Natural Childbirth

This weekend was interesting to say the least. We not only got to go to some fancy Christmas party for Nate's work at Catta Vedera Country Club in Lincoln but we also completed our birthing class. The Christmas party was fun and we had a nice time together even though we spent most of the night apart gambling at our own respective tables. Nathan was the big winner and made five times the amount of 'money' that we were given to start with. The food was good and I can't complain about a free meal and entertainment.

Making pregnancy look good!

Nathan actually did my braid! It came out nice!
Thinking our next child will be a girl....

Prior to actually getting pregnant, I was all about getting an epidural. I was so for it, that I was convinced that there is no other way to have a baby. Now, what I'm going to say next might actually shock some of you and not surprise others. After taking this birthing class it has confirmed what I have been feeling in my heart for the last two months. I think I am going to try to have a 'natural birth' with just a bit of morphine to take the edge off of the contractions. I know that epidurals are all the rage, and I'm not saying that I am not going to have one either, but if I can handle it without a epidural I will not be getting one.

At the child birth class we watched the epidural being administered and I'm not going to lie it freaked me the fuck out. Now the video was actually meant to encourage mom's to actually get an epidural during child birth, so it was biased but in the other direction. I have always had a huge fear of needles, like huge! I'm so afraid of needles that I, no joke, bring chocolate with me to doctor's office or when I get blood drawn to eat when they are putting the needle in me. It keeps me distracted. After seeing what an epidural is all about it seriously freaked and stressed me out more than the actual thought of birth. I would, at this point, rather give birth and be in pain than get an epidural.

There were also a lot of other concerns that I felt about getting an epidural and learning more about labor made really feel good about my decision to try a low medicated birth.

Here is a list of my reasoning for all you other people out there considering a low medicated or natural birth.

1. Generally, how your mother's and grandmother's labors went is how your labor is going to go.
The women in my family are birthing warriors. My mother went from active labor to the pushing phase in less than two hours with all three of her children. (For those of you that don't know active labor is when you go from 4-8cm. ) My mom also only pushed for less than 8 minutes with each kid and my sister Erica was born in 2 minutes.  My brother was also induced, which generally means a longer labor. Not in her case! My mom was given pitocin at 8am and 11 hours and 11 minutes later Zachary entered the world. My aunts labors were even less and my grandma Bea was in and out of the hospital in less than a day with all five of her children. All of these women did this with no pain medication or small doses of IV pain killers.  So hopefully in my case genetics prevails! (Crossing my fingers for sure!)

2. Epidurals can slow down your labor and then you are given pitocin on top of it to make labor resume. 
My goal is to be in and out of the hospital as soon as possible. I hate hospitals and I am much more comfortable at my house. In fact I'm so comfortable at my house that the idea of a home birth actually appeals to me after my first child.

3. Epidurals can cause your blood pressure to drop suddenly. 
I already have low blood pressure to the point when I'm relaxed it can be as low as 90/60. When I'm nervous it goes up to 128/80/. They then give you more medication to increase your blood pressure if this happens so its just more medication.

4. Women who have epidurals have a higher rate of having their baby extracted using forceps or the vacuum when pushing.
Not good for you and not good for baby. Its not that the vacuum and forceps are bad its just a bit more complicated.

5. You don't get to move! 
I know they say they have walking epidurals now but most hospitals, including the one I'm delivering at, don't allow you to leave your bed once you have the epidural for liability issues. You get to roll from side to side now that's it.

After all has been said and done, I am still not closed to the idea of having an epidural.

I think that if my labor is pretty basic and normal, as in once I hit 4cm and I'm dilating at 1 cm per hour I will stick with the basic narcotics. If I am seriously in so much pain where I'm becoming exhausted or in active labor for a long period of time then I will get an epidural. I will not be heartbroken or disappointed if I can't do it with low medication. I just want to go into this birth with a mind that is completely open as possible.
I think I will know when I'm actually in labor if I need an epidural or not and I'm so happy that I am going into this birth with the idea now that I might not need it.

Julia