I’ve been delivering babies for 50 years. What exactly is a ‘normal birth’?

Pursuit of normal birth' has sometimes compromised the safety of mothers and babies, with consequences for maternity care

When I was a medical student and junior doctor, the terms most commonly used to describe a vaginal birth without the use of instruments such as forceps or vacuum extractor were SVB (spontaneous vaginal birth) or SVD (spontaneous vertex delivery - the vertex is the top of the baby's head).

Gradually, in the late 1980s and 1990s, there appeared in the lexicon the words normal birth". This was part of the reaction against the perceived high rates of interventions in pregnancy and labour, and the desire of women to take more control over their own bodies, something I support.