Why is unmedicated / "natural birth" glorified

[daffodils123]

It really baffles me the extent to which "natural births" are glorified both by pregnant women, midwives and even others when they ask if you're planning on a "natural birth".

There is no other procedure that people routinely turn down painkillers or pain relief when getting & so it always confuses me that this is even a thing.

I also have a feeling that if men could give birth, this obsession with "natural birth" may not be a thing!

Has anyone else found this to be the case??

Well I think birth is different from a medical procedure as you said in your OP, but it has been excessively medicalised to the extent that it’s almost pathologised . I mean we are the only mammals to fear it.

Well the mortality rate for pregnancy and labour is still quite high even with modern medicine, and it used to be far higher. Childbirth is natural but it is also natural for mothers and babies to die during in childbirth - that is true in all animal species.

I wanted a natural birth with my first, but it went on such a long time that I couldn't cope so I had an epidural. Which was great as it meant no pain, but it led to an episiotomy and forceps delivery, and a brief but nasty headache the next day. I was very grateful for the availability of the epidural when I needed it, but would have preferred not to have needed it.

After that I had two natural births with just gas & air. Not because I was being heroic, but because I simply didn't need any more pain relief.

I'm aware that I was very lucky to have straightforward births that went well, and I absolutely don't glorify in it.

I think if women were genuinely given a choice of natural Vs elective section the outcome I suspect would be a much higher incidence of sections. In my opinion, both are safer and controlled methods of birthing. The area to avoid is a natural birth with intervention, or emergency section, which sadly so many natural births end up with.

Not sure there's an answer here, whatever women choose to do is wrong. Misogyny is alive and well to keep women in their place! All the female doctors I know however book and elective section..

I went for it because I read that it meant tearing would be minimised, and for whatever reason I found the thought of vaginal tearing scarier than the pain of labour.

I agree that’s it’s bizarre to treat it as almost a morally superior option. Women should choose whatever they personally think has the least downsides, because there’s no option that has none.

I definitely felt like it was something to "aspire to" I initially planned to have a water birth
When I gave birth I had ALL the drugs!

@EvilPea

People are dicks. Natural vs pain relief birth Vagina vs c section Sahp vs working parent Nanny vs nursery State vs private Uni vs apprenticeship

The judgement and criticism goes on and on.

What works for one person doesn’t another. Just be thankful if your happy and healthy. That’s it

I agree!!

@Treacletoots

I think if women were genuinely given a choice of natural Vs elective section the outcome I suspect would be a much higher incidence of sections. In my opinion, both are safer and controlled methods of birthing. The area to avoid is a natural birth with intervention, or emergency section, which sadly so many natural births end up with.

Not sure there's an answer here, whatever women choose to do is wrong. Misogyny is alive and well to keep women in their place! All the female doctors I know however book and elective section..

I wouldn’t choose this

No idea OP, I wouldn't even consider birth without an epidural, if I didn't have one I'd probably sue for mental stress and trauma.

I had a natural birth. Squatting. Helped by my husband (at the time).
Not in UK.

I would never tell a woman how to give birth. Everyone is different.

I have had 4 vaginal births, 2 with epidurals and 2 with nothing. I recovered (as in, could walk about, shower, with baby 4 I did school run etc) within singles of hours with each and have never needed stitches etc. I am not proud of myself as there's a huge dose of luck involved but I am very grateful for very uncomplicated experiences. I truly believe that if every birth was like mine then very few (perhaps those with phobias or history of sexual violence) would need or want a caesarian birth. Sure, there was some pain but it all felt quite purposeful.

I think also some people use natural birth as a euphamism for vaginal, so it doesn't actually always mean unmedicated and non-instrumental.

Any pain is immensely tiring, so pain relief gives women a longer run at giving birth. I always assumed a natural birth was without a section.

Personally when I had the choice, my first priority was the safest option and my 2nd priority was that I wanted whatever was going to give me the best chance of less pain afterwards. I can cope with pain in labour when I don't have to focus on anything else except the labour. But afterwards when I have to look after a baby, sometimes other dc, laundry, bottles etc then I really struggle with being in pain as well. So I chose waterbirth for dc1 and gas and air for dc2 and dc3 to give me the best chance of a straightforward birth and an easier recovery. Unfortunately this didn't work out with my younger 2 dc and I had to have c-sections. Actual births were unpleasant but manageable but both recoveries were extremely hard.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

No idea OP, I wouldn't even consider birth without an epidural, if I didn't have one I'd probably sue for mental stress and trauma.

Honestly! I had one natural birth in water. It was great but after my second with an epidural- no way would I do that again.

I'm glad I experienced it once, just to see, but don't suffer if you don't have to. Nobody cares about your birth story other than you, no point being a martyr about it.

I have had two healthy babies and am not planning on getting pregnant again. Both times I hoped for a natural birth with minimal pain relief. First labour took ages had all the drugs going, second labour had no drugs was very quick.

It’s total luck. Was pushing and recovery easier with the second? Yes. Did I need an epidural for the first? Yes.

I look back now on all the hypnobirthing/natural birth pressure and think, why did I stress.
Genuinely, you want a healthy mum and baby and the rest is luck.

