title: Research summaries for normal birth.
abstract: In this column, the author presents summaries of four research studies that further illuminate the physiology and benefits of normal birth. The topics of the studies are home birth, upright positions during the second stage of labor, delayed pushing in women using epidural analgesia, and the effect of exposure to familiar odors on newborns.
authors.affiliation: AMY ROMANO is a certified-nurse midwife who cares for women and their families in a freestanding birth center in Wilmington, Delaware. She is also the Web site editor of the Lamaze Institute for Normal Birth ( www.normalbirth.lamaze.org ).
authors.forename: Amy M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Romano