September 2015 Moms

Natural birth or epidural

Now that I am 24 weeks I have started to think about the big day-- meeting our little miracles. Which has made me a bit nervous just thinking about it..

What is everyone thinking about their birth plans.. To go medicine free natural or oxytocin drip and epidural? I'm a FTM so I was just planning on epidural since it's so common but started reading research based articles regarding how great the natural birth with minimal medicine is best... Any other thought/concerns?

Ps Obviously c-section is optional for emergency reasons.
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Re: Natural birth or epidural

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  • I went with the flow the first time. I wanted to try unmedicated but was open to medication. I ended up doing one dose of IV pain meds (stadol) when I was 9cm. I did not like the way it made me feel. I wished later that I had not asked for it. I don't think I realized how close I was at the time. I am going in with the same plan this time. I am hopeful to go unmedicated.
  • edited May 2015
    I plan to go as natural as I can, I'm afraid of epidurals and won't get one but if I can't handle the pain, I won't be afraid to ask for some other forms of pain relief
  • For me as natural as I can. Women have done it for all of time and I want to experience my babies arriving with my mind unmedicated. Went to prenatal class last weekend and after being presented all options I'm even more certain!
  • I wish we had laughing gas available here in PA or in the USA in general. I plan on having an epi as I did last time. I'm ok with medication. Just want my baby here, not really interested in how as much this time since Ive been through it.
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  • I did not have an epidural with my daughter and I don't plan on getting one this time.
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  • I had an epidural with my two boys n now I'm doing the same thing with my baby girl... I had a good experience with it so I'm OK doing it again... :)
  • I would like to try my best to go natural, but I let my doctor know I'm open to pain meds and possibly an epidural if I just can't handle it. I've also been looking into pain management techniques and water labor. I'm just going to trust that I can get through the pain. :) either way, I'll just be happy to have my little one in my arms afterwards.
  • WDDCHWDDCH member
    KERJF said:

    Natural.
    An epidural is not part of a vaginal birth for me. It went wrong with our first and I refuse to chance it again. Plus, my 2nd birth which was a natural water birth was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

    My last (fifth baby) was my water birth and I agree. Amazing! I pushed him out into my own hand and pulled him up once he was out. I just loved that so much. I wanted a water birth so bad and finally got it last time. Hoping for another water birth this time.
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  • With my son I went as long as I could without an epi & ended up getting one at 5cm. It was amazing.. I had no issues from it at all. I wasn't completely numb & could feel my legs.. it's just like they were asleep. I had the best birthing experience. No pain, no yelling, no grunting.. it was so peaceful I actually enjoyed it! I have a good friend who went med-free & she doesn't remember anything about her son's birth.. she said it was like she was in another state of mind which I'm sure you would have to be to endure the pain. But she said it was great & did it again when her daughter was born. I applaud mom's who can do that, however I am just a big ol' baby with no pain tolerance. I'd love to try & experience an all natural med-free birth this go around, but I think of the peacefulness of birthing my son & I definitely want to experience that again! To each their own. :)

    SYDNEY(26) DH(27) MARRIED - 10.9.09

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  • I am going to a hospital, having a medical doctor deliver, and will be using as much pain and epidural meds as possible. That's the plan.
  • I'm planning on a water birth so meds aren't an option. I have done a lot of research into it and have talked to people that have done it. The hot water is a natural relaxing. If your hospital allows them I would look into it.
  • melewenmelewen member
    Natural all the way! Billions of women have done it this way and their pain is reduced because they're not terrified of the natural birthing experience! Something about paralyzing my body from waist down... Oh yeah, the baby is in there! Not for me :)
  • Natural.  Med free. Hopefully a water birth (not sure if baby will be born in the water, definitely wanna labor in the water).  I made it 24 hours with my first before I asked for the drugs (with TERRIBLE pitocin contractions and a transcervical foley balloon doshne TWICE because they did i wrong the first time.  If you don't know what that is, be glad, it's pretty brutal)  Anticipating this labor to be much shorter plus being able to relax in the birth tub and not needing pit or the stupid balloon.  So pretty confident I can do it.  

    With K, I'm sure the epidural saved me from needing a c-section, (I've told this story here before so forgive me if you've heard it).  Because I had been in labor for so many hours and hadn't rested well the night before, I was bordering on irrational.  After having the epidural and having rested for a few hours, K ended up in distress and I had to be with it enough and alert enough to push as quickly and effectively as possible.  Had I not been able to do that, it would have been a c-section for sure and I'm sure I couldn't have done it without an epidural.

