Child Birth

I have always thought of "natural child birth" as unnecessary self-inflicted torture. I think of giving birth as going into hand to hand combat with nature. Some people approach birth with long practiced jedi ninja skills -  I prefer to come with a fully loaded military tank with an uzi and grenade launcher on top.

Recently, I became curious about people that have done birth both ways. Here are some of the best answers I was given:

A friend's mom said this: Having an epidural with #1 was a wonderful thing....then went natural with midwives for the boys, first one 4 hours second one was 45 mins!!! Not bad really without...

I love the "not bad really" without :o)

One of my dear friends did it naturally, and I asked her afterwards if there was any point in which she wished she had an epidural. She said the stitches were incredibly, amazingly, surprisingly and horrifically painful, or at least the anesthesia for them was. 

This same sentiment was echoed by another friend that offered TONS of detail. After her 3rd birth, which was drug-free, she said, "I had never experienced feeling the stitches, it was like a cruel joke..."

Her basic story is that she had always wanted to give birth drug-free. With #1, she had crazy back labor and wasn't progressing and since she knew it was going to be a long haul, she opted for the epidural. She said, "It was fabulous, I slept, I talked, I had her 6 hours later with 1 1/2 hours of pushing." Yes, she actually used the word FABULOUS :o)

She was induced with #2, and in huge pain, opted for the epidural. Looking back, she was so close she thinks she could've made it without. But this recovery was the best. She said she felt really good after this birth.

#3 also induced - way overdue. Wasn't progressing so Dr. started Pitocin and that made her really disappointed, but they were able to dial it down to almost nothing as her actual labor kicked in. She said,  "I only pushed through one contraction but I could not imagine that it could be so crazy painful. Yay, I finally did it [without the epidural], and with a 3 hour labor! I felt really good about it. But it wasn't that great after. People always say that recovery is better, but I had never experienced feeling the stitches, it was like a cruel joke, and I got the shakes really bad. I was kind of worried since it had never happened to me before."

She said in summary, she was glad she was finally able to do one naturally (which had always been her goal), but she doesn't know if she would do it again.

With Julia, we did a lot of labor at home, and were admitted when I was already a 5. I was soooooooooo thankful for that magically beautiful epidural as it made the rest of the day fairly enjoyable. I remembered being silly, and joking with my wonderful support people. Julia came out alert, beautiful and perfect. I can't imagine the day going much better.

One of the friends said, "You will only do natural childbirth if you absolutely have it set in your mind that you will, and even that isn't a guarantee (unless you take that option away by going to a birthing center etc.)." I have never had a desire for natural childbirth. There is no badge, no medal of honor, no preferred parking space for those triumphant ones. I'm happy to admit that I'll take the less torturous way out.

One of my dear friends had a "light" or "walking" epidural. I think we'll try that out for Jackson.

My favorite part of my research lately has been this:

"An epidural can abolish labor pain."

I'm a firm abolitionist :o)