Normal childbirth: The natural, non-medical, alternative approaches to the most common medical interventions in labor.

examinations may be painful and may cause emotional distress and embarrassment, and in order to promote normality at birth while at the same time evaluating the progress of labor in an objective way, the WHO and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that a vaginal examination should be performed every four hours during the first stage of labour 8 . Oxytocin is the most frequently used medication intrapartum to increase uterine activity and is indicated in cases of prolonged labor or dystocia 8,9 . Nevertheless, there are high rates of misuse of oxytocin identified in the literature for the purpose of shortening the duration of labor, with the result of many babies suffering asphyxia at birth 10 . The non-medical and natural alternatives to intravenous oxytocin can easily be elucidated when considering the neurobiological basis and the hormonal blueprint of an undisturbed labor and birth 11,12 . It is known that psychological stress and pain can have a negative effect on the progress of labor, as they inhibit the release and effective action of endogenous oxytocin 11 . Moreover, when a pregnant woman mobilizes and assumes upright positions during labor, gravity assists the fetal head descent deeper in the pelvis and supports the proper and even application of the fetal head on the cervix, which in turn activates the Ferguson reflex and leads to additional release of endogenous oxytocin 11,13 . If we were to