Why natural?

lindsey1427

I have been reading a lot of the advice on this particular board and I've found it all very helpful!  I'm due any day (today, actually), and I'm trying to get the last bit of my research and preparation in.  

A lot of you have said that it is helpful to remind yourself why you want to have a natural birth to get through the especially difficult parts of labor.  What were some of your personal reasons for going natural?  Is there anything in particular that you repeated to yourself that was helpful in getting through the tough stuff?  

Thanks!!

kwrecks

My husband has always been big into wanting his children born med free. I wasn't all about that when we first got together, but something that really changed my mind was an experience a friend of mine had.  She had a perfect pregnancy, and ended up having an epidural and eventually needed pitocin and ended up with all sorts of issues, and her baby was born not breathing, and suffered extreme brain damage and died 3 weeks later.  She did a lot of research and found that this isn't the first time that a baby has died due to all the drugs.  This got me doing my own research, and it has made much more sense to me that my body was made to give birth naturally, and while I believe that there are some things that require medical intervention, I want to do all I can to make sure my baby is born as naturally and med free as can bel

aylafsu88

I went natural because I am terrified of epidural.  I have always had a fear of needles and surgery.  When I was pregnant I found that often times medical interventions lead to a cascade of consequences during birth that I did not want such as increased C/S rates, pitocin etc.  I decided to go natural because it was what I believed was best for myself and my baby.  In preparation for my birth I told myself that it was going to be hard, it was going to be painful, and it was going to be intense.  When I was in labor I was not shocked when a contraction took my breathe away or when I had bad back labor because I was mentally ready for that.  I really feel that having a realistic expectation of what birth would be like was a huge help during L&D. The other thing that helped me the most were the positive words my doula and H told me.  They told me I was amazing and doing a great job.  They made me feel like I was a rock star and I stayed positive because of them.

MrsP7309

I had a bad reaction to anesthetics at 16. I only wanted them if there was no other choice.

JCWhitey

Recovery went so much faster! I just told myself it was either pain now or pain thrn and I was already dealing with the pain now. But I also diidn't experince much pain in labor at all.

barista411

I am a huge believer that my body knows better than anyone what it needs to do to get the baby out safely. I think our bodies were made to give birth and when we begin intervene with that natural process we begin to have complications. Also the drugs they give the mother pass to the baby. I knew I wouldn't give my newborn those drugs so why would I allow these drugs to be passed through me to them. I would say the recovery was easier but in my case it wasn't. I am hoping this time it will be. I did not want to be trapped in bed during my labor either. I also wanted to fully awake and aware of what was going on during that amazing time of bringing my LO into the world.

mols228

I don't usually post here. I am due with my third in October. I never really ever expected to go natural. With my first I had an epi and my recovery was horrible. I ended up with femoral nerve neuropathy and couldn't walk for days and it was two months before I would say I was confident walking and holding my little girl. With DD2 I didn't have the option of an epidural. I had a precipitous birth and had her about 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital. I had the easiest recovery. I felt great immediately, well sore obviously, but really pretty great. So this time my plan is to definitely go natural and hope I have a quick labor and delivery like I did with DD2. Good luck!

sschwege

I think what helped me was to totally put the epi out of my mind.  I just basically pretended it did not exist and made sure the staff knew not to offer it.

What I liked about going med-free was being able to care for my babies as soon as they were born.  DS had breathing problems and was brought to the Special Care nursery soon after he was born (he remained there for two nights).  After I was stitched and cleaned up, I got right out of bed and walked across the hall to be with him.  They didn't want us holding him yet, but I stood there and held his hand, talked to him, etc.  I'm sure I could have been brought over there in a wheelchair, but it was so nice to be able to visit him as much as I wanted, I didn't have to call a nurse for help.  Plus other than the monitoring in triage I wasn't hooked up to a single thing (not even a hep-lock), it felt good to labor and deliver in much the same way women have been doing for centuries (well except for the Jacuzzi jets in the bathtub

Good luck mama, trust your body, you can do it!   

