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2nd Trimester
kdiguise
member
A little vent regarding opinions of natural births
kdiguise
member
Let me start by saying I don't really care how anyone chooses to give birth. It's a very personal decision and you should do whatever you feel is best for you. But I've noticed lately that I keep coming across posts or people who say they don't want a natural birth because they don't want to look back on their birth experience as a bad thing...they only want good memories of the birth. That bugs me and kind of makes me sad. I've had two planned natural births (one with pitocin, so mostly natural on that one) and yes, it hurts. Duh. But I have NOTHING but amazing, positive memories of my deliveries. They were totally, totally amazing and I can't wait to do it again. And in all honesty, I barely even remember the pain of it (except that I remember there was a lot of it :P). I'm sure it might be different for someone who didn't plan on having a natural birth and was forced to, but I'm just talking in general here.
I guess I just wanted to say that natural delivery does not EQUAL bad memories just because you don't choose to have pain-meds. I don't want people to have that opinion of natural birth because it really can be such an amazing thing.
/vent 
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Re: A little vent regarding opinions of natural births
I agree. It bugs the heck out of me. I think so many people go into labor scared and completely unprepared. Like any big event why would you not prepare and take classes and educate yourself? I also think the medical industry is scaring people into thinking that natural birth is super painful and scary which in my opinion is really awful!
I would love to have a natural birth and was completely planning on it until I found out I have a low fibroid which pretty much guarantees me a c/s
If you talk to women who have done it and planned on it, it's never as bad as they show on tv other scary stories you hear. The whole point is being prepared and knowing kind of what to expect, obviously you can never fully know what to expect! 
Most of the stories I read on the Natural Birth board are beautiful and make me cry. They also say how it's not nearly as painful as they thought/heard.
Can I ask a (possibly silly) question? What about using pain relievers in delivery isn't natural?
The baby is still coming out my vagina. I'm also pretty sure that at various points women in the old days also had methods to take the edge off. And I also know women who had epis that wore off before they got to the end and the really hard pushing- is that still not "natural"? Why isn't it considered "medicated" and "non-medicated" birth instead?
Ipersonally want the epidural. I think it takes a very strong woman to have a baby naturally, and honestly I'm just not up for it.
And as far as home births and water births go. We have had sooooo many issues with babies in my family that i would be scared to not be hooked up to a million monitors and have doctors assisting me the whole time. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my head and dr couldnt find my heartbeat so my mom had an emergency csection, had she pushed i would have died.
so for me, i'm going with a regular hospital birth with drugs
but i think its everyone womans opinion and i think we should all be informed and do our research and have our reasosn for chosing a paticular birth not becuase our dr says so. so congrats on doing it naturally ladies!
I had a water birth, and am planning my second. It was spectacular! Takes half the pain away!
Different people just have different opinions when it comes to the term natural. I actually prefer to say pain-med free, but for the purposes of my post I used teh term natural. It isn't 'natural' because you don't need pain relievers to deliver a baby. People choose to use them, but they are not necessary to give birth. For example, some would say the birth of my daughter wasn't technically natural since I had to have pitocin (I was induced because she had IUGR), but it was pain-med free.
No one in my family had issues (my mom had 5 kids naturally, grandmother had 7), but I've had a ton. Preterm labor/bedrest/IUGR/short cervix, etc and I see a perinatologist in addition to my OB. My delivery with my daughter was considered high risk. I delivered both of my babies in the hospital (necessary because of my issues), but pain med free. You can have a natural birth at a hospital. Sadly, some hospitals are not as accommodating to mothers wanting to go natural, but it's definitely possible. I WISH I could have a home birth, but that's just not possible for me given all of my issues. Just felt like sharing that
Just so people don't get the wrong idea, lots of babies are born vaginally with the cord wrapped around their neck. It's by no means a death sentence.
I had a med-free hospital birth and it was an amazing experience. I'm planning to go med-free with this baby too.
med-free birth x2, breastfeeding, baby wearing SAHM
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Comments like this really bug me and make me sad. You see these just as often.