@KevinTheKoala

Well I think birth is different from a medical procedure as you said in your OP, but it has been excessively medicalised to the extent that it’s almost pathologised . I mean we are the only mammals to fear it.

Well the mortality rate for pregnancy and labour is still quite high even with modern medicine, and it used to be far higher. Childbirth is natural but it is also natural for mothers and babies to die during in childbirth - that is true in all animal species.

True @KevinTheKoala but it’s still a physiological event rather than a medical one. But if you looks at a country like the US that firmly believes in medical intervention and is a developed nation their mortality rate for childbirth is quite high. Again super duper glad for medical intervention when necessary but I don’t think it’s helpful to pathologise birth to the extent that it is in the Uk/ US (inductions at term due to tenuous growth concerns, as standard for GD, for being ‘overdue’ even though that has different definitions across the world).

We have created a culture that teaches women to fear birth, women scare other women, movies scare women it’s just quite negative and not conducive to a positive birth experience, this is the backdrop for the ‘better birth’ movement that’s swang radically the other way and totally abhors medical assistance (even when necessary) and demonise medical professionals

Hit send too soon.

I totally internalised that better birth narrative and was excessively worried about the risks involved with any sort of pain relief or medical intervention with my first. I had an induction too. But in the end I caved and had pethidine (agonised about the decision for a while and felt like a failure) BUT I can say now, best thing I could have done in that circumstance. Progressed quickly, baby was delivered no tearing, allowed me some respite from the discomfort of induction contractions and meant I wasn’t totally dead on my feet by the time baby was born. I’d do it again in a heartbeat

I tend to think the exact opposite TBH. Far more judgement from the epidural brigade than from those who've had unmedicated births. This comes up a lot on here routinely, where people who chose epidurals repeatedly call women who made other choices martyrs and basically make out they're all thick or gullible for choosing not to have an epidural, then round it off by claiming those who had an umedicated birth are being judgemental.

I've never, ever seen an OP on here belittling the choice of people who get epidurals, but you get them the other way around all the time.

Honestly I've always found it so weird that people glorify these kinds of births over others. Having a child is glory enough - doesn't matter how they were brought into the worth (birth method)!

Sleepless - I disagree that we have ‘created’ a culture of fear around childbirth- it is painful and there are risks - a certain level of fear seems entirely rational to me. My born in 1880 Great Grandmother told my mother ‘even the best is ghastly darling’ (kindly passed on to me by my dm just before I had my first), things are a lot safer than in her time - chilbirth was much more worrying and frightening when she grew up, and people didn’t pretend it wasn’t.

I think I had far more judgement for having a planned home birth with my first than I would have done if I’d of said I wanted all the drugs.

Out of my friends people expect you to want all the drugs.

For me personally I have a complex medical history and had spent time in hospital prior to having kids. I knew how crap a lot of pain killers made me feel and I found the idea of an epidural being inserted into my back scarier than the idea of pushing a baby out.

I didn’t view birth as a medical procedure.

I don’t judge other women by the kinds of births they had, especially as not everyone gets a choice anyway.

What I do judge quite harshly though is some of the medical advice that people are given. I think there is a lack of informed consent around what can lead to a cascade of potentially unnecessary interventions for mothers and babys.

Isn’t everyone’s aim to come out as unscathed as possible?

Might be controversial but... it's probably because a "natural" birth costs the nhs a lot less than the other options

I definitely found the midwives were recommending an epidural (which I had and would do again!) but I know what you mean, NCT peddles the natural birth without pain relief etc and I felt like a failure at first when I got an epidural (gave my head a wobble though after!) of all our NCT group, all of us had pain relief of some sort despite all wanting a natural water birth

May I add this why I think they push it, not that it's my personal opinion that you should opt for it! All ways of birthing are natural and you should do what feels right for you, wether it's a c section or not you have still delivered a baby

I am pregnant for first time so exploring these options atm.

My research so far mainly consists of speaking to my mum about it (as I dont want to scare myself to death!) and she said dont have the epidural as it slows/halts the labour; she said have the Pethidine. She said she had it and she was the only one on the ward after able to walk straight after - everyone else had epidurals or sections and had a much longer recovery time.

She also said the Pethidine made me very sleepy, so she enjoyed a good long sleep in relative peace after delivery (and I turned out reasonably OK so please no drama about the semi-purposeful drugging of a newborn!).

So its not a martyrdom - its more I asked my nearest biological 'double' for what they did, how it went for them and what they recommend.

Birth is not a "procedure" it is by its nature a "natural" process - it's why we have a human race and what our bodies are designed for.

If people choose to have pain relief and or interventions, and especially if they are medically recommended for the safety of mum and baby (and that includes mental health of mum if she is worried) then great obviously. Choice and safety should be celebrated too. But I think there should remain something special about the fact that babies can and are born simply and without complication or fear. I don't think that means it's "glorified". Not everyone is lucky enough to have straightforward experiences and it's absolutely crucial that ALL births are celebrated.

But birth can be a "natural" and empowering and incredible experience. Sorry if goady as I clearly was lucky with mine but honestly, I loved it. Would do it again tomorrow.