Where do pregnant women go?

by Nidhi Jamwal , Rajil Menon

, by Down to earth

Women practise slow breathing to synchronize with contractions during labour

Deliver at home with trained midwives and avoid caesarean section

A belly dancer, tarot-card readers and yoga therapists, people not associated with childbirth, teamed up with midwives, masseurs and hypnotists at a mela in Mumbai last month to teach 60 women how to give birth naturally. Birth India, a non-profit established in 2007 to address the increasing number of caesarean childbirth, had organized the mela.

“On an average, caesarean section (C-section) births in the US are 23-35 per cent per doctor and people there raise a hue and cry.

But it is much higher in India—between 50 and 80 per cent per doctor,” said Ruth Malik of Birth India.

who claims C-sections per doctor should not be more than 15 per cent. Read more