Really? Yah, I read that last night in a book my m/w gave me and I was wondering if it was actually true. Ooo I am getting so excited about my labour haha (I'm not crazy I swear). I had a moment of anxiety this week but I feel great now and feel like I could do it tomorrow (but lets just wait until full term aye baby)
Why do you feel this way? I am sorry if I offended you, it was not intended in the slightest. I personally react really badly to local and general anesthetic and other pain relief. I get really groggy and sick and I don't want to be like that for my baby's birth. I probably should've mentioned that
And obviously you are entitled to your opinion. I didn't mean to imply that EVERYONE who EVER had a natural birth loved it, just that it doesn't HAVE to be a 'bad' or 'negative' thing. Or that you will most certainly have bad memories of it because you didn't have pain meds. I feel bad that you didn't enjoy your natural birth, you're actually the first person I've come across that chose to have a natural birth and didn't like it, but I'm not surprised that there are people with that opinion out there. Everyone is different.
Because you are referring to a medicated birth with a very negative tone, that makes it sounds like a "natural birth", as you're calling it, is somehow better. Maybe I'm extra sensitive to that because having had a c/s, I was necessarily "drugged up" and had a very hard time maintaining my focus enough to know what the H was going on. Besides that, an epidural doesn't make you "drugged up" at all, so again, your negative tone implying in your tone that using other methods besides "natural" childbirth means you are incapacitated in some way is offensive to me.
:::lurks:::
i completely agree, i had two pain-med free births and feel awesome about both of them. i dont look back thinking it was bad at all!
I personally see no problem with one or the other. I would love to have a non-medicated birth if possible. I just hate how my sister (who had her baby six months ago) keeps telling me that there is no way I'll be able to do it without an epidural because it is horrible.
:-/ I've been in and out of the hospital a lot in the past two years for SEVERE abdominal pains (related to C Diff infection, appendix, gallbladder, GERD, and other things.) Yes I know that giving birth will probably be even more painful than anything I've experience so far, but I wish she would support my decision to try and do it without pain meds instead of saying I'll be stupid to try and do it without. Everyone is different, and it just depends on the person and what they want. I respected her when she got her pain meds so she should respect me for wanting to go without. :-)
I am sorry that it came across that way, I think a natural birth is sometimes (not all the time) a better experience for the mum. I am sorry that your birth experience has caused you some trauma but I am entitled to my opinion and I did not mean any offence!!! I would react to the epidural medication so I would be drugged up. It was not meant to be a negative tone at all. I think any woman who gives birth is amazing regardless of what way they choose. I am choosing the best way FOR ME. I don't wish to start any drama or anything, I was merely expressing my opinion on the matter and I apologise if it did offend you.
I don't remember saying that DS's birth was traumatic. His birth was beautiful and magical just the way it happened. My point was that having to be medicated didn't make it 'bad' either. You are doing just the opposite of what the OP is stating bothers her, and that's all I was trying to point out.
Ok well that's how it came across and your point was not clearly made in your orignially quote back, so how was I meant to know. I guess what we can establish from this is don't make assumptions from posts as we cannot 100% tell the tone of them. I have nothing more to say on this as this little debate/drama/fight/whatever could go on forever. I have apologised and that is all I need to do.
Excuse my naivety, but how "gross" is a water birth? Do you get out right away afterwards? I haven't looked into this option yet, simply because I've imagined a really gross environment after the baby is born.
I want to get out asap haha. Not too keen in sitting in dirty water. But I hear that some women can spend up to an hour just holding the baby there while it gets checked out.
This is one of those things that can go both ways. Some people make it sound like an unmedicated birth is a horrible idea - and some make it sound like a medicated birth is a terrible idea. I think it just really depends on the person and their expectations.
I had an epidural, and couldn't have ASKED for a better birth experience (except for the part when it temporarily failed in half of my body). But all of the postive feelings that the OP had about her birth - that's how I felt! I wouldn't change I thing...I felt empowered...and what I LOVED (and this may sound odd) is that I could feel the baby descending down in my body, and it was such a cool feeling. But because I have like, a zero pain tolerance, I doubt I would have even noticed that incredible feeling if I'd been in pain.
