Now they tell us!

Okay, it's been several years, but I still remember begging, yes begging, for this shot:

Women in labor may suffer needlessly because doctors mistakenly advise them to delay a common pain treatment for fear that it will impede contractions and lead to a Caesarean section, researchers are reporting. A new study of the treatment - a type of anesthesia that injects painkiller into the spinal fluid and the epidural area around the spinal cord to numb the pelvic region - finds that giving it early or late in labor makes no difference in Caesarean rates among women having first babies. There is no reason for women to deny themselves the medicine or for doctors to withhold it, the study says.

I'm not blaming my doctors -- who did a wonderful job -- but couldn't they have figured this one out a bit sooner?