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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.