After 16 years as a labor and delivery nurse, I watched thousands of women labor in the exact same position flat on their backs in a hospital bed. And I watched those same women experience longer labors, more intense pain, and more interventions than necessary. Here’s what hospitals won’t tell you: Your body is designed to give birth with gravity, not against it. When you’re lying flat on your back: Your pelvis can’t open fully Your baby has to work UPHILL to come down Contractions feel more int