Audio We're sorry. This audio clip is no longer available.

 The vast majority of mothers in the U.S. give birth in a hospital. They’re usually hooked up to a fetal monitor or other medical device. And they often get pain medication to help them through what many consider to be an agonizing experience.

But a growing number of mothers-to-be are choosing a different approach.



At Cal State San Marcos, the sound of a woman in ecstasy echoes through a classroom.

“Oh, oh, oh…..”

This woman isn't having sex. She’s having a baby.

It's a clip from a documentary called Orgasmic Birth.

The theme of the movie is childbirth can be pleasurable, even a sensual experience.

Michelle Freund is a licensed midwife in San Diego.

"In a home setting, the comfort of your own home," Freund said, "it’s really easy to get into an intimate, juicy groove, and really allow the natural process to unfold.

Freund said with the right mindset and the right atmosphere, a woman can have what she calls an ecstatic birth.

But Freund argued the glories of childbirth have been lost in modern society. She said birth has been turned into a medical procedure, with a doctor at the helm.

"The doctor’s sort of saying this is what we’re gonna do and this is how we’re gonna get your baby out," Freund said. "And they quote unquote deliver a woman’s baby. I believe a woman delivers her own baby. And she’s self-empowered."

That’s the experience Ebony Manchion was looking for with her baby.

Manchion gave birth to little Charles Jr. on April 17th at a midwife-run birth center in San Diego.

Manchion said when she arrived at the birth center, she and her husband were pretty much left alone in a quiet room.

They lit some candles, got into a big tub, and held each other.

"We were laboring for about three hours," Manchion recalls, "and then, the last 15 minutes of the birth, is when my nurse-midwife came, and she caught the baby. So it was like, not really too supervised. So it just was very natural.

Contrast that with many hospital births.

On the second floor of UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, a woman in labor lies flat on her bed.

A fetal monitor is strapped to her bulging stomach. The device allows medical staff to keep track of the baby’s heartbeat.

This woman may be given the drug Pitocin to speed up the labor process. And in the final stages, she might get an epidural to block the pain.

OBGYN Yvette LaCoursiere stands outside the woman’s room.

The UCSD doctor doesn’t disagree with people who say 'we’ve medicalized birth in this country.' But she said over the last 30 years or so, some of that has become necessary.

"We went from a time where young, healthy women were having babies," Dr. LaCoursiere points out, "to a time now where maternal age is advancing, to more diabetic pregnancies, more obese pregnancies, more multiple pregnancies, and higher rates of pre-term delivery, requiring this level of care."

Dr. LaCoursiere said the vast majority of women can have a normal birth with few, if any interventions. But….

"It’s often difficult to tell who the one will be that has the normal delivery, and who will end up with a slow, protracted labor, " she warned, "or a non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracing, or something that makes us intervene."

That’s why a growing number of maternity hospitals like UCSD offer a natural birth option, where women can deliver their baby with the help of a midwife. If problems arise, doctors can be at the bedside at a moment’s notice.

San Diego midwife Michelle Freund said the way a woman gives birth is important.

"Women who experience natural birth, it’s an imprint in a woman’s life," Freund emphasized. "It’s rewarding, and for the baby, as well. When it’s a gentle birth experience, the bonding is uninterrupted; their connection is more enhanced.

More and more American women are looking for that.



A new study reveals home births in the U.S. rose 20 percent between 2004 and 2008.

FEATURED PODCAST KPBS' daily news podcast covering local politics, education, health, environment, the border and more. New episodes are ready weekday mornings so you can listen on your morning commute.





Sign up for Today's Top Stories newsletter Need help keeping up with the news that matters most? Get the day's top news — ranging from local to international — straight to your inbox each weekday morning. Enter your email address

To view PDF documents, Download Acrobat Reader.