"No one looks panicky so I guess I'm not dying. . .but how can I survive this?"  were my exact thoughts when I was at the end of my advanced labor. I had been in labor for 19 hours with my first child and was about to give birth, starting to feel the urgency to push and I was very scared. I was also exhausted and irritable, snapping at my husband who was trying everything to be of some kind of help. I had come to the hospital after feeling the first contraction broke my water, and had been lying half on my back, half on my side, with a fetal monitor wire run up inside me attached to my son's scalp, IV's, other monitors strapped across my belly (which I had been scolded for knocking it out of place while trying to adjust my miserable self) and wanted it all to be over. The romantic moment I had envisioned during my pregnancy was totally gone; I would not look dreamily into my husband's eyes while holding our beautiful son on my chest--I just wanted to go in a corner somewhere and be left alone to sleep.
     How do women I read about during this assignment go it alone? I was proud of myself for having no pain medication, but my son's birth had no complications, and I had a huge support system of family, friends, and doctors. In underdeveloped countries, many women (or young girls) give birth alone, or with just a midwife and no medical support. But throughout history, we have populated this planet since cavemen times, and many manage to survive. I feel the amount of emotion experienced by the mother during pregnancy and childbirth has an effect on her interaction with her children, which of course effects their development.
     In Turkey, as current as 2004, they had experienced a very high infant mortality rate. They were shifting from mid-wife births to hospital/doctor assisted births. The number of anesthesiologists who were familiar with epidural procedures was very low, resulting in general anesthesia C-sections at a rate of about 90% (Schalken 2004).
     Besides the risk of general anesthesia on the baby, I  would expect that early bonding could not occur as well as if Mom was awake. But the fear of pain had women choosing this option. I certainly could not be judgmental, remembering my own thoughts.
     Thankfully, a U.S. nonprofit organization called Kybele is assisting doctors with learning this procedure. A new textbook instructing on epidural analgesic procedures, the only one of its kind in Turkey, has been published and goals have been set to reduce general anesthesia C-sections to 30%.

Reference:
www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=6