Natural Birth?

Question

I am currently eighteen weeks and around this time you are offered different birth methods. I personally want to go through natural birth in a hospital. For women who have gone through natural birth what was it like and what worked for you. How did you feel afterwards and for the women who choose the drugs...what made you choose them

this is my first pregnancy and I really don't like the effect of modern medicine. So I figure if I have a choice why not choose whats better for me

Answer 1

I had two natural births with my kids. It is painful, but not so much you can't handle. Having a supportive coach to help you through the contractions and with the breathing is so important! The breathing helped me to focus and helped keep my mind off the pain. The first time around I had an episiotimy, which made recovery a bit more painful. The second time the doctor let me tear which healed within a few days. I would definitely go the naturally route in this area. The girls I know who had epidurals all had very long labors, and two needed c-sections. My labors on the other hand were very short. Both times I went from 7cm to fully dilated in less than 1 hour. Total labor time only about 6 hours.
Don't set your mind one way or the other, take it as it comes. Don't feel bad if you need some pain meds, it is much better to have an enjoyable experience than to be in so much pain you don't remember it.
I chose the natural route to speed up labor and recovery, and to make sure my babies had the healthiest start they could.

Answer 2

Hi! I have 3 sons and the first I had with an epidural, and the other 2 I had natural. Honestly, I perferred the natural birth. With the epidural, I had no pain, but also couldnt feel contractions and had a hard time pushing because I didnt feel the urge and the pressure. Also, after the epidural I had tremendous back pain for months. Then, even now sometimes (it was almost 9 years ago), if I sit on the floor for too long, I can feel the pain where the epidural was put in. With my other two (and they were 8 lbs 3 oz and 9 lbs 1 oz) I had the natural child birth. I healed well, and had pretty short labor for both, but enjoyed the experience more. I think it is ok to go into it saying you want natural childbirth, and if you just cant handle it, there are always drugs that just dull the pain, and they dont really have any other affect on you. Good luck!

Answer 3

At first, i was all about a natural birth. I'd heard that the drugs had a lingering effect and made recovery worse. However, my water broke at 41 weeks, so they had to induce. Since an induced labor can come on quicker and be more intense, I opted for drugs. I was still very much alert and involved in my labor. I was able to push and didn't seem to have any problems from the epidural. The best part was, i didn't feel any pain. Therefore, I was able to totally enjoy and be completely relaxed during the birth of my daugther. So, if i ever had more kids, I would do the drugs in a heartbeat! Kudos to women who do it naturally. However, I don't think you're bad for taking advantage of the drugs!!

Answer 4

For me... I always knew I wanted the drugs. I laboured without anything, just breathing, for 9 hours, and made it to 6cm dilated. I then opted for the epidural (go big or go home). They tried to convince me to try the laughing gas first. I was really happy with the epidural, I totally felt like myself, and was relaxed... I ended up having a c-section, so I would have had an epidural anyway.

My sister wanted to go natural too, but she eventually couldn't handle the back labour, and started using the laughing gas. When that wasn't enough she then had a IV dose of morphine. That still didn't help, and she ended up with the epidural... and ultimately a c-section. She was SO stoned during and after that she doesn't remember much.

Good Luck, I hope everything works out the way you want... but expect the unexpected.

Answer 5

Just be ready for a lot of pain, I had demerol to help with the strong contraction pain but they only give you demerol up to a certain point and it only help dull the contraction pain a bit but it is uncomfortable and i was to late to get an epidural, once the baby drops you are going to push through a ring of fire and that is what it will feel like exactly. Good Luck.... That is one pain i wouldn't want to go through again, I had a c-section with my second one, i almost feel the healing afterward is almost tie but takes a bit more longer to heal after a c-section, but then again I had complications after I delivered vaginally. I'm pregnant again and already know I will be having another c-section only because my babies are big when they are born that's why i had a c-section with my second child. It's different for everyone.

Answer 6

What's the point? Do you enjoy pain?
Why not use what modern medicine? That's what it's there for.
Millions of women and their children are just fine with it.
My wife was pretty definite on using the drugs.