Did anyone have a natural childbirth?

I really wanted to, but I got to a point where the doctors said I needed to have the epidural. I was devestated at first, but then after I started to feel better I realized that I was not doing what was best by being stubborn.

There are TONS of women who do it all natural, and I admire them. I just wanted to share with you the knowledge that the whole birth process can take lots of surprising turns and that you have to be open to doing things you wouldn’t normally want to do.

Best of luck!

I did with my first and hope to now with this one. It doese hurt, but I just felt it was right to feel everything I mean once you have that precious baby you don’t really care what you just went through. I would recomend it if you can sometimes the Dr.’s decide you need an epidural and if that’s whats best than that’s how it should be.

I gave birth naturally but not without an epidural. I tried but the pain was too intense. If I could have had a c-section I would have. Some say you forget the pain but I never did; I didn’t have another child; I think c-sections are easy to come by these days and that’s the way I would go.

PS I was induced so that can have something to do with most of my pain; some people have it easy with natural child birth and hopefully you will to if that’s what you decide.

I had my girls without any pain meds at all. It wasn’t really bad on the first two, but the third was agony!! Maybe because i was induced with her?

I had my first without any pain medication and an epidural with my second. I’m 8 weeks pregnant now and when this little one comes, I’m going natural! After having delivered both ways, there is no way I would get an epidural again. You feel so helpless when you can’t move at all plus the pain after the medication wears off is HORRIBLE! Especially since that pain lasts for weeks. I couldn’t even lay down to sleep for a couple of weeks after I got home because my back hurt so bad! Natural is the way to go.

I had a natural childbirth. I had my first baby at home, past 42 weeks, and called the midwife when I needed to push. The midwife arrived 20 minutes before my baby did.

I didn’t have monitoring or heartrate checks. I didn’t have a managed third stage or stitches. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done but the most satisfying.

It suppose it all rests on your definition of natural and the reasons why you wish to experience it. If all you mean by natural is that you don’t want an epidural, it may be difficult. Most hospitals and doctors are not particularly ncb friendly, nor is the ‘managed birth’ philosophy. This includes time limits, foetal monitoring, set pushing positions and techniques (directed pushing ie being counted at until you turn purple in the face) unneccessary medications and interventions to speed up labour, for instance pitocin/syntocinon, vaccum/ventouse delivery routine episiotomy, injection for placental delivery. None of these things are natural, and only occasionally are the actually necessary. Once you have just one of these interventions, you can easily wind up with them all.

Say you’re induced. Your body labours before it is ready with harder contractions faster than it would naturally. Because of the increased risk to the baby from these hard contractions, you have to have electronic monitoring. This means you’re confined to bed, your body cannot move to ease the pain, you cannot use water or rocking to ease the pain (which are both hugely effective for many women) Gravity can’t do it’s job, and laid on your back you’ve reduced your pelvic opening by up to 30%. This, on top of the hard and fast contractions, can easily lead to an epidural, and/or poor foetal positioning, and both these things can ultimately lead you to a CS. Do you see how just one thing can screw it up?

It’s called the cascade of interventions.

Right, enough preaching, I’m guessing you know a little about this if you’re considering NCB. It’s not a difficult thing to do. It’s what you’re deisgned for and is a fabulous experience for most women. It was for me, and it was for all the women I know that have been through it. They all say they’d do it again, so it can’t have been that bad, right?

I urge you to research and prepare as much as possible, especially about how challenging acheiving ncb can be in a hospital setting. I’ve included a link to some forums below where you will be able to find like minded women, learn a little and prepare for your baby’s birth in a positive way. I urge you to visit them, preparation is key, and knowledge is power!

Congratulations, good luck, and don’t listen to all the *sharp intakes of breath* when you say you’re going natural! Don’t let the negative energy bring you down!

I had my first son with no meds. It didn’t get really bad until the last 20 minutes. I am due at the end of December with my second and plan to do it the same way. My mom did it three times, and I feel like I can do it too. Good Luck!