Natural Childbirth: Crazy or Conscientious?

Most of my friends and family members think I’m crazy. By choice, I bore my first child without an epidural and I’m hoping to do it again the second time around.  

“There’s a reason they offer women drugs,” one of my sisters reasons. “Childbirth hurts!”

Most of the women — and men — I’ve spoken to echo her sentiments. Some women even have planned Cesarean sections as a way to avoid as much of the birth process as possible. I’m not at all surprised, and I certainly don’t blame them.

We are a culture that has a drug for just about everything. We opt to avoid discomfort at all costs. Besides, birth is often presented — by women who have given birth, by men who have witnessed a live birth and by the media as an unbearable experience that no one should ever have to undergo. People love to exaggerate, and it’s difficult not to get caught up in the drama.

I, for one, bought into the hype. For as long as I can remember, my perception of labor and delivery featured three elements: hours of screaming followed by lots of blood followed by hours of crying. In my teens, I swore I’d never have children. In my twenties, I planned to adopt children in part to forego the pain of childbirth. 

Until I became pregnant with my son in 2009, I never had a reason to question the negativity associated with birth. In fact, my first care provider was an obstetrician whose Western approach to medicine supported the notion that pregnancy, labor and delivery should be addressed as crises. Had I stayed under his care, I would have ended up drugged, depressed and delusional during one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

Instead, I began to educate myself about pregnancy and childbirth thanks to my friend and favorite fellow mom, who gave me a copy of Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. Written by a midwife, the book presents childbirth as a natural process that should be embraced and celebrated rather than avoided and feared.

After reading the book, which includes the birth stories of dozens of women who have given birth vaginally and without medication, I began to see pregnancy and childbirth in a new light. It turns out, women have options and drugs during childbirth is not among the best of them. I soon switched to a group of midwives.

Empowered by a group of women — and an amazing husband who supported my choices — I began to plan an unmedicated birth. My intended methods of pain relief: hydrotherapy, massage, positioning, deep breathing and visualization. Prompted by the recommendations of my midwives and childbirth instructor, I also did all I could to ready my body for birth. I ate healthily, exercised regularly, and followed a homeopathic supplement regimen meant to prepare my uterus, cervix, and tissues for labor and delivery.

My efforts paid off — mostly. Twenty-four hours into a thirty-six hour labor, I opted to take a 5mg shot of morphine to help ease my anxiety and fatigue. My healthy, nine pound son was born 12 hours later.

I admit to being proud, but my purpose in writing this isn’t to toot my own horn. I simply wish to spread the word that women don’t have to lie on their back drugged up and strapped to a bed during childbirth.

While I understand that there are times when epidurals, Cesarean sections and other interventions are necessary, I believe women should trust and respect the strength and ability of the female body. Above all else, I believe women should educate themselves about pregnancy and childbirth and ultimately, form their own opinions and take their own approaches.

Of course, now that I’m only a day away from the due date of my second child, I’m occasionally reverting back to a fearful perception of childbirth. There’s a small part of me that would beg for an epidural immediately upon arrival at the hospital.

For me, though, there are too many reasons why birth without drugs or other medical interventions is the better choice. The first: a natural, unmedicated birth is safer for baby. Wish us luck.