i sort of know what you mean.
Mrs Boris was given a book by her grandmother, who was a midwife for years and years, from the 1930s called Childbirth Without Fear. The book died on publication as it was written by a man, but it's slowly becoming accepted. Mrs Boris read it and when the time came for Mk. 1 infant to arrive, she got through it grinning wihtout any pain relief. No mystical 'earth mother' crap, no self-hypnotism, no feminist wank, just some fairly decent science.
Worked just as well the second time around (much to the surprise and small displeasure of the midwife who didn't believe any of it or Mrs Boris' tales of the last birth) and now that midwife's passing the book around, as are the midwives from the first time.
It now means that Mrs Boris doesn't join in with the birth stories as people either call her a liar or get really upset with her for letting the side down.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Mon 30 Jun 2008, 21:41, Reply)