Med-free labor trend

[Anonymous]

Are epidurals misunderstood? One doctor says, Yes! and offers these answers to common myths about epidurals.

The Truth About Epidurals: 6 Myth-Busting Facts for Moms-to-Be
Pain Meds vs. “All Natural”. Don’t Get Caught In The Mommy Wars Over Labor and Delivery. Get The Facts For Yourself.

By Monique Johnson

I have always been amazed by the mommy wars between so-called “natural delivery” camp and those who took a little nip from the epidural tap. I support women for whatever delivery method they choose, but there is no ticker tape parade or extra apple sauce for suffering through labor in excruciating pain. Contrary to some heated mommy debaters, neither experience makes you more or less of a woman. Or a mom.

[ Edited to comply with copyright law. ]

Read Kimberly’s humorous take on labor and delivery with and without pain meds. http://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/100641/labor_battles_theres_only_one
And learn more about having a labor and delivery your way in The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy (Amistad/HarperCollins).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really get why there is so many women these days 'excited' labor without epidurals. I understand a first time Mom not really knowing how much pain for how long that labor involves, but more and more 2+ Mom friends are telling me how excited they are to try without an epidural.

Personally, I had an epidural and it gave me some relief, but not all that much relief toward the end and my birth turned out as great as it could be. Given that, I would never want to labor med free - it was absolute torture at the end. A woman down the hall going med free was screaming at the top of her lungs for hours on end.

I almost feel like this trend makes many women feel like they are failures if 1) they 'give in' to an epidural or 2) labor ends in c-section for various reasons. Modern medicine is a blessing for many reasons, it strange to feel like people are pushing back against pain relief that wasn't available to women not too long ago.

It's because like everything else around parenting, we've turned the birthing process into a commodity. It now has to be an "experience" and your "experience" will be compared with other "experiences" to determine who had the best "experience."

Seriously, there's an entire movement built around trying to enhance your birthing "experience."

Birth isn't an illness but it is a medical practice. I personally don't understand the rigid opposition to medicine. But then again, I don't fetishize the past.

[Anonymous]

I hate pain.

physical

emotional

mental

I'm surprised I've survived to see 45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In many countries, throughout history, birth was not feared or experienced as torturously painful. A lot of work, yes, but also blissful, gorgeous, celebrated. It is a shame many women miss out on that experience. Every woman deserves to birth surrounded by love, deference, and respect.

What a load of mythical horseshit.

Throughout history birth HAS been feared. Someone's looking at historical and infant mortality rates with rose colored glasses.

[Anonymous]

My coworkers wife did hypnobirthig and right after my coworker said it was he most traumatizing experience - his hand was bruised and useless 2 weeks after delivery from her. Then about 2 months later when he found out I was pregnant he asked are you going to do it natural? He completely forgot what he told me earlier...I suspect that it may be true for a lot of women. That they also forget the pain, the waves of intense pain.

Anyway, I think there is way too much discussion IRL - I mean I don't care how you labored, but moms that go natural really shove it in my face and I just say, actually my birth was perfect (and it was) they seemed to be shocked by that response as though the epidural somehow would ruin my experience.

[Anonymous]

And, I'm already done with this thread and the judgemental stupidity. Have fun with your dumbass mommy war.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are risks and benefits to both. I personally had an epidural and I'm glad i did because it probably saved my son's life. I had to have an emergency c-section because the umbilical cord was wrapped two times. It probably saved some time in the OR. However, the majority of the women probably don't NEED it as much as they want pain free birth (I was one of those). The meds certainly do pass to the baby through the placenta and I experienced a high number of side effects from it (problems with baby's heart rate, prolonged labor, itchiness, nausea, etc.). I can certainly see how some healthy women chose not to take the drugs.

Having the cord wrapped around the baby is not an emergency, though doctors refer to it in a scary fashion. Most babies are wrapped in their cords. You simply unwrap them. True cord compression is rare.

[Anonymous]

You don't get a special prize for not using medicine

,


Bwhahahaha! No but you get bragging rights and the ability to feel superior over someone who chose medication.

[Anonymous]

I had an epidural with my first, but had no time for one with my second. If I were to have a third child, I would choose to go drug-free again. It was painful without the epidural, but it was over quickly. Basically, once I gave birth, I was done and felt back to normal within hours. My milk came in quickly and establishing breastfeeding was a snap. When I had the epidural, it took me days to feel like myself again. My milk did not come in fully for 5 days, so I supplemented with formula until then. My daughter got hooked on the faster and easier milk flow from bottles and would not breastfeed anymore. I ended up pumping full-time for a year. Looking back, I probably could have reintroduced the breast later, but I did not even try. I should have because pumping full-time is incredibly time consuming--you have to pump the milk and then feed the baby instead of it being one activity. I told my NP, who is also a lactation consultant, about my experience the first time versus the second and she said she hears that over and over again and is convinced the epidural can dealay the milk coming in for some women. So if you are planning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In many countries, throughout history, birth was not feared or experienced as torturously painful. A lot of work, yes, but also blissful, gorgeous, celebrated. It is a shame many women miss out on that experience. Every woman deserves to birth surrounded by love, deference, and respect.

What a load of mythical horseshit.

Throughout history birth HAS been feared. Someone's looking at historical and infant mortality rates with rose colored glasses.

