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Attachment Parenting
Non AP: Med Free Childbirth
Hi ladies,
I know the percentage of med-free mamas on this board is high, so I hope you don't mind me posting. Lately I've been seeing/hearing a lot of horror stories about childbirth in general. I would love some positive things to focus on. 
I was given the green light today for waterbirth (yay!) and I want to focus on the good things that could happen.
What was the *best* thing about med-free childbirth for you?
Thank you very very much!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Non AP: Med Free Childbirth
Everything! Seriously, it's hard to narrow it down to one thing I thought was best. I loved being at home during most of my labor, surrounded by everything familiar and comfortable. I loved my doula. I loved seeing such a supportive and wonderful side of DH. I loved not having to deal with anyone but DH and my doula until I was just about ready to push (DD was born within 30 minutes after my getting to the hospital).
My birth story is in my bio if you're interested. Good luck!
What a big question! Labour and delivery was fantastic. Baby was OP so I can't say it didn't hurt, but lots of things hurt
I'll do it again.
The best things about going med free?
Fast recovery, being able to stay at home, having a very alert baby, remembering L&D, avoiding interventions, being able to move around in labour; I would have had a hard time getting the baby out if I couldn't move. I felt absolute euphoria at the end and was able to feel the baby come out and WOW! I was on the moon
Labour and delivery is hard work no matter how you do it and it is a very important event in your life. People like to tell horror stories because it validates their experience, they don't want to think that if they did it another way things might have gone differently. You really need to block them out and be proactive in getting people to stop telling them to you. You should be polite because you don't want to insult them, but tell them you don't want to hear it and if they insist, walk away.
Good Luck! Its totally doable and you'll be so proud of yourself.
I highly recommend Sheri Menelli's compilation of positive birth stories, Journey into Motherhood: Inspirational Birth Stories.
I had an awesome birth experience! Everything about it was great.
I haven't done it yet but I'm looking forward to being home- with my robe, my clothes, my towels, my food, my couch, my bed, etc. I look forward to being able to move during labor however I want. I look forward to my caregivers asking permission before they examine or even touch me. I look forward to being able to have control of the surroundings.
Also, I look forward to being home with my baby immediately. No one is going to be grabbing him from me to give him a shot, clean him off, or put him in a warmer. I look forward to sleeping in my own bed after delivery.
I could move around. And I didn't have to deal with a scary epi needle.
My Blog
I just had my second med-free (home) waterbirth last week.
Both my births have been great. I am not going to lie, it hurts like a b!tch! But it is sooooo worth it!
The 2 best things for me are 1. Best outcomes for the baby and 2. Other than feeling normal soreness, I felt great after the births.
This last birth, pushing her out was just amazing. In one long push, my water broke, then i could feel her coming down, her head come out, and her body wiggle out after the head. I can't imagine pushing and not being able to even feel what you are doing. It must be so much harder to push effectively. Plus it was just so cool to feel her coming out of me.
ETA: moving around like a PP said is so important. I was swaying, rocking, squatting, etc during contrax. I can't imagine being confined to a bed/monitors/etc.
This is exactly how I felt. It was so incredible to be so alert and aware of everything...good and "bad". It's a natural amazing experience and to know I was able to do it gives me such pride in myself and makes me feel like a better woman. It made me feel stronger and more able to take on the next obstacle in life!
All of this and I had a waterbirth and loved it. Well as much as you can love childbirth. The water really helped me with the contractions and when it came time to push I was floating in the tub suspended in DH's arms. I felt like I really had a lot of room to get him out.
I think the most important thing is that you are mentally comfortable with your choices. It keeps you relaxed and a relaxed woman gives birth much easier than a worried uptight one. Hope you get cleared and have a great birth and I hope that the water helps you as much as it helped me.
I posted a similar question about a month ago after 2 friend had med free births and both described the experience as "awful". I linked my thread below because I got a ton of really good responses, and links to some very positive birth stories.
https://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/30517892.aspx
Ditto everything the PP wrote!
We had a homebirth and I loved being able to move around, EAT, snuggle with my DH, watch a movie, etc while I was in labor. When I was having a shower a few hours after he was born I felt so euphoric - like I had just finished a marathon. While I was super tired from being up for 24 hours my recovery was great. My son was also very alert and looking around from day one which my midwives attributed to no drugs.
Going med free is great but for myself I am most proud that I was confident in my body and my team to get me safely through labor. If I had had a super long labor or a complication I was very open to the idea that we may go to the hospital, I may get some drugs, etc.
Good luck! Whatever way it happens having a child is an amazing experience.
Wow, I could have written this...even the part about 30 minutes at the hospital! Going natural was the most empowering thing ever. I remember the horror stories too and the negative feedback from others, but just ignore it. You can totally do it and it's SOOO worth it!!
I loved everything about a med-free childbirth. I loved that I stayed home so long. I labored on my birthing ball while my DH and doula put pressure on my hips to help with back labor and I was joking and solving puzzles on wheel of fortune between contractions until things really picked up and we went to the hospital. When I arrived, I was a 7!! That news alone put me over the moon. I was so proud to have stayed home so long and labored so effectively that I knew I could finish those last three cm without drugs.
I loved seeing DH be so supportive and loving throughout my labor. He really was awesome. I loved feeling everything, knowing what was going on the entire time. I loved being so alert. I loved the feeling I got afterwards. The pain was immediately gone when DS was out and I felt like I could have climbed Mt. Everest!
One thing that annoys me when people try and dissuade you from having a med-free birth is that they'll usually say, "you don't get a medal for going med-free." My response is, "maybe not, but I don't think winning a gold medal at the Olympics could compare to the awesome feelings of pride and accomplishment I had after having a baby without an epi." Seriously, natural childbirth rocks!
