Okay, SUPERKARLENE, you’ve heard some “neat opinions” from us. Now what’s your opinion on the the OP?
Fair enough, Musicat.
I’ve never been pregnant or given birth before, but still, I feel that a woman knows more about it. Yes, a doctor might have oodles of information about birthing canals and placenta, but I fear that that just can’t replace the experience.
To me, it all boils down to the nature of knowledge itself. If you haven’t done it, can you really know it? You can have a discussion all day about the physics of a bungee jump, the physiological effects on the body, the adrenaline rush. But an academic study of the event or watching it on tape will never equate to the actual feeling of doing it.
Or soldiers that go into war. Basic training might teach you how to shoot the gun, or fade into the underbrush. But it can’t prepare you for the absolute fear of being in the middle of the Vietnam jungle.
The woman knows more because its her body. She knows when the labor is starting, she feels the water break, she is acutely aware of every sensation. I think she’s the one to go to for a childbirth question about the ordeal. A doctor’s the one to visit for a question about which epidural to use.
superkarlene, just realize that one individual’s experience is not universal. And as for a woman knowing when labor is starting, I’ve delivered dozens of women who had no clue they were in labor, even when they knew they were pregnant. Ignorant people will remain ignorant unless they take steps to learn things, even when experiences are happening to them.
Awareness of sensations does not necessarily translate into knowledge. And go to 12 different women to ask about their “ordeal” of childbirth, and you’ll get 12 different responses, some widely varying. One woman described the experiences to me as torture, another as erotic and sensuous. Go figure.
Frankly, the entire question begs a review of epistemology before it can be answered. And no, epistemology is different from an episiotomy!
I have been present at the births of three different babies by 3 different mothers. One was a “normal” drug assisted (spinal) delivery. One was a “Natural” i.e. incredibly painful, and one was a ceasarean. In all cases the doctor was way ahead on what the mother could expect to feel. The doctor may never feel the pain of childbirth himself but that does not mean he can not learn to empathize and imagine it.
The two normal births were night and day from each other. The one with a spinal was actually almost a fun experience for all particularly when compared to the horror of watching the person you love most in the world in severe anguish as she tries to deliver something many times bigger than what she originally accpeted. 
Of the 3, 1 was essentially numb from the waist down, one was under anesthesia, and the 3rd was almost insane from the trauma of the ordeal. None of them really learned much about what actually goes on. They learned what a lot of pain is, but sometimes bad gas will make you suspect appendecitis. Why? because pain doesnt explain itself. The doctor can tell you why it hurts and where it hurts and how long it will hurt. He can tll you everything from what you will remember to the emotions to expect.
The doctor understands a lot more than most women will ever care to and can imagine the rest fairly well.
Mother of two, but my first is adopted. At that point, any doctor was heads and shoulders above me about ANY woman’s childbirth experience. Certainly, the doctor who delivered my son - months before I knew he existed - knows far more about his birth.
In the spirit of philosophy, open your mind about the question - mother does not mean “has given birth.”
I had a male OB (who I highly recommend to all my feminist granola eating “only a female midwife” friends and they roll their eyes). At one point 8 months pregnant, I made some comment about what I was feeling. He said “I know.” I said “Nope, pretty sure you really don’t - probably have a better idea than the majority of men, but still, not good enough.” He laughed.
On the other hand I have up close personal experience with a single labor. He delivers 300 babies a year. Even on my delivery, I know how it felt, he knows how many stitches it took to sew me back up. I remember my water breaking, he recorded my white cell count. (We both wanted to bitch slap the original L&D nurse - who was less than helpful - she tsk tsk’d through my screams - and told me her labor didn’t hurt at all and why was I complaining and I couldn’t possibly be dialated enough and she wasn’t going to check, nor call for the epidual - so that isn’t strictly a male doctor thing).