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This is an interesting topic that I would like to hear more about. My mom actually had a med-free birth for me and my two siblings. I am just not sure I am as strong as she is.
I'm always super interested in this because in my head, I'm telling myself I don't want an epidural and I'm too tough for meds, lol.
Dh and his whole family will think i'm nutso bananas (considering how often I end up at the dr's for a prescription it seems) so we'll see. I have yet to meet anyone with a planned 100% natural birth (my SIL's second baby came within 30 min so there was no time for an epidural or ANYTHING except pushing) but I'm always looking for stories =]
Could you find any DVDs? I'd imagine there are plenty of people in your situation not close to the instructors you want. Maybe find a doula to act as your go-between if you go with a hospital and she can start educating herself on the process, too? This way, when your husband is helping you, she's handling behind the scenes stuff with the hospital?
I swear, I put women with med-free births up on a pedestal, lol. It's generally so unthinkable nowadays (ok around here...) that it's so uncommon and impressive!
Awesome posts about natural birth, by the infamous Dooce:
Part 1- http://dooce.com/2009/07/13/labor-story-part-one
Part 2- http://dooce.com/2009/07/27/labor-story-part-two
Part 3- http://dooce.com/2009/08/04/labor-story-part-three
This post reminds me of a movie highly recommended by a couple I know: The business of being born. The couple was highly influenced by the topics addressed in the movie and ultimately had decision made about the process of birthing their child. The movie talkes about issues such as natural birth versus the highly systematic apporach to birth on the surgery table. Although I have not watched it myself and am not a health professional so cannot really comment on it. However, it's on my netflix list and I very much look forward to watching it.
My mother and I actually had this conversation over the weekend. She had both her children naturally and says that if she were to do it again that she'd get the meds. Her advice was that the pain isn't worth proving your tough to anyone and if you can aleviate some of the pain at no risk to the mother or baby then why not.
I would like to have a med free birth when the time comes, but I don't know if I could handle the pain and I'm afraid when I decided I needed to medicine it would be too late.
Dooce's labor story always tears me up! I go back and read it every now and again, even though I'm not planning on getting pregnant anytime soon. It's just so beautifully written.
My mother is ALL ABOUT natural child birth, and did so with her first 3 pregnancies (her fourth was twins and an emergency C-section), and so I have it instilled in me that natural is the way to go. Not sure how I'll really feel until I'm in that situation, but anytime I read anything about it, it just verifies what I'm already planning (for the far future!).
I live in a small town with a Catholic Hospital that doesn't offer epidurals. I had both of my daughters naturally. I could have gotten a muscle relaxer with both girls, but both times, my active labor came on so quickly, there was no time for it. I do remember that at the time I was in intense pain, and with my first daughter, I kicked the nurses out of the room. With my second daughter, I told her grandmother (my ex's mother) that if she touched me one more time I would break her f**king face (she kept petting me). I remember panting and being nauseous, and shaking. So, anyway, no epidural, no pain meds, no muscle relaxer for me. The thing is that I know I was in agony, but I don't remember it. My mother, who had 4 of her 6 kids naturally, says the same thing.
I went to childbirth classes with my older daughter, and I practiced breathing and meditation. USELESS!! It went right out the window for me. The body does what it needs to. Adrenaline and endorphines kick in, I didn't remember any of the nonsense. When I have my next child, I don't know if I'll do it differently. I'll probably just go with the flow like before.
Also, not to be trite, but, the woman's body is a miraculous thing. Think of all of the millions of natural birts that we've survived through since forever! We are stronger than we give ourselves credit for!
Check out Mrs. Avacado's personal blog, http://thatwifeblog.com/
You'll learn a LOT :)
I agree that The Business of Being Born is a really interesting and insightful movie. And I've been following Dooce for... at least a year and a half. :) I love her blog!
My mom had all five of her kids med-free, but I didn't actually consider a med-free birth for myself until I started reading Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth. Once, I started researching the subject, it just made so much more sense to me to try for a med-free birth. I agree with you, Miss Starlet; our bodies are pretty amazing in what they can do! Honestly, researching pain management techniques and methods has made birth has seem a lot less scary to me. It's actually an experience I'm looking forward to!
@ ejs - I've thought about a doula, but if we go with the Bradley method, the husband/partner of the laboring woman is basically trained to be the doula. I guess that could be a good back-up for us, though, if we get closer to the birth and still aren't completely comfortable with the method. As far as I know, there also aren't any Bradley DVDs... It's really encouraged to experience the classes in person. Lol, damn this rural town!
