Reddit mentions of Business of Being Born, The

I don't have the expertise nor scholarly articles on hand to back this up, but I would watch the documentary The Business of Being Born. It's a documentary, so there is definitely bias and some shock value. But it explains the positive feedback cycle of Pitocin that begins with an epidural. It increases the risk of c-section.

The "sluggish baby" claims aren't the medical risks I'm worried about. I think that's basically bullshit. I'm also very happy that you had a relaxed birth and a happy son.

If you're looking for a gift that pertains to her pregnancy, get her some Preggie Pops for morning sickness & The Business of Being Born. If you're interested in getting her some books, I suggest Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and/or Pregnancy Childbirth & The Newborn. And maybe consider getting your brother(?) a copy of The Birth Partner. I think every dad-to-be should read that book.

wildcard_, Thanks for your comment; it gives me another chance to try condensing the large and varied data on the subject into a short response -- not an easy task, but one I keep working on. For starters, two links: the first two columns of a 5-part series, both of which include discussion of this topic: Part 1: Civil Society Requires Non-Aggression - and one thing more and Part 2: How the Idea of Civil Society was Destroyed

Now a short list of reasons why emotional health is, indeed, crucial to the functioning and protection of a free society:

1. Emotional health (love, the sense of connection with others, compassion, or however you prefer to say it) supports honest behavior, crucial to the market. A society of sociopaths will not remain free for long, assuming it ever is.
   
   
2. Charity and other help for the disabled and poor (of course, in a free market you'd have many fewer poor), especially at sufficient levels, requires emotional health. You apparently believe this function is strictly based on a free market, but to the extent we see voluntary charity NOW or in any situation, it is because most people feel at least some sense of connection to their fellow man. High-tech birth processes in the US -- 20% - 25% of all births here are now C-section, for instance -- harm the mother-newborn bond and to some extent shut down the newborn's sense of connection to others; such a start to life affects outlook, philosophy, physical health, and other predispositions life-long. A recent study found that today's college students score 40% lower on measures of empathy than students did in the 1970s; I believe this corporatist-fueled plague of artificial birth practices is at least partly responsible. The Business of Being Born is a good resource here and especially worth watching by anyone planning to have children.
   
   
3. Widespread emotional health prevents (or reduces, depending on how widespread) the incidence of mass murder that has characterized human societies for centuries. Government itself is a major tool for this, as you know, but a functioning government is not necessary for a democide or for lesser mass-murders, from the small-time Charles Manson type to larger examples such as the Rwandan genocide which was initiated, planned, and largely executed by various groups outside the government and strongly fueled by tribal animosities. Government WAS involved to some extent, but it seems clear that unlike, say, the democides committed by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and so many others, the Rwandan horror was mostly outside of any government's official policy.
   
   
4. Even for the far more common situation of a government murdering its own, widespread emotional damage plays a major role in bringing the perps to power and thenb recruiting willing torturers and executioners. Alice Miller has written extensively on this, especially in regards Nazi Germany; **For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence provides a very detailed look at the issue. See also Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley for basics about how early experience affects later behavior and Miller's short article Adolf Hitler: How Could a Monster Succeed in Blinding a Nation? -- note that the site graphics at that link are appropriate to the nature of the site, aimed at parents with small children.
   
   The links and references above only scratch the surface.