THE EPI-NO? (a repost)

I wrote a piece about the Epi-No – a device which stretches the woman’s vagina before birth. I am not in favor of this device,  no way, no how, but due to numerous emails from the Epi-No people, I am taking the blog down temporarily and will rewrite it at some point, although my view on it will be the same. I believe that womens’ bodies were designed to give birth and that stretching the tissue “before its time” is not only unnecessary but harmful. Relaxation on the part of the mother, which is more often achieved with patient, caring and experienced/skilled birth attendants in addition to good nutrition, proper  head positioning of the baby prior to labor ( I wrote about this in other blogs), freedom of movement for the mother during labor, warm compresses on the perineum, in addition to other things, allows even big babies to be born keeping the mothers’ perinea intact.  I am not in favor of most of the “birth paraphernalia” that is “offered” to women and work to assist women in feeling confident, excited, relaxed, peaceful, calm and joyful about their bodies’ ability to birth without newfangled notions and gadgets.