We're trying to balance the medical and non-interventional methods, so we're planning on having a doula, but are open to other plans if the need arises.
Good for all of you, at this point we are way off from having kids, but I want as much meds as I can get!! I am a wimp when it comes to pain
Are you also studying a method, DG? Or will your doula meet with you before to help prep you for labor and birth? Also, do you have any recommendations on how to find a doula? My OBGYN is pretty pro med-free birth... I guess maybe she might have some recommendations.
I'd check with your OB... Do you have any friends there that did natural? I have several that have tried, but all have needed some form of intervention...
I'm lucky because Mr. DG's cousin is in nurse midwife school, so she's very connected in the field. If she feels comfortable, she'll doula for us, but if not she will either recommend someone or I have another friend who is a doula.
In Seattle we're lucky with all the classes available to us, so we're going to check out Bradley first and see if it looks like something that will work for us :)
I have done it both ways. My first I had pitocin a medication to help labor along, due to complications with my daughter and i also had no pain medications. My second i did get an epidural when I was already at 10cm, the back labor got so bad I could not push (it is very rare a doctor will agree to this). To be honest, I don't prefer one way to another, In both cases I ended up with beautiful babies.
I would check with your hospital and their birth preparation classes. Our offered just a general one and then they offered several focues on a med free delivery.
@ DG - Honestly, beside my mom, we've gotten some flack for choosing a med-free birth. Our friends who have experienced birth and my sister all chose to have epidurals (3 out of four of those people also ended up having emergency c-sections). Only my mom has been really supportive about planning to go med-free.
@ mrskessler - Unfortunately we only have general birthing classes. We are definitely taking that class, though!
When I eventually have kids, I'd like to have them at home med-free, with a midwife/doula/hubby/whatever. I think childbirth gets a really bad rap that it doesn't deserve. For me, being in a hospital would probably just win me a c-section. "Oh you're too small! Your baby's too big! Your contractions aren't coming fast enough!" Well yeah, I'm scared out of my freaking mind you'll harness me to a bed and stick a needle in my spine. *shudders and crawls under rock*
My aunt had her oldest in the hospital, hated the experience, and had the next three at home with no problems. I'm confident in my body, my health; I think a med-free birth would be a worthwhile experience. :)
@Corgi: Thanks for the links, I hadn't heard of that blog before!
I've been looking into different pain management techniques lately, as I'm just entering my third trimester and planning a home birth so it's time to decide what my plan will be.
Options I've done a bit of reading about include:
Hypnobirthing-http://www.hypnobirthing.com/
Birthing from Within-http://www.birthingfromwithin.com/
Birthworks-http://www.birthworks.org/site/
Alexander Technique-http://www.alexandertech.org/
Lamaze-http://www.lamaze.org/
Bradley-http://www.bradleybirth.com/
When I first found out I was pregnant I was sure that I wanted to be a hypnobirther. The more I've thought about it though, the more I think that hypnobirthing might not be the best pain management technique for me personally. I just don't think that going "deep inside myself" is the best way for me to manage pain personally. Bradley doesn't work for us as a couple because of husband's work schedule.
I'm a big believer in the Fear-Tension-Pain syndrome concept (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fear-tension-pain+syndrome, methods like Lamaze and Bradley are in part based on this) and so I've been working hard to learn as much about birth as I can so I'm not afraid of it. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos of natural births to see how mothers respond and react to different situations. Though I know that the pain will still be there, I hope that by eliminating fear I can help my brain to develop better expectations about what the experience can be like. The podcast Radio Lab did a show on the Placebo effect (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/05/18), and spoke of a doctor who found that where a person takes a bullet can effect their perception of the pain they are experiencing, simply because of the context they build for themselves regarding the current situation. What I took from this is the idea that my brain/body will work together to better manage the pain I am feeling IF I'm not overwhelming myself with negative thoughts.
Because I'm planning a home birth I also have the freedom to dictate how long I labor, in what positions, I'll be renting a birthing tub, and eating if I feel like it.
If you are thinking of going natural (actually if you are giving birth in any way!) I highly reccomend watchign the Lamaze Healthy Birth videos as they do a great job explaining different things you can do to have the best labor possible: http://www.lamaze.org/ExpectantParents/HealthyBirthVideos/tabid/792/Default.aspx
Awesome info, Avocado! I can't wait to read about your home-birthing experience! And thank you for the links. At a glance, it looks like the Lamaze Healthy Birth videos will be especially helpful. :)
I am planning a homebirth with midwives as well. I really wanted to option of a waterbirth and the only hospital in town doesn't allow them. It's a very personal decision but I think it's the best one for me and my family. I'm not comfortable with the idea of IVs, catheters, not being able to move my legs etc. So the water is going to be my friend! I'm probably going to look into hypnobabies as well, I've heard it's a bit more effective than hypnobirthing... we'll see.
