IS labor managed in this manner in Ireland--as a rule?

All the Irish hospitals follow AML - particularly H.Street because it was designed here. Once your labour progresses to about 1cm per hour (their definition of normal) then you probably won't experience AML, but if you don't then it's hospital policy to break your waters and give you the pitocin drip. (They'll tell you all this at the antenatal class) It also depends whether you're with the community midwives or the regular part of the hospital. Keep in mind that these are 'just' hospital policies. You can decide what you want or don't want. All of the routine procedures come with risks - particularly pitocin which can cause fetal distress (wonder why Holles St section rate is catching up with the rest of the country) but women aren't told that so they can make an informed choice whether or not to have it. :

Tracy
Author of the Better Birth Book

My older dd was born in Galway in 01 - I was allowed to labor as I chose. I had a completely unmedicated labor and birth. The rule at UCG hospital was freedom from IVs, etc. unless meds were requested. I was monitored every few hours, but otherwise I was free to walk or use the showers (the bath too - but it wasn't clean, so I wasn't interested, lol).

My OB had tried to talk me into an induction when I was a day overdue and I'd had some spotting, but she admitted to my face that it would make her Xmas schedule easier and that I would "probably" end up with a section since my cervix wasn't ripe. I said no, and I was given a week to go into labor naturally. I did, and had a midwife assisted birth. At the time there the Western Health Board was even pushing a homebirth program - I didn't qualify because I'd had a high BP reading at my first visit.

I know that some of the hospitals in Dublin were a lot more aggressive, and more like what I thought American OBs and hospitals would be like.

I forgot my favorite part of my birth story

My labor wasn't progressing at 1cm an hour after I'd been admitted for a few hours. By the time they got me settled in the birthing room (after about an hour after I was last checked at 2.5cm), I was arguing with my MW about breaking my water - she wanted to "speed things up". When I finally let her check, my dd was crowning, so I even got out of having my water broken, lol!