Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Business of Being Born
I have been considering having a natural birth if the Lord should bless me with another child. My thinking has evolved immensley after having two children and three epidurals(yes, three!...I'll get to that...that's another post.)
In the past, I thought women who chose to have natural birth were downright crazy! "Why suffer when the good Lord has blessed us with all this good medicine?" I wondered. However, after some very enlightening conversations, a little research, and watching this trailer, I am wondering if it was never God's intention that we use all of these medical interventions. God made our bodies and it is "natural" for a woman to have a baby, right? However, somehow when I had mine I felt in many ways as if I was an injured car accident victim when I was in labor and delivery. I'm now wondering has "society" and the medical community led us to believe, when it comes to natural birth: we "can't do this" so we don't?
I've heard more than one woman say she recovered faster during the postpartum period after having a natural birth. I have also heard that there is a greater "feeling of accomplishment" and appreciation for the birth process. What has been your experience? Would you consider natural birth? What do you see as the pros and cons?
"The Business of Being Born" explores these questions and more. "Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?" Want to learn more? Check out www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com
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OK are you trying to make me cry here??? I am the mother of three daughters all born with no pain meds. Baby number three, who was born when I was 35, needed Pitocin after the second round of labor came to a halt with no baby. It is perfect joy to bring forth a child in the natural way that God intended, but its not easy if you do it in the hospital. They keep offering you drugs to make things go more quickly. With my second child I made it clear that NO ONE was to offer me pain meds. Period.
ReplyDeleteI will say that natural childbirth is not for everyone, and women should not be made to feel guilty if they can't handle the pain, or the super long labors that I've heard about.
I said all throughout my pregnancy that I was getting an epidural (what crazy woman would NOT want one, right?!) lol. Well, when my water broke and we made it to the hospital, they drew my blood and checked all my levels and my platelets (the thing that clots your blood) were very very low. So no epidural for me. They kept checking them througout labor and they kept going down, I finally told them I didn't want them checked anymore! I had already made it that far w/ out any meds... I remember being really "in the zone". Just kept thinking, "I CAN DO THIS." It really wasn't all that bad... I'm sure I would of been more comfortable w/ meds, but the feeling was just pure exhilaration when he came out! I feel now that it was God's way of showing me, that I could do something I thought I would never be able to.
ReplyDeleteI hope that if God decides to bless us w/ another child (we've been trying for a year) that I will be able to have a natural birth again.
Wow! Evelyn and Chelsa: Thanks for those comments. I can't begin to tell you how inspiring to here that this CAN be done from REAL women who have done it!
ReplyDeleteDon't know when you read my blog last, but baby number three arrived safely with no intervention of any kind - no labour inducing drugs, no pain medications and no tears or episiotomy. It was AMAZING!! Five days later and I'm feeling great - better than both of the times before. Anyway, you can read my account in full on my blog (http://babynumberthree.wordpress.com).
ReplyDeleteI hope God does bless you with another child; I'm so glad to have another!
Okay, I wrote my first comment without watching that trailer. I cried! I didn't even cry during my own labour - but that did it, especially with mine being so fresh in my mind.
ReplyDeleteAnd I guess I could clarify - my first two babies were born with narcotics for pain - I've never had an epidural. However, my daughter had low oxygen levels because of the demerol I was on when I was in labour with her. I think epidurals are more of a downer for women (because of not feeling what your body is doing) and narcotics are the downer for babies, since any that are given late in labour have the potential to be in their blood stream.
Anyway, I'm very impressed with the look of that film. It's about time women started looking at this differently! Our bodies were made for this - God made us to do this!
i think my last two baby's births are on my blog (march 2008 and march 2006 :)...) i think as you have more babies, you gain more appreciation for your body and of how God designed us - the last two were unassisted at home - the one before was midwife assisted waterbirth in a hospital - i wish i could have *started* at that point :) with labours - as they seem to get better and better :) - water helps so much!
ReplyDeletewww.homeschoolblogger.com/mamazee
I had my first baby with an epidural. I got to the hospital early, and the nurse (despite wat the doctor said!) told me I couldn't walk around. Well, that did it! I didn't have any other pain management techniques up my sleeve, and I wasn't dilating so...long story short - I got the epidural. 2nd baby I was more prepared. I had all kinds of tricks. #1 effective pain reliever: Extreme mental focus and praising Jesus in word and song. I labored almost entirely in the shower at home. When I got tired of standing in the shower, my sweet saved and sanctified doula told me God had designed my body to handle the pain, that it was possible for me to lay down and get rest because God had made our bodies to release pain relieving endorphins when we experience extreme pain. The result? I laid down and slept through a portion of the worst stage of labor with no pain intervention other than the ones with which God had already equipped my body! Labor went well.
ReplyDeleteDelivery was done at the hospital. I started pushing before I even got to the delivery room. Delivery was very challenging mostly because I was surrounded by a bunch of unnecessarily panicked medical personnel. It was also difficult because of the pain and multiple issues that came up immediately after delivery. Because I had no epidural, I could feel much of the procedures they were doing on me to handle the problems. Can I just say this wasn't fun, "exhilarating", or any of those other euphoric adjectives used to describe natural childbirth. Also, that part was difficult because I wasn't pyschologically prepared for enduring more continuous pain after delivery. I'm very confident it would have been better if I had had my mind prepared to endure pain after pushing the baby out. (One woman I know said enduring the labor pain "ia a mind thing". I agree.)
God also performed a miracle: They gave me an episiotomy, but I felt NO PAIN. I felt the scissors cut my flesh, but NO PAIN. Jesus is a wonder!!
Was my recovery faster? Unfortunately, no. Would I do it again? Yep. The good outweighs the bad, especially when you do the research on pain meds, why they're pushed on you by doctors, etc.