How much planning went into your natural birth?
panda10
member
I'm am currently 10 weeks pregnant with my 1st child. I am all about reading everything I can get my hands on and educating myself. I have started researching doulas and I feel comfortable with the idea of having a doula for a hospital birth.
Everyone I talk to thinks that I'm crazy researching these things and think that having a doula is not needed. My mom even said, "Why don't you just let nature take it's course and what ever happens happen with your delivery?"
My reasoning for having a doula is that the the c-section rate at my hospital is 42%, which is over 10% higher than my state average. Since I will not have one doctor delivering my child, but the chance of 1/3 based on who is on call, I feel like I need to be prepared with an advocate and someone who can give me rational feedback and knowledge.
I guess my question is, how much planning did you put into your natural birth? Did anyone do it with a doula, and would you reccomend having one?
Thank you for your input! 
2012
Re: How much planning went into your natural birth?
I didn't put much effort into planning my childbirth BUT...I live in NZ, our hospitals are very pro- natural brith, most people deliver with a midwife rather than an OB.
So quite a different context.
I couldn't disagree with your mother more. I think to be successful in a natural birth certain factors help:
1) Being as relaxed as possible. Therefore being informed of your options and understanding the birth process will make you less likely to feel panicked or out of control.
Also having an environment that makes you feel relaxed. That includes having a support team that you have confidence in.
2) Understanding why the choices you want to make are important to you. I don't think there is a right or wrong choice in terms of giving birth, but if you understand why YOUR choices are important to YOU, than you're more likely to stick to them and to pursue them.
I didn't have a doula, but again because I was birthing with a midwife in a pro natural birth hospital it didn't feel like an important consideration for me.
It does sound perhaps like your Mum is of the school of thought that, "the medical professionals always know what is best and you simply need to defer to them." Where as I'm more of the school of thought, "medical professionals know a lot, and I will always listen to and consider their point of view but before I sign up for anything I have a series of questions that I need to ask and understand."
Good luck with your decisions, and at the end of the day if people around you are being overwhelmingly negative then you may have to avoid discussing it with them.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
While pregnant with DD, I read several books, including Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and The Thinking Women's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer. I liked those two the best. We also took Bradley classes and hired a doula. I believe our doula was the best investment that we made. She was wonderful and we will most likely use her again if we have another LO.
I think one of the worst things you can do in a hospital birth, is to go in uneducated. Know the different types of interventions and know your rights as a patient. If you run into complications and need interventions, like pitocin or a c-section, you will know that it was done because it was needed for the safety of yourself and the baby and not because your OB wants to go home or go on vacation.
There are lots of great posts below that go in greater detail about doulas, books and childbirth classes. Good luck to you!
Please please please forgive me, but can you at ALL change hospitals??? That c-section rate is unbelievable!
I am a HUGE advocate of educating yourself so that you know full well what your options are - especially with birth. A lot of scare tactics get used with expecting parents and educating yourself is your absolute best defense mechanism.
In a hospital with a 42% c-section rate, I'd say a doula is a MUST HAVE if you want to have a spontaneous vaginal delivery. If you can find one who is well versed in unmedicated birth, even better. If you're determined to have your way and have a spontaneous vaginal birth you will need as much support as you can get in that type of environment. Please, if that's what you want, don't let ANYONE bully you out of it. I have a very dear gf of mine who caved to pressure to get an epidural while she was in labor simply because she got tired of hearing everyone tell her she was crazy.
Not trying to send traffic to my website too much, but I've started a great list of resources for expecting parents: https://sanctuarysandiego.com/?page_id=226
The most accessible and easiest to understand is "Business of Being Born" - a documentary done by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. You can stream it on Netflix. Perhaps your mom should watch it as well. Hospital birth isn't about letting your body just do what it does naturally necessarily. There are a LOT of unnecessary interventions being used with laboring moms.
My last piece of advice is to find like-minded people and seek out their support. Find a birthing class that will support your vision of the kind of birth you want (hypnobirthing, hypnobabies, Bradley - are just a few). There is a ton of support for intervention free birth out there for you.
So you research to your hearts content and don't let anyone else tell you what's right for you to be doing. YOU are the one who has to live with your decisions. Trust yourself.
Your logic is sound! I read loads of books, did Bradley classes for 12 weeks + the homework, and we hired a doula. When some uncommon things went wacky during my PG and labor, our doula was so helpful in helping us process which interventions were genuinely medically advisable (and it was hard to trust my OBs who just default to meds or c/s when things get tricky). For me, choosing select interventions likely prevented a c-section and even greater damage to my body than what I sustained. Later, when I was emotional about things not going as hoped for, all of that education and the doula helped me know that I realy had done as much "right" as possible. IMO, education and a doula are great when everything goes as planned and truly invaluable when they don't. Win, win!
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