Normal Birth 8. ‘Twinkling the Rooms’: Optimising Normal Birth in a Hospital Setting

Abstract

In middle- to high-income countries, childbirth usually takes place in hospital in high-tech delivery rooms designed for the benefit of those working in them, yet women and birthing people report higher satisfaction levels and are more likely to have a normal birth at home or in a midwife-led unit (birth centre). This article explores practical ways that midwives and other birth workers can maximise the opportunity for women to experience physiological birth in a hospital setting.