ABSTRACT
Ms Allwood's experience is at the time of writing unique, but it highlights many of the issues dominating childbirth at the close of the twentieth century. Public involvement, particularly on the part of mothers, in demanding improvements in services and treatment during pregnancy and delivery, was stepped up after the 1950s, linking with increased knowledge and expectations about how childbirth should proceed, and reaching a high point towards the end of the century. From the mid-nineteenth century and the first use of anesthesia in obstetrics, women and their attendants have sought smooth, quick and painless childbirth; it is one area in particular where women have been insistent in their demands for medical intervention. Aiming at 'safer motherhood' through better maternity services, the NBTF first promoted anesthesia in maternity hospitals, but later shifted their concern to midwife training and equipping midwives with methods of analgesia at home.