starfishlovesyou

I started out wanting to just for sheer stubbornness sake(someone had told me I couldn't do it, and I wanted to prove them wrong), but the more I looked into it, the more I realized that this was the best thing to do for myself and my baby. The real turning point was watching The Business of Being Born. I learned so much from that movie, and as I told my husband the things I was learning, he jumped on board wholeheartedly.
 I loved that my baby was so alert when he was born, and he just wanted to look at everyone and figure out what was going on. It was amazing, and I was able to bond really quickly with him because I wasn't all drugged up, and out of it.
 While I was in labor, I just acted like the epi wasn't even an option. No one offered, and I had stayed home long enough to be halfway dialated by the time I got to the hospital, so I felt like I could handle it. The thing that really helped me was to just focus on getting through this contraction, and then to rest between them. I actually would fall asleep in between contractions, and I think that helped me reserve energy for pushing. Not everyone has enough of a break between contractions to rest like that, though, so I don't know whether that will help you. The more I think about it, the more I think I wound up getting through on stubbornness, lol. I just basicaly said this IS how I will handle this, and then did it. Because I wanted to.

kellyk17

I'm with @barista411 in believing my body knows best. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease 18 years ago and I've learned that listening to your body can lead to much more healing outcomes than just taking meds. Because of this I'm prepping mentally and physically as best I can for a natural birth. For me it feels the right thing to do.

Deblondie1

I'm doing my darndest to go natural this time because of the trauma of DD's birth, to be honest. I was so drugged up I have blank spots in my memory. I also feel like women have been doing this for too long for me to not be able to, if that makes sense. 

I also reacted badly to the epidural. Not like, horridly but bad enough I have no desire to try that again. I was vomiting, shaking, and couldn't walk for 3 hours. I also couldn't tell when I had to go potty so had a catheter for a little longer. 

Whether it was a one time experience or my body's way of reacting to the meds, I have no desire to test it out. 

mrsebright

This will be my second med free birth (barring complications, of course).

With my first it was because we spend our entire pregnancies avoiding typical medications and foods and anything that might harm the baby. It seemed very counter intuitive to me to then get drugged up in the last few hours. I figured if I could go without then it was certainly worth a shot. I chose a birth center where an epidural wasn't even an option (but was only a 4 minute drive to the hospital should something go wrong).

This time around, while my previous reasoning still holds, it is more about the amazing recovery time. After my first birth we hung out at the birth center for a few hours, I popped a couple of advil, drove home and felt the insane urge to cook dinner for everyone (and I did). I was in an incredible adrenaline high and I just wanted to take care of the whole world. In retrospect it was bonkers and after talking to friends and family I realized that it is not normal to be up and carrying on with normal life 6-8 hours after giving birth. I just felt healthy and incredible. If I can feel half as good after this birth I will be thrilled.

pdilly2b

mrsebright said:

With my first it was because we spend our entire pregnancies avoiding typical medications and foods and anything that might harm the baby. It seemed very counter intuitive to me to then get drugged up in the last few hours. 

This for me too. Also, the idea of pushing on my back with my knees all kinked up just didn't appeal to me at all. I tried one push like that and it was totally non-productive. It also just makes more sense to me to be upright from a gravity perspective and since the baby has to rotate to get out. I pushed squatting and then on my hands and knees and DS was out in 20 min, not hours like I heard some of my friends with epis had to push (and 2 friends did that before the baby got "stuck" and had to be delivered by unscheduled c-sections). 

The quick pushing and lack of tearing alone is enough for me to go med free again, let alone any of the other benefits with alertness and recovery.

lindsey1427

I keep checking back to read this discussion and I'm loving the helpful insights.  I'm now 2 days past my due date and if being bloated and super-irritable (my poor husband!) is any indication, then I'm getting close.  If not, well, then I just may be pregnant for another week.  Bleh!

aylafsu88

mrsebright said:

This will be my second med free birth (barring complications, of course).

With my first it was because we spend our entire pregnancies avoiding typical medications and foods and anything that might harm the baby. It seemed very counter intuitive to me to then get drugged up in the last few hours. I figured if I could go without then it was certainly worth a shot. I chose a birth center where an epidural wasn't even an option (but was only a 4 minute drive to the hospital should something go wrong).

This is a really great observation.  We spend so much time avoiding things and not taking certain medications when pregnant but then that all goes out the window during L&D.

