Hello I am 14 1/2 weeks pregnant and have decided to naturally birth in a hospital. I had made this decision a long time ago when I was privileged to witness multiple unnatural births in a hospital setting. At that time it was solely on what I saw and had nothing to do with any reading material or documentary I watched. I just want to say I don't find anything wrong with wanting to be medicated but I feel like that is not the way for me and everyone should have a choice.
If your wondering what I had experienced here it is! I could only described as " mechanical birthing". The women birthing was very quiet and didn't speak much. I was told she sent her husband away a short while ago due to needing to be back at work. So she was all alone with no family or friends. A nurse then came into the room, checked her and the monitor she was hooked up to and told her it was time to start pushing. The whole experience was that the nurse looked for a contraction on the monitor told her to push, then stop, and then rest. That went on till the baby was born and in a way I felt gypped just watching it. I felt that there was no emotional aspect or feeling. I want to feel a contraction and know when I'm suppose to push not have someone else tell me. I'm not saying I need to feel pain to have emotion but I would love to experience all that is has to offer form start to finish. Well that's my back story.
Now I have read up, watched some documentaries and want even more now to have a natural child birth. I have recently found out I have a little problem though. I have read some of your past post and am definitely getting the Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way book and some others, but do you think I need to take a class. I recently found out that the policies at work had changed for pregnant women and am possibly going to have to go without a paycheck once the baby is born. So I am trying to save as much as possible so my question is will just reading books be good enough? Or should getting into a class be the right thing to do even though we are trying to save?
Thanks for reading the long post and I look forward to reading more!
Re: New here with a question
Classes aren't required to have a successful med-free birth, but preparation is. So is support. You can get preparation and support for free, if you plan ahead. Read lots, have your partner read something (the Bradley book or "The Birth Partner" are good bets), and consider lining up a student doula or just another friend or family member that has had a med-free birth and can support you. Relying on one person exclusively is tough if the labour is long or has complications.
You could also consider a midwife. You can still birth at a hospital, but the midwife model of care tends to be more supportive of med-free birth.
I would also avoid the phrase "unnatural birth". I get what you're saying, but it doesn't do you any favours. Just stick to what YOU want without getting into what other people do.
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Agreed to all of this!
I would stick with saying things such as "I am preparing for a med-free birth or a low intervention birth". I know you didn't mean it this way, but 'unnatural birth' just doesn't have a nice sound to it
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