Hellobee

I saw the business of being born and wanted a natural birth too, but didn’t prepare like I probably should have. Towards the end of my pregnancy I decided that I would wait until labor to make my final decision.
8 hours into active labor I decided I wanted an epidural. Omgggg.. I LOVE DRUGS! I got to sleep an hour (after being awake for about 30) and 4 hours later, I held my perfect little daughter in my arms.
I asked that they lower my drug dose so I could feel a little and know when my contractions were coming.

Love this post! I am not pregnant yet, but have conducted similar research and would also like to try natural birth.

Like you said, I think the most important thing is for women to be their own best advocates and make well-informed decisions, no matter what kind of birth they choose.

I was really planning for a natural birth… Another good book to read would be “Pushed” and “Ina May’s Guide to childbirth”.

However, after having a miscarriage I’m no longer so sure it’s as important to me. I just want to have a healthy baby. So, I guess I feel torn. In my perfect world, I would have birth at home. But, at this point I’m very scared and I don’t trust my body like I did before.

I’m so in the same boat as you! I’ve read both Bradley books, Ina May’s book, and the hypnobirthing book. I’m trying to decide what method I want to use, although they all pretty much all focus on one thing: relaxing and letting your body do what it’s meant to do! This is our first baby too, and it’s a little discouraging having everyone tell you that you’re essentially crazy for even entertaining the idea of a natural birth. But, I’m still determined to give it a shot! My due date is in March, so I’m right around the corner!!

I just watched the business of being born the other day and I thought it was awesome! Of course, I have already had one natural birth with a midwife and have absolutely no intentions of going anywhere else. I am fairly certain that if I went to the hospital they would have made me do a bunch of unnecessary interventions. Going to a midwife and having a natural birth was certainly the best descision I have ever made

I didn’t make any fanatical statements going into labor the first time. I told myself, my husband, and my midwives that I wanted to try to go without an epidural. However, if things weren’t going smoothly, I would get one. My thinking being that in an emergency, if I had the epidural they could just to the c-section instead of having to put me under general anesthesia.

As it happened I had to be induced. After 24 hours of pitocin-induced contractions and not terribly much progress (I was 5cm), the pain was sufficient that I wanted the epidural.

At that point my midwives were in favor of it- hoping that in the absence of the pain I could relax and fully dilate.

It didn’t work out that way and after 36 hours of labor I only got to 7cm and the call was made to go with the c-section. Thankfully there was no emergency or anything.

Was it the birth I wanted? Not really. However you cannot predict how labor and delivery will happen. Having a birth plan in mind is important, but preparing yourself for all possible outcomes is also important.

I think you’re wise to try for the natural birth, but planning to “see what happens.”

Basically, whenever I considered a hospital birth, I wanted to have my tubes tied (long story, but I now have a phobia of hospitals.) So I looked into other ways to give birth, and found out home birth/birth center birth would not only allow me to not panic my way into miscarriage, but it’d likely be better for our baby even if I were still fine with hospitals.

Good luck with your hopes to have a natural birth! I’m hoping to do the same… we’ll have to see how it goes though.

I’m going natural. Actually just made the switch this week from hospital/OB to birth center/midwives.

I second reading Pushed. I saw both documentaries you mentioned and read the Bradley book, Hypnobirthing, Ina May’s book, and am doing the Hypnobabies self-study program. I also hired a doula and am taking childbirth prep classes specific to giving birth in a birth center (deals with pain management, transferring to the hospital, etc.)

I think that no matter how you give birth, you should always educate yourself and be prepared–even for the unexpected.

We’re not there yet (still talking about trying soon), but I would like to have a natural childbirth. I’ve been doing research and talking to women in my life who have given birth, and I’m at least going to try. I do know for sure that I’ll be switching OB’s, because mine has a horrible bedside manner.

i am not a big planner so i figured i’d see how labor went before i decided if i could handle a natural birth. i have two boys and i did have a natural birth with the first and an epidural with the second. the natural birth was really tough, though, i felt every ounce of pain that there was and recovery was a lot longer. i was in labor for 26 hours and pushed for 4 hours….i don’t think i felt normal for a few weeks. my recovery with the second baby was a lot faster. i wasn’t dilating because i couldn’t relax, but half an hour after getting the epidural it was time to push. i’m glad i got to experience it both ways. good luck!