    All that to say:  I believe 100% in natural birth.  I believe in my body's ability to do it naturally, and I believe that that is the way it was intended to be in most cases. But I also believe there's a time and a place where it is beneficial to accept just about any medical intervention and that accepting this or that intervention or not accepting it comes down to personal choice, sound medical advice (i.e. not just: we think you should take this medicine because we want you to stop making noise), and what is best for mom and baby in that individual moment.
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  • I'm hoping to go med-free barring any severe unforeseen complications.  I can be a little slow at understanding instructions when asked to do something new with my body (has been the case for snowboarding and kayaking lessons), so trying to make my body do unfamiliar things when I can't feel all of my body doesn't sound like a good idea.  

  • Au natural! I made it through two 48 hour labours with laughing gas (which I guess is something lol) If I did it then I'm sure going to try it again. I feel like this is something women have been doing forever without heavy drugs so I'm going to give it my best again. My exs mother has to ride a bike by herself for 4 hours to get to a hospital while in labour so I think I have it pretty easy
  • J0C0TXJ0C0TX member

    I'm a wuss and had a fear of labor a mile wide, so the epi was always in my plan and I loved it.   Then I needed a C-section and despite the emergency nature of it, that was fine too because I knew my doctor had my best interest at heart - I'd been through a lot with her already.  She debated forceps before deciding on the section, but decided I didn't need trauma "down there" based on my history.  I was, and continue to be, happy with her decision - one RCS down, one to go with the dude!

    jenboston22 - can I just say I love your common sense responses on so many of the posts I ready.  Thank you :)

  • I am going into it with an open mind since I am a FTM and have no idea what to expect from myself or the process. My plan is to go natural for a few different reasons, but I'm not going to set that in stone or anything. I have always had a really high pain tolerance so I am hoping going natural will not be a problem, but you never know what will come up with these things so we will see! 
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  • @joco aww, thanks! :\"> 
  • I will also say that I think it is important to know what risks/benefits each option offers going in.  Even if your doctor thoroughly explains them to you at the time, you might not be in the state of mind to fully grasp what it all means if you are in pain or scared.  Also, some decisions may have to be made rather quickly in the moment and you want to know what you are deciding.  (ex. for me: forceps assisted was better than c-section and got her out safer and faster, for one of the above posters, c-section turned out to be best over forceps because of her unique situation).  

    Especially if a person who is not your usual doctor ends up delivering your baby (this is always a possibility: doctors get sick too), they might NOT know what you want (ex. if you want to have more than 4 or so kids, having multiple c-sections  might limit your ability to safely carry that many babies.  It happened to a friend of mine.) or even everything about your history so it's good to have some kind of an idea what the different options mean.
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  • J0C0TXJ0C0TX member
    @Boobopgirl - trust me you did not want my unique situation :D
  • I'm a FTM, but also a nurse...the best advice...do your research and keep an open mind. Don't go in there expecting everything to go according to your birthing plan. Being flexible and adaptable to whatever unforeseen circumstances is what will best serve you and baby. Currently my plan is no meds...that with the research I've done and continue to do. But again, being flexible if they tell me my pain is causing my BP to get too high or I'm too tense and not having productive contractions, then pain meds it is.
  • I'm kinda different in that I've had 3 natural births and for #4, because of some medical issues my team of doctors have strongly encouraged I get an epidural. I trust them and their opinion and plan on getting one but to be honest- I'm terrified!!

    Haha I know what to expect with a natural birth, I know how my body responds, how long it takes me to push, how to push effectively, etc. The thought of an epi brings so many unknowns that I'm not really thrilled I'm going that route but I need to be realistic and do what's best for my body :-( I will say even with an epi I plan on having a birth plan!
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  • I love the thought of a natural child birth but being a ftm I honestly don't know how bad the pain will be and It seems to vary from person to person so I will have to wait and see. I am not ruling anything out or sticking to a strong birth plan. I will trust the hospital to help me have a safe delivery and will see how I go. Good luck ladies!
  • I had a bad experience with my epidural, both times. But I'm having another c-section, and I really don't have too many options. My OB scheduled a consult with the anesthesiologist beforehand, so I can discuss my unique situation (acute curvature of the spine). The epi worked both times, they just had a difficult time administering it. Took 45 mins, and multiple sticks. I'm going to suck it up, and know that it will all be over soon enough, and I'll be so happy once Piper is in our arms!

    Good luck to everybody, no matter what you choose!
  • joco said:
    @Boobopgirl - trust me you did not want my unique situation :D
    I am sure I didn't.  My unique situation was dramatic/traumatic enough.  But I was using your case to illustrate the fact that in your case, a c/s was the best option for you and for me, it would have actually taken longer to get my baby out of distress that way. But they didn't tell me that.  They just said "forceps or csection?" and if I hadn't known what I did about both, i might not have made the right choice.
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