The maternal mortality rates thrown around here are completely fabricated. 50%?? That was when charity "lying in" hospitals began, and the doctors refused to wash their hands, passing disease from corpse to new mother. Healthy women attended by skilled midwives in their own homes usually had excellent outcomes. Martha Ballard, a midwife practicing in New England in the 1700s, did not lose a single mother (out of about 1,000) in childbirth, and only 5 died postpartum. She only recorded about a 5% complication rate, with most complications minor. Sheila Kitzinger, if I remember correctly, has an exhaustive anthropological history of childbirth.

I can only encourage women to read widely about birth around the world. Watch The Business of Being Born, Gentle Birth Choices, Orgasmic Birth. For their own sake, women should approach birth as informed, confident, active participants. And that means being prepared to go unmedicated, because birth is unpredictable. There may not be time for medication, or it may not work. Fear, apprehension, stress, and tension all get in the way of the positive sensations of birth. So however birth goes, it is best to prepare enough to be relaxed and at peace with your choices.

For me, I cannot wait for my next sensual, glorious homebirth!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are risks and benefits to both. I personally had an epidural and I'm glad i did because it probably saved my son's life. I had to have an emergency c-section because the umbilical cord was wrapped two times. It probably saved some time in the OR. However, the majority of the women probably don't NEED it as much as they want pain free birth (I was one of those). The meds certainly do pass to the baby through the placenta and I experienced a high number of side effects from it (problems with baby's heart rate, prolonged labor, itchiness, nausea, etc.). I can certainly see how some healthy women chose not to take the drugs.

Having the cord wrapped around the baby is not an emergency, though doctors refer to it in a scary fashion. Most babies are wrapped in their cords. You simply unwrap them. True cord compression is rare.

Are you going to risk it that your baby isn't the "one"? Who cares how other people's babies are born? A woman at work, whose child is two, still goes on and on about her labor and delivery. Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In many countries, throughout history, birth was not feared or experienced as torturously painful. A lot of work, yes, but also blissful, gorgeous, celebrated. It is a shame many women miss out on that experience. Every woman deserves to birth surrounded by love, deference, and respect.

What a load of mythical horseshit.

Throughout history birth HAS been feared. Someone's looking at historical and infant mortality rates with rose colored glasses.

The maternal mortality rates thrown around here are completely fabricated. 50%?? That was when charity "lying in" hospitals began, and the doctors refused to wash their hands, passing disease from corpse to new mother. Healthy women attended by skilled midwives in their own homes usually had excellent outcomes. Martha Ballard, a midwife practicing in New England in the 1700s, did not lose a single mother (out of about 1,000) in childbirth, and only 5 died postpartum. She only recorded about a 5% complication rate, with most complications minor. Sheila Kitzinger, if I remember correctly, has an exhaustive anthropological history of childbirth.

I can only encourage women to read widely about birth around the world. Watch The Business of Being Born, Gentle Birth Choices, Orgasmic Birth. For their own sake, women should approach birth as informed, confident, active participants. And that means being prepared to go unmedicated, because birth is unpredictable. There may not be time for medication, or it may not work. Fear, apprehension, stress, and tension all get in the way of the positive sensations of birth. So however birth goes, it is best to prepare enough to be relaxed and at peace with your choices.

For me, I cannot wait for my next sensual, glorious homebirth!

Thank YOU! Women need only to do basic research into this issue to discover that it is far more complicated than pain vs. no pain. I had one in hospital with an epi, and my other two med free in a birth center. I would never do another epi. I had so many complications with the epi -and nearly ended up with an emergency C at 10 cms. Zero complications at the birth center. Just do your due diligence folks, and make an informed choice.

[Anonymous]

Whatever. My epidurals were awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, assuming this is an honest question, I suggest you educate yourself about the history of obstetrical anesthesia in America. A superb book is "Deliver Me From Pain," a fascinating and accessible medical-social history. There are plenty of other excellent books, such as "Gentle Birth," "Immaculate Deception," "Orgasmic Birth," and "Pushed."

As someone who has had one late epidural and seven unmedicated births, who is looking forward to her third blissful homebirth, I urge every mother-to-be to learn as much as possible about the physiology and psychology of birth. When women experience birth in privacy, with loving support and respect, they often experience the greatest moments of pleasure in their entire lives. There are benefits to the baby and the mother when birth is allowed to unfold unmedicated, as the body's custom-made hormone cocktail works to ease the baby out with just the right mixture of work ("labor") and rest.

In many countries, throughout history, birth was not feared or experienced as torturously painful. A lot of work, yes, but also blissful, gorgeous, celebrated. It is a shame many women miss out on that experience. Every woman deserves to birth surrounded by love, deference, and respect.

I had all of these things with my medicated labor and ultimate c-section. I bonded with my DH and my baby. I look back on that time as perfect, b/c the end result was my gorgeous, healthy daughter. To me that is all that matters.

That this is even a subject of concern in that others are opining on others' birth experiences -or how respected they felt during giving birth- just baffles me. It is a luxury women in this country have. And, I find it odd. And a little gross.

[Anonymous]

I had a long, intense labor that ended in a c-section. It was not a good labor experience, but I achieved my goal: a healthy baby. Really, isn't healthy baby an healthy mom all that matters?

Since I delivered my son, I've had countless friends talk about their amazing, empowering non-medicated labors, and I've heard countless people tell them what a good job they did, and how tough they are. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but it seems to imply that because my labor was medicated and especially bc I had a c-section, I am somehow not tough and I didn't do as good a job as women who deliver naturally. I don't think we need to brag about our birth experiences. It does seem to pit women against each other.