Arielle27

Basically everything everyone has said here I agree with!! This will hopefully be my third natural birth.

Good luck in whatever happens!!

spicysurro

I watched "The Business of Being Born" its an amazing documentary. Im a FTM and after watching the documentary there is no other way to go. A LOT of my "friends" have not been supportive at all and saying how many friends that felt their first contraction and wanted the epidural so I tend to keep it to myself and my husband that this will be a natural birth center birth. Im not arrogant to the help that a hospital and the doctors can give, but if my pregnancy is healthy and my baby is too, as women I feel we are born for this. I trust my body to do its thing. I just repeat to myself that "women's bodies are made for this, I am made to do this" I just put full trust into what my body tells me. Plus I watch my mother struggle with back pain her whole life from epidurals. Also, many womens recovery and breastfeeding go a lot smoother. After watching the documentary there are a million reasons of why I would do it, the video alone made me empowered to do it. DH was unsure at first but I made him watch the video and now he trusts his wife Good luck to you, cant wait to hear great news from you soon!

rooftop

I straight up don't trust doctors to have my best interest at heart. I believe birth is a perfectly natural process that the big drug companies have turned into a business through social marketing and scare tactics. Also, there's no way in hell I'm letting someone that close to my spinal cord with a needle!

MannaPants

To tell you the truth, my research started because of my cynicism. I work for a medical billing company and can tell you from an inside source that most medical facilities do not have your best interests at heart. They have their own best interests at heart. It is all about money. I don't want my birth to be about money. (Disclaimer: This is obviously not a blanket statement. I'm sure there are exceptions.)
After doing all the research though, I really feel like it is safer for me and my baby to do this without drugs and machines. So it is partially about my and my baby's health.
What is also interesting is that this started out with science. I read scientific, peer-reviewed journal articles and studies. I look up statistics and numbers and percentages. And all that science sort of led me straight into a spiritual reason. It led me to people like Ina May and Michel Odent, who gave me a confidence in my body and my strength. I was made for this and I can do this!

Yogakitten

I guess I'm a bit different in that I don't have a real problem with epidurals (in terms of safety) and I do trust that my doctor has my best interests at heart. My mother is an OB (who had two natural births but thinks epidurals are safe as well), so I grew up hearing about pregnancy and childbirth as a natural and pretty amazing thing, but I also respect the role of medicine and interventions (when necessary) in the birthing process. My main goal is to postpone or avoid an epidural so that my birth can be as intervention-free as possible -- frankly to protect my own health, as much as that of my child. I also want be prepared for what is a natural but painful process, because I don't want to rely on external relief as my only coping mechanism. What might make me unusual for this board is that I couldn't care less if others choose to get induced before I would or choose an elective c-section. I don't assume that they are less informed -- it's just not what I would do.

A37licia

I want to experience labor and not have it happen to me. I want to be an active participant and not a passive participant by laying in a hospital bed with an epi. I want to avoid introducing chemicals that I cannot guarantee will not negatively affect my baby or the birth or the immediate post partum period. I don't feel like a super woman, I believe any woman can do it.

I'll accept an epi if my birth dictates it. A scenario I imagine would be a very, very long labor, I'm exhausted and have fully utilized the coping and support methods I have.  Having planned a home birth with the awesome team I have, I will know we will have tried a heck of a lot for a long time if it came to that.

mrsebright

Yogakitten said:

I guess I'm a bit different in that I don't have a real problem with epidurals (in terms of safety) and I do trust that my doctor has my best interests at heart. My mother is an OB (who had two natural births but thinks epidurals are safe as well), so I grew up hearing about pregnancy and childbirth as a natural and pretty amazing thing, but I also respect the role of medicine and interventions (when necessary) in the birthing process. My main goal is to postpone or avoid an epidural so that my birth can be as intervention-free as possible -- frankly to protect my own health, as much as that of my child. I also want be prepared for what is a natural but painful process, because I don't want to rely on external relief as my only coping mechanism. What might make me unusual for this board is that I couldn't care less if others choose to get induced before I would or choose an elective c-section. I don't assume that they are less informed -- it's just not what I would do.

I love this entire statement but the bolded sentence really hits home for me. Thank you for this!