Natural Childbirth

(Note: I wrote this to someone asking me about natural birth. I have edited to hopefully make it more general. It is not intended to judge other women's births. While I feel very strongly about the benefits of giving birth without medication I cannot expect all women to do so. It is a personal decision. I do hope this information can be helpful and encouraging to any women considering natural birth though.)

I had my son naturally in August. It was the hardest thing my body has ever done but also without a doubt the best thing I have ever done! I honestly cannot wait to do it again! I truly felt empowered. I knew I had done something that many people told me I couldn't do. Most of all I knew I did what was best for me and my baby.

Most women in my family have all had medicated births. I have one cousin that did it without pain medication but was induced (points for her surviving Pitocin contractions without meds!). I really didn't have anyone expecting me to do it naturally. A few ladies at church basically introduced the idea to me in my teen years. After getting married and doing my own research I knew I wanted to attempt a natural birth. Once I got pregnant and did even more research I knew I didn't want to give myself any choice but to have a natural birth.

My reasons for wanting a natural birth were probably somewhat selfish. I know many women fear the effects the medication may have on the baby. While that probably was a small concern it was not my main motive. The thought of the epidural needle was enough to make me queasy. I did not want to be numb. I hate even being numb for dental work I knew it would make me crazy to have my lower body numb. I wanted to remain in control. I wanted to move during labor and I wanted to be able to feel what my body was doing to deliver my baby. I knew my body was made to deliver babies and if let be it would know what to do. Medication was one intervention I did not want because it would likely lead to more.

I believe the following things really helped me achieve a natural birth.

1. Support. You have to have support. Labor is hard work! You need people that believe in you and will encourage you to meet your goal. Since I didn't have family members that had natural births I needed to know that other women have succeeded in it. I thankfully found a natural birth forum. I often thought of them as "my cloud of witnesses". Despite the naysayers in my life I knew a natural birth was possible because so many other mommies had done it before me.

2. A labor support team. Again, labor is hard work! I labored for 20 hours. All but 6 of that was done at home. My mom and good friend were with me most of that time since my husband was working. They applied counter pressure to my back during contractions. This helped me tremendously but was tiring for them! My husband was with me for about 8 hrs of my labor. Once at the hospital our doula was there. I used all four of these people! They kept heat packs warm for me, got me drinks, fed me, massaged me, applied lotion, etc. I know many people want it to be them and their husband only. I see no issue with this for the delivery if you so choose but for labor please consider having other help! Your husband will likely tire before labor is over leaving you high and dry. You may not need four people but two would be great so the other could have a break. Because I had four people helping me the nurses had to do very little for me. Believe it or not nurses quite often encourage medication because it makes their jobs easier. Since I didn't require their help they had no reason to push medication on me.

3. Research!!! I cannot stress that enough! I started off reading Henci Goer's "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth". I also read the Sears' "Birth Book". (As a side note anything from the Sears has been good. I have the "Vaccine Book" and the "Baby Book". They are straight to the point leaving you to judge the information.) I also spent HOURS learning from the mom's on forums.

I firmly believe that lack of knowledge is what leads many women to request medication. I knew going into it what to expect. I knew each stage of labor. I knew what my body would do. Therefore I was not scared when those things happened.

I also researched many of the interventions that occur in hospitals. Quite often one intervention opens the door for many! My ultimate fear of childbirth was requiring a c-section. I knew I could greatly reduce my chances of that if I did not allow them to induce me or give me Pitocin. Pitocin shuts down your body's coping hormones which will make you more likely to request an epidural. Both pit and having an epidural require you to stay in your bed. Movement is key in natural childbirth. It allows your body to get the baby in the proper position. Without movement you may be labeled as failure to progress which will lead to a c-section.

I also liked reading this blog: http://nursingbirth.com/ She is a labor and delivery nurse but she sees the error in our maternity care. There is a lot of good insight to be had there. Do be warned that she does use the occasional profanity. Be sure to read the entries where she discusses real births and what went wrong. It will help you know what types of things may come up at the hospital.

4. PREPARE! Would you run a marathon without preparing? Yet women expect to just show up and have a baby??? Doesn't make sense to me! We went to Lamaze class. Lamaze was way different than what I thought it would be. I loved it! We took it at a local hospital. It did cost us but I felt this made it more legitimate. Do not rely on the free hospital classes. Invest in a good quality birthing class. Some women really like Bradley Method. Many are leaning towards hypnobirthing. Regardless of your method do choose something and take classes!

