What does this mean? Surely for any woman the baby’s health is important
I thought what it meant was fairly clear.
Of course all women want a healthy baby. That does not really need to be stated. But the birthing experience is not just a medical procedure; & when it goes 'well' it is not necessarily a medical procedure at all.
There are many women who have had really profound and positively powerful birthing experiences - which were real high points/peak moments in their lives. Which gave them a real feeling of confidence in themselves and in their female bodies - leading to heightened or deepened sexual response, as one example.
A woman centred birth experience recognises that confident women can make for more confident mothers too. Obviously if you come out of the birth experience intact; feeling empowered and strong in your body and your role - then that can only be a good thing.
Birthing, like dying, is a major life experience; and i'd suggest that most of us, if honest, would see the ideal death scenario as being: well anticipated, most likely in the home environment, and surrounded by those closest and most intimate, in which the process is sensitively managed and as un-traumatic as possible. Obviously not everyone gets to die, or to birth, in such ideal circumstances, though.