So for ME...an epidural is heaven. But that's just for me. I've had some comments because I used "drugs" for birth, which is a natural process yes, but then again, I also take medication for headaches, and that's also a natural process...so I don't feel bad about my epidural. And no one should feel bad about an unmedicated birth.
You really can't win, in the eyes of other people.
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THIS! It drives me crazy that it's not called natural just because you take some pain meds!!
I'm all for natural birth and I had every intention to have a natural birth with my son but it didn't work out that way. I just wasn't making any progress after I lost my water sac(s) and mucus plug. I did everything the doula taught me, did all the hypnobirthing techniques, got in the tub, had the balance ball, everything. They dosed me with pitocin over and over and I while I was in more pain I didn't make any progress. After 19 hours I was exhausted and becoming scared that I wouldn't have the energy to push when it came time.
I don't have any negative feelings about how my labor and delivery went. I did the best I could and I'm just glad I didn't have to go into surgery. It's not about me anyways, it's about getting the baby out of my body in the safest manner possible. Natural birthing centers are a clever idea but if they don't have a Level IV NICU in-house then I will pass. I was over-prepared for my labor and delivery but took great comfort knowing that my hospital was equipped with every bell and whistle available.
As far as what I have planned for myself though, I'd like the drugs please and thank you.
I think it needs to be made clear that "medicated" does not necessarily mean "epidural". There are a lot of medications that can be administered that are much milder than what an epidural would be.
That being said, I'm going to go into labor with the mindset that I will be having a completely medication-free birth unless it's absolutely necessary. I have two reasons for thinking this way: One, I've passed a number of kidney stones and that is absolutely excruciating. I've been told my a couple friends who have gone through med-free labor and also passed kidney stones and said that passing the stone was worse. Secondly--and this may seem very extreme--but I know I can handle labor. I know I can handle it because I am a rape survivor. If I can handle going through that I can handle labor. Hands down.
I didn't find it gross, there was vernix floating around and I had a little blood come out with him so that tinged the water, but I haven't seen that happen with most women. Usually it is pretty clean!
natural childbirth
And yet another definition that can be used for Natural Childbirth:
a system of managing childbirth in which the mother receives preparatory education in order to remain conscious during and assist in delivery with minimal or no use of drugs or anesthetics
As found here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural%20childbirth
See dictionaries and the interwebs can be used to prove my point too. Just cause some women may use some meds to take the edge off DOESN'T make it "unnatural." I maintain that as long as it come out my vagina it is still natural.
And I as a c-section mom will take offense to that. So because my baby had to be cut out of me the way he came into the world was unnatural? Use of the word "natural" during pregnancy and childbirth is unnecessary, it's meant to make other women who did not have birth the way someone else did feel as though their birth was not natural. The way it should be looked at is you had a med-free birth vaginally, a medicated vaginal birth or a c-section. Those terms describe the birth you had not some word that means different things to different people.
Its absolutely fantastic that you don't "need" pain relievers to deliver a baby and still have a positive experience, but I know my own pain threshold and tolerance and I will need them. Just how it bugs you that some people think they can't have a positive experience delivering without the use of pain meds, it makes me crazy that some look down on those of us that choose to be medicated. I will get an epidural ASAP when I go into labour. Like you said, it is each women's choice to deliver how they deem best for them, and I know I would not enjoy my childs birth without them. Oh, and sometimes they are 100% necessary because I don't know anyone that would have a c/s without drugs.
Yep! There are wrong assumptions going both ways.
I had an epidural and I didn't feel impaired, drowsy, or sedated at all. It was my first pregnancy, and I was only in labor from start to finish for 10 hours, and I only had to push 15-20 minutes. I only had a very small tear, and the doctor even said that he didn't technically have to stitch it up, but that he would recommend it just to be safe.
I never, at any time, felt pressured or ordered around by my doctors and nurses.
I was walking around an hour after having my daughter, and she breastfed successfully immediately. My recovery was easy.
The thing about assumptions is that they are usually wrong.