Who "delivered" your baby?

Am I the only one who is annoyed when people talk about OBs (or less commonly, midwives) "delivering" babies? I mean, don't get me wrong, I realize that OBs and midwives have important jobs in being guardians of safety and will sometimes necessarily intervene with tools, techniques, or even surgery for the betterment of mom and/or baby. I'm not denying that or minimizing that. Here's the thing: the birth belongs to the mother. Besides that, the mother (usually) did all the work in getting the baby out. The bulk of the time, nurses or OBs will periodically check in on a laboring mother, but it's not uncommon for an OB to show up literally in time to put on gloves, catch the baby, and sometimes stitch the mother back up if a tear (or worse: episiotomy) has occurred. The OB and nurses were not there for continuous labor support (most of the time).

Who really delivered that baby? And what definition of "deliver" are we using? I pulled out my trusty Webster's Dictionary, 10th edition, and it had 6 definitions of "deliver," each with several sub-entries.

deliver

1: to set free < and lead us not into temptation, but ~ us from evil -- Mt 6:13 (AV) >

2 a: to take and hand over to or leave for another: convey <~a package>
b: hand over, surrender <~ed the prisoners to the sheriff>

3 a (1): to assist in giving birth
(2): to aid in the birth of
b: to give birth to
c: to cause (oneself) to produce as if by giving birth < has ~ed himself of half an autobiography --H. C. Schonberg>

4: speak, sing, utter <~ed their lines with style>

5: to send (something aimed or guided) to an intended target or destination < ability to ~ nuclear warheads >

6 a: to bring (as votes) to the support of a candidate or cause
b: to come through with: produce < can ~ the goods >

I remember reading in a book (Readers: help me? Where did I read this? A Henci Goer book?) an interview with an OB who openly admitted that the only time when he felt that he actually DELIVERED babies was when he performed cesareans. That was worrisome to me. It smacks of ego. Are there power situations at play if highly trained surgeons want to feel as though they are *doing* something "productive" at a birth (whether or not the interventions were medically necessary)?

It seems that, in America, the term "deliver the baby" is used with definitions 1: and 2: above, when I'd like to see the term used more the way it is in definition 3:. Even within definition 3:, I'm not sure I can agree with "aiding" or "assisting" with a birth as being the same as "delivering." I was a doula at my sister-in-law's birth last month. I think that she would say that I "assisted" and supported her birth even though I performed no medical services and did not catch the baby. Could I take credit for "delivering" her baby? Absolutely not! The mother *delivered* her baby.

We had an accidental unattended home waterbirth with our 4th baby. Let me clarify: we were planning a home waterbirth (our third), but we were planning on the midwives getting there in time. My husband caught the baby. It irks me when people ask incredulously, "So your husband delivered your baby???" Well, no. He caught her. It wasn't hard. I did all the work!

What do you think, readers? Does this have to do with the difference between being an active participant vs. a passive participant in our births? Who "delivered" your baby? Who SHOULD claim credit for "delivering" babies? What about cesarean births vs. vaginal births? Should there be a difference in who claims credit for the delivery? Are you bothered by others taking ownership of or credit for your work, or is it just an insignificant matter of semantics? What does "deliver" mean to you? "To give birth," "to catch the baby," "to set free," or "to take and hand over to or leave for another"?