I had a pain med free birth, although I was on pitocin the whole time (induction). What worked for me was keeping a positive attitude, always having somebody to breathe through contractions with me (my husband did deep breathing, my mom did the lamaze-style "hee-hee-hoos"), and having something to squeeze or hang on to during contractions. I had a really fast labor, so I don't know how well I would have stood up to a prolonged labor... I have a friend who was just as gung-ho about natural birth as I was, and she ended up laboring for over 48 hours, so she got an epidural sometime after hour 24, I think.
I would say, when choosing a method, think about how you respond to pain. Next time you stub your toe, or something, analyze how you dealt with the pain. I tend to close my eyes and try to shut out everything else to deal with it, so I guess hypnobirthing might have been a good option for me.
Rereading the OP to make sure I got everything... we took a standard hospital childbirth class (not a ton of help for labor coping methods), and my husband and I both read a little of Dr. Bradley's book. That and a lot of praying about it. :)
I had a med-free birth. Didn't take any classes or read any books (except the standard "What to expect when you're expecting" type books) and just decided I'd wing it.
I did it...I survived, I didn't kick and scream any obscenities like they show you in movies...It friggin hurt like heck and then it was over (oh, and I lose a diamond earring!). There are no fancy awards, trophies or medals waiting for you at the end. I agree, having something to hold on to and squeeze works well, for me that was the bed rails.
If I ever have another child I swear they can shoot me up with everything they've got!!!!!!!!!
I had my daughter med-free but not by choice.....she just came too fast. It was absolutely horrible but I am proud that I did it. I'm unable to have more children but if I could I'd have all the drugs they'd give me. Being sliced between my legs and getting 14 stitches after pushing out an "Irish melon" headed baby was hell on earth. Thankfully she's made up for it since by being wonderful :-)
It's interesting to see how many people had med-frree births because their labor was so fast. If only all of us could be that lucky! :)
Also, it's amazing to me that you had a med-free birth on Pitocin, December! Everything I've read/heard says Pitocin contractions are 100 times worse than regular contractions.
Wow, I am surprised how many med-free women there are on this board!
I am not planning on being med-free - one of my best friends is a doctor and her husband is an Ob-Gyn and she had meds for both of her daughters which makes me feel pretty comfortable about it. I think it is great we have the option to decide where and how and that each woman can decide what is best for her!
great thread :) I'm not pregnant, or planning on it, but the whole thing fascinates me and I'm learning about it to stock pile the knowledge for later. I did watch the Business of Being Born (you can stream it on Netflix). Honestly, I wouldn't be comfortable giving brith in my home. I'd be anxious something would go wrong. The apartment is also way too small and dusty and I just wouldn't like it. I like the idea of a water birth though. I do NOT want an epidural, but I'm not opposed to other pain meds. I really just want to be able to move around. I think I would be too anxious to sit still! I would like a doula just to maybe help me with breathing exercises and someone to be there with me who knows the ropes and wouldn't be all emotionally crazy.
Luckily being in NYC I have a lot of options as far as childbirth goes. There is one hospital in Manhattan that has a birthing center inside which would be great. I live in Brooklyn though so I'm not sure how well it would work, but it's something I would consider when the time comes.
The thing that makes me nervous is that I've never really had to deal with too much pain before (no stiches, broken limbs, etc). Obviously all pain is different, but I don't really know what I can tolerate or how I manage it. I'm hoping to get a tattoo later this year and I look forward to that being a little bit of help in determining if I'm a "wuss" or not.
I'm not expecting or anything, but i can't wait to have a baby! i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a homebirth with a midwife. I have never considered having anything other than a hospital birth until i saw "The Business of Being Born." I highly recommend that everyone see it before they give birth! I can't stand the thought of being bed-ridden during labor and i want nothing to do with pitocin or stadol (sp?). "The Business of Being Born" gives A TON of helpful information, especially about the affects pitocin has. Women have been giving birth, med free, for centuries. Your body knows what to do and you really have to make the plan youre most comfortable with. =)
@roxy821--note that all pain meds DO come with some risk to the mother and the baby, they aren't completely risk free. There are two levels to this, the undisputed, but fairly low, risks of the meds themselves, and the sometimes disputed (but not by me) secondary risk that they may lead to other, more risky procedures or otherwise limit your options--for example, an epidural (epi) will usually prevent you from delivering in a squatting position, which is usually the most effective for getting a baby out, OR the epi could slow your contractions and/or the baby's heart rate; all of these effects could potentially lead to other things like episiotomies, forceps/vacuum deliveries, or even a c-section. As with all risks, not all (or even most) women will actually get them, but they should be considered along with the benefits that pain relief provides.
