposed that women had been misled by both the medical community and society to believe that childbirth was something unnatural, something to be feared, and that this unnecessary fear was the primary cause of the extreme pain associated with childbirth. As such, he set about educating doctors and women about this natural process, and the breathing techniques which would assist women in bringing their babies into the world with as little pain and as little intervention as possible.

In his quest to make natural childbirth available to all women who did not have medical conditions which necessitated intervention, Dr. Dick-Read also educated the medical community about the unnecessary health risks involved to both laboring women and their babies from the common practice of using anesthesia during childbirth-- that both the popular general anesthesias and local pain-blockers did not provide for the best state of health in either mothers or newborns, and should be avoided whenever possible. Even so, the practice of natural childbirth, "the way nature intended it," did not achieve widespread popularity in the United States until only a couple of decades ago. In some areas it is still not considered to be the best and most acceptable method-- first, in terms of medicated childbirth considered to be "easier" for the attending physicians and staff; and second, the growing trend toward unnecessary C-sections.

Dr. Dick-Read was definitely a pioneer in his field; and for both the health and the emotional implications of mothers and babies, his book "Childbirth Without Fear" is as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The information and advice in Dr. Dick-Read's book is something no one contemplating childbirth should be without.