If I could design the perfect birthing system, I would want a system similar to that in the Netherlands where women are fully supported in choosing the birth environment that is most comfortable for them. For women who choose to birth in a hospital, providers would welcome doulas, and both providers and nurses would support the birthing woman’s plan for giving birth. It sounds so simple and reasonable. But for a Miami reporter who wanted a natural birth in a hospital, she had to visit and subsequently fire (or be fired from) two obstetric practices before she found a provider who was truly supportive of natural birth. Even after arriving at the hospital, she and her doula had to fight to avoid unnecessary interventions. Her labor was challenging (as labor is!); she had a wonderful, empowering birth. But I keep thinking of the women who are not as astute as this reporter was; who want a natural birth, but stick with the provider who may pay lip service to natural birth, but whose routine policies sabotage normal birth. We do a wonderful job in this country of supporting women who want high-tech birth, but we fall short in most hospitals at supporting the woman who wants a natural birth. Read the reporter’s story.