Now that I am closer to labour, other women begin to drop louder hints about it. I hear of episiotomies, of Caesareans in which the anaesthetic didn’t quite work, of badly sewn stitches, of painful internal examinations, of fifty-hour confinements. Words like mutilation and tearing are mentioned. I no longer know whether I am more afraid of the pain of childbirth or the interventions it invites.