5. Pray. I had about a week of prodromal labor. Every night I would have consistent contractions only to have them stop by morning. I became very discouraged and wondered if I would be able to succeed at birth. I prayed tons about it. God answered every prayer. I may have labored for a week but I started active labor at 4 cm! Put your faith in Him that He will give you strength to have the birth you hope to have and most importantly He can keep you and baby safe during delivery.

6. Be confident. Believe that you can do it because you can! Think of how many women before our generation HAD to give birth without pain medication and they succeeded! Think of the women now that choose to. You can do it and don't let anyone tell you that you can't. It amazes me how our bodies work and allow us to give birth. I hope in your research you will come to a great understanding of that whole process. When you are giving birth without medication you are completely in tune with your body and baby. You will know what to do. You will know what positions you need to be in to help get the baby in the right position. It's also cool to me that with each contraction your body releases endorphins. Let these work! As soon as you introduce medication whether that be Pitocin or an epidural it shuts down your body's own pain coping. While I tell you to be confident also know that there will be a point in labor that you will think you can't do it. I even said "I can't". Most women do. Good news is that when that is said you're more than likely almost ready to push!

It really helped me to realize that this pain would be short lived. It may last 20 hours but what's 20 hours in the grand scheme of things? I was not willing to take pain medication and risk bad tearing at the very least or a c-section at worst. I would much rather deal with 20 hours of labor than to have 6 weeks of healing from major abdominal surgery (which is what a c-section is).

7. Do not fear birth. That is closely related to being confident. I realize that God has thankfully given mothers the ability to "forget" some of the pain involved. However, it really wasn't that bad. It wasn't fun but it wasn't terrible. Most of labor is relatively mild contractions. Once things pick up it's almost over! I also don't like for women to consider contractions "pain". Did it hurt? Yes, if I didn't focus through each contraction. I had a few that snuck up on me and I screamed through them. Most of labor I was able to moan or say "o-o-o-o" and get through them without pain. If you start dreading "painful contractions" you are looking to fulfill that. If you think of them as say, pressure waves, you will hopefully have more positive outlook on them and we know in other areas how effective a positive outlook is!

Two of my biggest fears were tearing and the ring of fire. I was afraid of pushing for this reason. I really think I delayed my son's birth for this reason. I showed up to the hospital at 3 am and was 8 cms. Yet it took me 6 hours to have him.

8. Stay out of the hospital! Doctors will admit you at 4 cm with contractions every 5-10 minutes. There is really no need for this. I labored at home. This allowed me to be comfortable as well as eat and do whatever I wanted while I labored. I had several friends about to go crazy because I had contractions every 3-5 mins and wasn't in the hospital! If you fully understand the process you will know when you need to go. The less time you can spend there the better!

(If you test group b strep positive they will want you there 4 hours prior to delivery. You don't HAVE to consent to antibiotics but if you don't they will likely want the baby in the nursery for observation. You can reduce your chances of testing positive by taking probiotics. Some women have used garlic to kill the group B. You can also request that they test you again after you have done some things to kill it. You will likely pay out of pocket but again this would have been worth it to me to avoid being in the hospital.)

9. Have a plan. Write out a plan, go over it with your doctor. Take copies to give to the nurses at the hospital. Be sure your husband and whoever will be with you know what you expect. But also be aware that things may not go as planned but so much of labor can be what you want it to be if you just know what you want.

With natural birth you have to be your own advocate. Truth is that it's often easier for the doctors and nurses for you to be medicated. Do your research and be confident in what you want. Realize that no one can make you do anything! For instance, most women do the test for gestational diabetes. I didn't want to. I told my doctor and she agreed that I didn't have the risk factors so there was no need. I simply monitored my sugar at home. Doctors generally do vaginal exams starting at 36 weeks. I didn't want them to do one at 37 or 38 weeks so they didn't (of course they looked at me like I had 3 eyes or something). They will tell you you can't eat when you're in labor. EAT! They can't throw you out out of the hospital for eating! If you feel like eating, eat. Your body is about to do the hardest job ever. Why not eat? (If you read the Thinking Woman's Guide, she will explain it in detail but basically they tell you that you can't eat because they MIGHT have to do a c-section with general anesthesia in which you MIGHT aspirate. You have like a .002% chance of dying because of this! Yet without eating and fueling your body you have a greater chance of things happening one of which is having a c-section and aspirating on your stomach acid!)

I hope I have not overwhelmed you. Please let me know if there is anything I need elaborate on as this is a topic I LOVE!