I am planning an unmedicated birth with a midwife in a hopsital. I found "The Birth Partner" to be a very helpful book regarding the stages of delivery, positioning, various drugs/procedures and their effects, etc, presented in a very scientific, non-biased manner. I would recommend this to women and their birth partners regardless of the type of birth they are planning. We also plan to read "Birth the Bradley Way" and take a BirthWorks class.
I have to admit, I was turned off by a lot of the pro-natural-birth material out there because of how negative they are towards doctors and hospitals, especially how they try to assign negative motives to them like, "doctors perform more c-sections because they WANT to/are lazy/are greedy," etc. I do believe it is in my best interest to avoid a c-section, but I just don't buy that doctors are bad people or out to get me. I think inserting these kinds of unverifiable opinions dilutes their very valid, otherwise-fact-based message.
I had my 3 year old in 2006. I was 20yrs old at the time and attended all the child birth classes and everything to prepare myself. I planned on eventually having an epidural but when it came down to it, i didn't feel it neccessary.
Your body knows how to handle the pain and what to do. I had my baby boy med-free and was so proud of myself for doing it!
I was just re-reading through here and thought I might throw my 2 cents in again. I honestly feel that there is no right way to have a baby. Medications have risks, having babies at home have risks, every person just needs to find what they feel most comfortable with and be open to what experienced medical personel recomend when the time comes. I have a friend who was so set on a medfree birth that when the time came that is what she focused on and became to anxious. her body shut down and she quite progressing. Her MIDWIFE recomended an epidural and from there her body took back over.
I would like to say that hospital births have changed a lot, even in the past 6 years when I had my firs to last year when I had my second. there was no catheter. I didn't have an IV in until I requested medication. I was in a whirlpool bath that was huge. I was up moving around until I was 8 cm. Most placed really let you dictate how your birth process goes. tthe best thing any one can do is keep an open mind so they won't feel dissappointed if the plan has to change for safety reasons.
I think your comment is really important, mrskessler. We're very lucky to live in a country where we are allowed to dictate our birth experiences and labor/birth according to our personal preferences!
Also, I think everyone's input in this thread has been very interesting and informative. Thanks for chiming in, hive!
I went in with an open mind. I wanted to try to do natural, but wasn't opposed to other options. I made it a while without anything, but I broke my back when I was 15, and with all the back labor I was having, I couldn't do it anymore so I got an epidural. You get to administer it yourself though, so I kept it at a low dose so that I could still feel pressure and such. I wasn't completely numb. For my next child (in like 10 years if I have anything to say about it!) I think I will go in with the same mind set. Try natural but not be opposed to meds.
@blushingaudrey: I know exactly what you mean about certain books portraying doctors as evil geniuses who are too lazy to do anything but a c-section!! I've been researching birthing books because I want the facts about labor and what a doctor can do and what a midwife can and what we can do ourselves. What I am finding is that most homebirthing books put down women who choose to have a hospital birth and are generally negative about the whole idea. Why would I read that?? It's annoying. Not to mention those same books are filled with objective statements lacking footnotes or citations on that topic. Grr. I'll check out the book you suggested!
PS-My healthcare does not cover midwives or doulas...in my location. But if I were an hour south, it would. How is that for a giant bottle of SUCK?
I am not planning on a drug free birth (matter of fact, Im planning on a c-section when the time comes...please dont shoot me) but I always get teary and reconsider in teh tiiiiiniest bit when I read this incredible story - this woman goes into labor on christmas eve at home and progresses so quickly...well..read it and youll see :o) Its a beautiful story
http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-evie-miracle.html
I totally planned on having a natural birth. My husband and I read the bradley books but there were no classes in my area. I looked into Hypnobirths and The Pink Kit too but I was too far along by the time I looked into the last two. I looked into midwivery too but there was only one in my immediate area and I didn't like her when I met her... we didn't have "chemistry" and she made me feel nervous.