I switched to a midwife/birth center after my first trimester after doing a lot of research and decided on natural childbirth. It took a little convincing to get DH on board since the only words he heard were “no doctor” and “birth center”, but once I had the chance to explain to him why I wanted a natural birth and the reasons I wanted to avoid intervention he was on board. I’ve read The Book of Birth, Hynobirthing and did the Hypnobabies self study CD’s, and my approach will be natural pain management and staying relaxed to let my body do the work. My due date is in a week so baby girl should be arriving anytime, and I feel a sense of calm knowing the approach I will be taking. Of course, I also understand that things may arise that might be out of my control so I am keeping an open mind.

I wish you luck! The mind is a strong and amazing thing. =)

Even though I have not gotten pregnant yet I enjoy researching about birth. I hope to have a natural birth one day.

I had to be induced because my water broke but the labor just won’t start! I asked for the epidural right away (being the scary cat that I am) and it’s honestly the best thing ever! I was in labor for 12 hours (painlessly), pushed for 45 minutes and gave birth to a healthy boy Next time around- I’ll probably do the same- ask for epidural right away!

good luck! I hope you get the birth you want

While I loved the Business of Being Born, it was a very very skewed treatment of the subject. The infant mortality rate has decreased so substantially because of medical interventions. I’m not opposed to natural birth in any way shape or form (we girls are strong!) I’m not a huge fan of homebirth because I see so many babies in my hospital who are neurologically impaired due to delays in care. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s entirely preventable.

“The Business of Being Born” largely influenced my decision to try for a natural birth. Prior to that, I didn’t really know much about different birthing processes either, but the idea of all those interventions didn’t sit too well with me. The biggest factor in me wanting the natural birth though, was not really the PROCESS, but because of the chances of having a better bonding and breastfeeding experience with baby postpartum. I wanted to try my best to have a positive breastfeeding experience and I heard from soo many mom’s that it was the hardest thing ever (even harder than birth). So I didn’t want to chance the possibility that those interventions could interfere with breastfeeding…

My friend directed me to Bradley Classes to help prepare me for natural birth and I never looked back. Here’s my birth story if you’re interested in reading detail by detail how it all went down: http://babychin.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/our-birth-story-noelle-olivia/

I also agree with @mommacommaphd and some others… it’s good you have the mentality that you want to “try” for a natural birth but you’re open to other outcomes because all of our bodies are so different and you just don’t know what kind of complications you might run into. The MOST IMPORTANT thing in the end is that both mama and baby come out healthy… No matter what happens just know that at the end of that labor and all your hard work… you are going to be holding your beautiful baby in your arms…

@reggie: Gosh, our experiences sound so similar!

Hope you get the natural birth you want! But kudos on staying flexible.

=( i haven’t read ANY books. or watched any shows/movies. i’m so unprepared – i’m not sure what i want! i’m still debating c-section vs vaginal. leaning towards surgery. and i’m too pain intolerant…. so i think i’m leaning towards epidural or anything to make the pain stay away.

I know that you don’t have total control over how your birth story plays out, but I think that if you decide you want to go natural, it’s important to really prepare for it and not go in thinking “I’ll see what happens”. I know that if I had done that I would have definitely gotten an epidural. Think of it like a marathon…if you were about to start, you wouldn’t tell someone, “I’m going to try to run a marathon-we’ll see what happens”. You’d say, “I’ve prepared/trained for a marathon. I’m running a marathon.” I think you need the same attitude to get through a non-medicated birth.

I didn’t “train” for a natural birth, I knew I wanted as few interventions as possible, that’s about it. I read about the Mongan method, but those visualization techniques aren’t for me. I let labor happen, and just trusted that my body knew what to do.

I’m loving all of these comments and suggestions! I’m trying to find the balance between being really well informed and knowing what I want and also being flexible enough to know that my plan may not be how the day goes. It’s such an unpredictable process!

I also wanted to try for an unmedicated birth. I loved being in labor and was able to get all the way to 10 cm without the epidual. That said, I ended up with an epi (administered just before I found out I was at a 10) & emergency c-section. I think, for me, the most important part was to have just one expectation for the day – safely bring my daughter into this world. That way I could really be present for the labor & delivery and not be disapointed with how it went because it wasn’t part of “my plan”. I can honestly say that I really, truly loved my labor & delivery.