This. Especially the part about DH. I truly felt like the labor and birth was a joint effort for us and we had quite an emotional high for many weeks after. I found that the best focal point for me was to have him RIGHT in my face breathing with me. Our doula basically stood back and coached him and he was a champ.
I think that's awesome that you're planning a water birth. I would LOVE to do this in the future.
I liked being able to walk around during labor and I had a super fast recovery. I was up and walking around shortly after the birth and with the exception of some soreness in my abs and (obviously) vagina, I really felt back to my regular self right away. The contractions at the end and pushing did hurt a lot (not going to lie, although it may be better in the water) but it was sooo worth it.
Also wanted to add, that I did not plan for a natural birth really, it just sort of ended up happening that way. So if I can do it with no preparation, you can do it!
I didn't have a med free birth (but wish I did and plan to next time) so I don't have a personal story to share, but a friend of mine has a fantastic blog. https://birthwithconfidence.blogspot.com/
Her daughter's birth story is absolutely beautiful and she's very helpful. If you leave a comment or email her I'm sure she'd be more than willing to help you.
I ended up with an emergency CS but I labored in and out of water for 12 hrs. w/ no meds.
For me the freedom to move was priceless. The water specifically relaxed me SO much that I was able to sleep between contractions.
And for me at least, the pain wasn't *that* bad. Of course that is easy for me to say b/c I didn't experience the worst of it, but I got to 7 cm w/ no drugs and didn't think it was that bad.
I hope you are not advising women to make decisions based on their own wants as opposed to the needs of their child. I don't know about you but most of the decisions I made during my L&D were centered around making sure my baby came out healthy and had very little to do with having a "wonderful birth experience." I did not get pg. for the birth experience. I got pg. to have a baby, God willing, a healthy one.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Even if the outcome wasn't what we hoped for, who among us would say we didn't make the best decision we could given the informatin we had at the time?
I wish every woman could make decisions based on a healthy outcome for their child AND have a wonderful birth experience but that just isn't going to happen all the time. No one is able to dictate their entire birth experience. I think it's important to educate yourself and plan to do what you want and think is best, but also know that you are not completely in control of what is going to happen and most likely will have to adapt and change somewhat. AND THAT IS OKAY. It's pretty much going to be your life for the foreseeable future.
You might as well get used to it now.
I have had 2 drug-free VBACs and both were very positive experiences. (I also had doulas for both births which were in a hospital)
I'll just avoid repeating what others have mentioned and add two comments that I have not seen.
1. My water broke before I was in labor and I was given a strict 12 hr time limit to deliver. Because of the VBAC- pitocin was not even an option (not that I would have wanted it anyway) but I also was made to stay hooked up to a monitor and felt dismayed that without the ability to move around my chances of getting the ctx started were shot. My doula saved the day with HOKU pressure point massage to the webbing of my hand- no lie- the CTX started within a minute of the start of the treatment!! WOW!
2. Ecstasy.
People just don't talk about it- all they talk about is pain. I got to experience both. If I had chose to try to make my birth pain free- I also think I would have missed the ECSTACY. And no- I don't mean the joy of having your baby- you can feel amazed, happy, relieved, astounded, thankful - we have many wonderful feelings emotionally about our new baby even with a medicated birth- but I am talking about a physical experience, a rare, hard earned long awaited physical ecstasy... I would never even know I had missed that, but now that I have experienced it twice, I personally would not give that up in trade for being numb from the waist down.
I just did a quick google and came up with these two sites:
https://www.articlesbase.com/pregnancy-articles/the-ecstasy-of-birth-764543.html
Warning NSFW: this second link opens with a youtube vid at the top of the page (the vid didn't play for me) but the still frame picture is a full body view of mom with baby crowing. Further down the page are some tasteful nude pregnancy portraits.
https://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/sensual/ecstasy.html
I had a really hard, long labor and lots of tearing so I kinda missed out on a lot of the good points of natural labor. None of that ecstasy stuff for me.
My midwife told me at a follow-up appt. that I must have made an "impression" on the nurses because they accidentally called the following mommy my name. However, If I do it again I'd do the same exact thing.
1) Confidence that I would only get a c-section if absolutely necessary - Where I live the c-section rate is between 35 and 40% and I knew I did not want to have an unnecessary surgery. I switched from an OB to a midwife for this reason.
2) Freedom - I could do what I wanted during labor, move around, eat, drink, rest in the tub. No tubes, wires, or monitors
3) Knowing that I did the best I could to bring my baby into the world in the most safe and gentle way possible.
During labor I was able to move into whatever position I wanted, which made it much easier to labor. . .And because I could feel everything, I could work with my body; I think it makes a huge difference when you're pushing to know what is happening.
But for me the best part has been the recovery period. I was able to shower just an hour or so after delivery and I've had very little post-partum discomfort. I think this is because I knew how far my body could/should go during delivery. Not to mention no rules about peeing or pooping or farting before you can be discharged. And LO has been very alert, which I think has everything to do with the med-free delivery.
Lots of stuff!
-I got to move around while laboring
-I was able to get out of bed within an hour of his being born. There was no waiting to regain feeling in my legs or have a catheter pulled. (And the next day the nurse told me I was so swollen that they would not have pulled a catheter yet--a full 24 hours after the birth!)
-Not having the epi allowed me to avoid other interventions because the doc was fantastic and very supportive of my desire to go natural. Regardless, he was on the fence about some procedure that he though I needed due to issues with me and/or DS, but he held off on them because he wanted to honor my wishes. In the end, I was able to avoid all the interventions.