So I decided to kind of wing it. My plan was to labor at home as long as I could, either in the hot tub or in the bathtub. I wasn't going to go to the hospital until I was 3-5mins apart on contractions.
But something unexpected happened. My water broke. I didn't go into active labor afterwards either. I was afraid to labor in water because from what I've read the controversial danger applies to the time after the water breaks and Ididn't want to risk infection.
After my water broke my Dr "forced" me to go to the hospital and I st ther for hours without anything. finally after about 10 hours I started having some contractions. And after 13 hours my Dr said I had to get Pitocin because my water had been broken for so long.
Once I had the pitocin in my contractions became unbearable. They never completely went down inbetween (it was like being in transition the whole time). I was in so much pain and I stopped progressing.. not cool.
After another 6 or so hours I gave in and tried pain meds. This made it worse because it made me even more tired (I was exhausted) so I just gave in and had the epidural. Once the epidural was in I progressed from a 6 to fully dialated in 2 hours (while I was sleeping no less). I woke up and had the baby within an hour. It was great.
I wish I would have been able to follow my birthing plan but no one can plan for what will really happen. I'm happy that I tried my hardest and maybe next time I wont have to have pitosin and I will be able to make it pain med free! Really I'm just glad I didn't have to have a C-sect! And my baby is beautiful and healthy and her head is round and looks great.. lol..
MY mom went into labor early with me, so my dad had to deliver me on the bathroom floor. Obviously, my delivery was med-free, and after that my mom went on to have 2 more kids and opted not to take anything (she had an epi with my older brother). Her take was that even if you take something, giving birth doesn't tickle, so she'd rather just go au naturale.
Yeah, you never really know what'll happen.
I came early and I guess my mom SLEPT through a lot of her labor. I came so fast I almost killed both my mom and I (dr gave us both a 50% chance of living) and she had an emergency C-section in the middle of the night.
obviously we're both ok. But even a birth plan wouldn't have helped my mom!
It's crazy how many of us were born in super-fast labors! Granted I was my mom's fourth baby, but she was only in labor for about 3 hours before I was born. In fact, when she woke up my dad to tell him they needed to go to the hospital, he was so used to the whole birthing scene, he took his sweet time getting ready. By the time they actually got to the hospital, I was almost born in the waiting room! :)
I have had four, count them (LOL), four med-free births. All extremely healthy, LARGE, happy, and now mostly grown-up. . . therefore, I'm not up on all the current terminology about birthing methods. I also had short, intense labors for all of them, my longest being with my first at 7 hours from beginning to end. The rest of the labors were too short to use anything more than breathing methods anyway. (My shortest was 1 hour from beginning to end, and it was far "worse" than any of the others I experienced -- as though my body didn't have time to adjust to the advancing force of the baby.)
Breathing methods -- not full-blown Lamaze, the simpler the better, including simple deep breath meditation -- combined with intense focus methods were what helped me the most. Anything more in depth than that and I was too in my head and aware of the pain.
We had always planned for natural childbirth but with keeping the option open of an epidural if it were needed. Keeping that option there, just in case, helped me. Just knowing it was there if I needed helped me to push through even the worst of things. If my labors had been longer, if there had been back labor, who knows? It is a decision every woman has to make for herself. Every woman is different, every labor is different.
I had a med-free birth but not because I planned to. My son decided he wanted into this crazy world earlier than expected. He's a 32 weeker. He was coming so fast that they didn't have time to try and stop his little butt or give mommy anything to keep her from wanting to strangle daddy. So on May 26th, 2007, I naturally delivered a 4 pound and 11 ounces lil boy! Oh how I love him so but even with him being that tiny, that sh*t hurt! I will be honest. I will def hope for pain meds on the next go round.
With that said...not everyone has the same pain tolerance levels.
I commend you girls who can do it without meds.
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If you are planning on a med-free birth, or you planned/experienced a med-free birth in the past, what are you doing/did you do to prepare? We would like to pursue the Bradley method, but I'm a little concerned about the end result since we probably won't be able to take the classes. The closest Bradley instructors I can find are almost a two hour car ride away, and it's hard to commit every Saturday (2 hours there, 2 hour class, and 2 hours back home) for the next 12 weeks while my husband is in grad school. So far, we've purchased The Husband Coached Childbirth, but I'm wondering if there are other resources out there for us?
Also, if you are using a different pain management/med-free birthing method, which one did you choose and why? What we like best about the Bradley method is the involvement of the partner during birth and the success rate of med-free births by users. Do any other methods have these same benefits?