I thought of something else: saying a “natural” birth instead of unmedicated. All births are natural!
(Also, this site is much slower than I’m used to for a message board!)
I also get irritated by this. I feel like it implies that all other types of birth are unnatural. I never really had a strong desire to have a particular birth plan, I just wanted healthy babies. Is that unnatural? Maybe it’s because I’ve seen some terrible sh!t happen with “natural” births (I’m in the ER, so if I’m seeing it, something went terribly wrong), my view on this is a little skewed. I’m not going to judge any mother who wants things a particular way though, it’s not my body or my baby. Also, I had a c-section for breech/transverse presentation and there’s nothing natural about that!
I agree with unmedicated vs "natural". Do what what you want but one way isn't more "natural" than any other.
My UO is that I don't really understand rigid birth plans. Like I understand general preferences and think those are a good idea, but to say that "I only want this specific birth experience or I'm going to be crushed" really sets yourself up for failure before it even starts. Labor/delivery is absolutely nuts and everything can change in seconds, it is almost guaranteed to not go exactly as planned.
I think people get their feelings hurt about the use of the word natural because it’s subconsciously associated with being better, but I don’t think it does mean better. To me, natural birth is when you could give birth in a potato field in the old country and then get right back to work 😂, but thank goodness for medical interventions because my first baby would have died without them. Natural certainly wouldn’t have been better in that case. And by the way, it’s not some personal flaw to need help during labor. If it’s anyone’s fault it’s that dang baby’s 😂
@artsiefartsie I agree with that thought on birth plans, that's why I instead call them birth preferences (I'm really big on phrasing things differently when it comes to labor thanks to Hypnobirthing)
@doodleoodle lol my grandma had 13 kids in a rural side of a foreign country... Definitely very "natural". She was so intrigued by all of the hospital gadgetry when I was having DS
@doodleoodle I'm totally with you! The problem seems to be less with the term "natural" but the societal association with "natural" being better. I had a c-section too and would also agree there was nothing "natural" about it (I mean, come on, if you got a laceration like that in the wild, you would not recover. Humans are not designed for that level of injury.), but that doesn't mean there's anything inferior about it! It wasn't at all my plan, but ended up being the safest way for my baby to be born and that trumps everything. ETA: All that to say that I guess the whole "natural" vs "unmedicated" debate doesn't bother me because it doesn't bother me for other people to think I had an unnatural birth (I'd agree!). My feathers are much more ruffled by people suggesting my delivery was "easy".
@mayoduck Yes! I’ve had a section and “natural” deliveries and imho the section was much scarier and the recovery was much more difficult. I’m sure different people have had different experiences, but if anyone ever tried to tell me a c-section is the easy way out they’d get an earful from me.
PS with my first vbac I thought I would be in labor for hours and went to the hospital solely to get an epidural. I just didn’t make it in time to get one 😂
Re: UO Thursday 4/8
My UO is that I don't really understand rigid birth plans. Like I understand general preferences and think those are a good idea, but to say that "I only want this specific birth experience or I'm going to be crushed" really sets yourself up for failure before it even starts. Labor/delivery is absolutely nuts and everything can change in seconds, it is almost guaranteed to not go exactly as planned.
@doodleoodle lol my grandma had 13 kids in a rural side of a foreign country... Definitely very "natural". She was so intrigued by all of the hospital gadgetry when I was having DS
ETA: All that to say that I guess the whole "natural" vs "unmedicated" debate doesn't bother me because it doesn't bother me for other people to think I had an unnatural birth (I'd agree!). My feathers are much more ruffled by people suggesting my delivery was "easy".
PS with my first vbac I thought I would be in labor for hours and went to the hospital solely to get an epidural. I just didn’t make it in time to get one 😂