Thank you so much for this post! I will have to check out “Your Best Birth”. I just got “Having a Baby, Naturally” from the library, but haven’t started it yet.

I still have a ways to go, but I am pretty set on a natural birth. I think I still want to be in the hospital, though. Partially because I have two friends who are nurses there and because I do want to be in close proximity to emergency medical services if I were to need them.

Less than two weeks until my first doctor appointment. I am going to discuss my plans with her and base my decision to stick with her or search for a different doctor on her feelings about my plans for a natural birth.

@Mrs. Hopscotch, I am sure you will make the best decision for you. Good luck with everything!

No, I had an epidural and then c-section after 15hrs in labor with no progression after 7cm. Come to find out, she had moved back around and was breech!LOL

I still will not plan for a nonmedicated birth. It’s for some people, but not for me.

Very glad you are going into it openminded that anything may change. I certainly learned that lesson with a breech Baby Bear!

For some reason, I ahve absolutely zero desire to have a nonmedicated birth. I don’t know, I just don’t get it. Not for me.

I agree with @ohapostrophe, I think keeping an open-mind is important but you also have to be mentally prepared to go natural, if it’s something you decide you want to try. I really wanted to have a natural birth but found out at 32 weeks that our LO was frank breech and I tried everything I could to get him to flip but he wasn’t moving, so I had to have a C-section. At first I was devastated, but then I started to consider some of the pros of a cesarean delivery/recovery and it was pretty darn easy in the end and we got to pick our LO’s bday. That being said, I’d like to look into a VBAC for baby #2.

I had a natural birth three months ago, and I LOVED it. Crazy, right? I took a great birth class which really prepared my husband & me for all the possibilities. There’s a fine balance, though, since a lot of natural birth advocates make hospitals & doctors out to be bad guys only in it for the money. We actually gave birth at a hospital, with a great doctor, and a fantastic support staff. The first line in my birth plan requested a nurse who was comfortable with non-medicated births, and our labor & delivery nurse was the best. So do your research, know what you’re getting into, and know your support staff. Also know what are non-negotiables to you, and where you’re okay with compromise. As others have said, the only true non-negotiable for me was a happy, healthy baby & mama. I would have been sad had I needed an epidural (and I did strongly consider getting one during transition. That stage is no joke!) or c-section, but I would have gotten over it seeing that adorable little face.

Bottom line, know what you’re in for! And keep in mind that when you hit the “I can’t do this anymore!” wall, you’re soo soo close! Just keep going.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I agree with @OHAPOSTROPHE and @LESLIE, I wanted a natural birth and did as much as I could to ensure a natural delivery: I made sure not to gain too much weight, stayed active, got informed, picked a dr & birth center that was supportive of natural birth, hired a doula, and did the Hypnobabies prep. I wasn’t really a believer of Hypnobabies then (my attitude was that it couldn’t hurt and would only help) and I am really glad I did it.

Long story short, I was so relaxed I didn’t realize how far along I was in childbirth, and I ended up having my son at home (my doula caught him), and then we drove to the birth center to get checked up by my doctor.

I loved childbirth…well, not all of it, there were some points that were less fun. I really do think an endurance event is a good analogy – I don’t think there’s any athlete that enjoys every minute of a marathon/triathlon/climb/etc – there’s always a point where you think, “oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can go any further,” but then you get to the end and you pushed your baby out and he’s in your arms and it’s the BEST.THING.EVER. I definitely had a runner’s high afterwards, and I felt so empowered – the birth process was so awesome!

I’m going to try for a natural birth as well. about a year & a half ago when I was just starting to research I was very adamant about what would & would not be happening. I’ve mellowed a lot since then, though {thank goodness} & found a wonderful dr who I really trust, which makes a huge difference. so I have some things that I have outlined {like “do not offer me drugs. if I want them, I will ask”} & general requests like that, but if something happens & I need an intervention I know that my dr will talk to me about it & explain it & I know that she has my & my baby’s best interests in mind, so I can’t really ask for more than that.