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 thus had to change it, and my first thought was "Giving birth in water." 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 linguistically between "labouring" and "giving birth." Do people think of "giving birth" as the moment of birth or the longer process?

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

I apologise to anybody who thinks it horribly wrong, but this little story illustrates the exigencies of putting a journal together.

BMJ

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

1. 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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Related Article

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]