Now is your chance to tell me why you chose labor and delivery without any pain relief. Actually, you'd be doing me a favor. ;)
After having a miscarriage, I am much more interested in less intervention. I admit, though, that I do doubt my ability to go "natural".
With my first, I had an epidural. It was fine-no headache or anything like that. I am always surprised when I meet women who have had epidurals and they tell me they couldn't feel anything. I got my epidural when I was dilated to 6, and I still felt burning in my hips and cervix every contraction. And when it was time to push, I was the one asking the medical staff if I could go ahead and push. I wasn't one of those stories where they had to tell me to push. Lots of burning and discomfort, which I expected.
I went into my first pregnancy not thin king twice about medications. I had heard a bad horror story of the pains of childbirth when I was 18. Someone very close to me shared her experience with me, and that scared me to pieces. Then I went through it with my son, and I thought "it's not so bad...".
And even though my second pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 16 weeks, I actually went into labor that day. My water broke and I was contracting and everything. They completed it with a d&c once we made it to the hospital, but I clearly remember those contractions and the feeling of my water breaking.
So now it's my third pregnancy and I am trying to reshape my frame of mind. Will you help me? Would you please share with the why you chose to avoid pain relievers, and what benefits you feel comes along with that decision? I do appreciate it.
I have until April to work on myself. :)
3 comments:
Oh, what a great subject! I finally had a completlely med-free labor with my 3rd child. I will honestly tell you it was my LEAST painful birth, and the quickest labor. My first two births I had some pain relief (Stadol) in an IV- you know- to "take the edge off".
First of all, go to your library and check out the book "Having Your Baby Naturally". It helped me so much. I used natural methods during pregnancy, like drinking raspberry leaf tea after 6 months and taking the red raspberry leaf tablets each night. This greatly speeds up labor- and it totally worked in my case!
I wanted a natural birth because I didn't want any meds in my body and then transfer to the baby's body via placenta and nursing. After baby was born I also didn't do a lot of the recommended "procedures" they do on baby- I kept his birth as natural as possible. After he was born he was placed at my breast immediately and we were able to snuggle and bond for over an hour before they weighed him, etc. This is one of my best memories ever.
It helps greatly to have a birth plan- email me if you'd like to see a copy of mine! I don't want to take up all your comment space here!
But, I will say that my med-free birth was the easiest and most enjoyable one of all.
Thank you for sharing, Stephanie! I will try to e-mail you soon about the birth plan. I am definitely interested.
I came across this today when reading online about natural childbirth: Another little known fact about natural child birth is that many women who choose natural child birth experience a strong orgasmic-like sensation while in the final stages of pushing. Many women describe the feeling as an overwhelming sense of wonder and awe as their child crosses into this world. Most will say that the intense feeling can not compare with any other sensation they have had in their life.
From your experience, would you say this is true, or more of an exaggeration? It' s hard to believe, but then again, I have never gone through it med-free.
I am hoping I can gain confidence in this area. I will be going to the library this weekend for the book you suggested. Thanks!
Well, I have to say honestly that Gray came so fast- in literally one push his entire body came out, so I can't say that I even had a chance to "feel" anything other than excitement and so forth- awe, yes, but I think I've felt that awe with all my kids. I do think that a little known fact is that common interventions during labor including medications can SLOW the process. I will say I had a wonderful, gentle, and peaceful birth experience that is unlike anything I've ever known!
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