Labouring in water: The editor confesses--and apologises to anybody upset

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7442.768-b

BMJ 2004;328:768 (27 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7442.768-b

Letter

Labouring in water

The editor confesses—and apologises to anybody upset

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

I wrote the words on the cover of the BMJ of 7 February.¹

Initially I wrote: "Labouring in water."

Unfortunately it made only one line, and we needed two. I thushad to change it, and my first thought was "Giving birth inwater." But, I wondered, did these women give birth in water?

I quickly scanned the paper, and I didn't find the answer.

Then I wondered if there was that much difference linguisticallybetween "labouring" and "giving birth." Do people think of "givingbirth" as the moment of birth or the longer process?

Then something else happened—as it always does—andI left it as "Giving birth in water."

I apologise to anybody who thinks it horribly wrong, but thislittle story illustrates the exigencies of putting a journaltogether.

Richard Smith, editor

BMJ

Competing interests: I'm the editor of the BMJ and accountablefor all it contains.

Cluett ER, Pickering RM, Getliffe K, Saunders NJ. Randomised controlled trial of labouring in water compared with standard of augmentation for management of dystocia in first stage of labour. BMJ 2004;328: 314. (7 February.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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Randomised controlled trial of labouring in water compared with standard of augmentation for management of dystocia in first stage of labour: Elizabeth R Cluett, Ruth M Pickering, Kathryn Getliffe, and Nigel James St George Saunders
BMJ 2004 328: 314. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]