Readers blog: Bar must be raised for expectations of birth

We are writing in response to the article, ‘Fewer than 1% of women had ‘practically perfect births’ in a two-year study’, which appeared online (www.irishexaminer.com, May 10).

While any paper reporting on the Irish maternity services is welcome in terms of gathering data to inform practice, the tone of the paper entitled ‘How would Mary Poppins fare in labour? Practically Perfect? Unlikely’ (Bolger, L, Sweeney, R, Foley, M, & Mahony R. IMJ 2018) is very concerning for women.