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??

@sofato5miles

I remember reading stats 15 years ago, on completely medically unaided births (taken from Yemen, if i remember). 1 in 10 women die, 3 are injured. 6 are fine. We are not perfectly designed for natural delivery, we just have more options if it goes wrong.

It was just before my first, in which i was induced after over 10 days overdue ( memory hazy now) and then an emergency C.

Very interesting point. I have also read about this sort of thing. The prevailing wisdom from scientists seems to be that humans aren't actually that "good" at giving birth when compared with other mammals. Our births are long and high risk. Our baby's heads are very big. An awful lot more can go wrong for humans when compared with other species.

@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??

Birth isn't a 'procedure' unless you are having something done to you, like a c-section. Birth is a natural bodily function.

That said, I really don't judge people for wanting whatever kind of birth gets the baby here safely and ensures mum is well supported.

Is it one of those things where people aren't actually glorifying it, but the sensitivities around what happened during your own birth make you feel judged? I remember a friend telling me someone had got very shirty with her while they were chatting about breastfeeding and she said she'd found it easy. The other person hadn't and thought there was judgement implied when there really wasn't.

My first birth was totally unmedicated but I wished it wasn't- precipitate labour and there was no time. By the time the gas and air came out the baby was crowning. Dilating that quickly was Not Fun. My second was in water with gas and air because I didn't need any more than that. I didn't decide not to have an epi, I just didn't need one. But all was fine, it was quite swift etc. If it had gone on for 24 hours I am sure I would have wanted to transfer in and have an epi.

Someone else's birth isn't a judgement on yours. Do midwives even say 'natural' any more? I don't think mine did.

Birth is a natural function and not without risk.

I see it that the way in which the medical profession “treats” it is the problem. And that’s why so many of us find it tough. Hospitals are for sick people. Pregnant women are not diseased. Yes we need support from professionals but going into it thinking we aren’t “perfectly “ designed for childbirth is just terrible.

Yes we need support from professionals but going into it thinking we aren’t “perfectly “ designed for childbirth is just terrible.

But we aren’t perfectly designed for it. That’s why maternal mortality rates were historically so high. As a species, we are not designed well for childbirth at all.

@cutietooties

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

I honestly thought exactly that when I saw this thread.

I found in both my labours I could cope with the pain and I didn't need or want medication/an epidural.
I had 2 natural water births but don't think I had a better or more glorified birth than a woman who chose an epidural or medication.

I know I wanted to fully feel everything when giving birth though to experience it all of that makes sense and to me stay in control.

I think that women are criticised no matter what sort of birth they choose or go on to actually have (as births don’t often go to plan).

I had natural home births and it was nothing but criticism and judgement. I was told I was too tiny, baby would get stuck and we’d both die in agony for a homebirth. My DH was even against it, until after the first homebirth and then he supported me for the other DCs.

As for natural/no pain medication you have to accept that with a homebirth, because midwives can’t give you an epidural! So I accepted it more than wanted it. Again, was told by all and sundry I was being “backwards” and “primitive” by forgoing a hospital with all the pain medication they offer.

@RobinPenguins

Yes we need support from professionals but going into it thinking we aren’t “perfectly “ designed for childbirth is just terrible.

But we aren’t perfectly designed for it. That’s why maternal mortality rates were historically so high. As a species, we are not designed well for childbirth at all.

Maternal mortality rates were very high historically due to post birth infection and sepsis from midwives/manwives with filthy hands. Purely human intervention caused. We are actually evolved to give birth successfully.

I had an elective CS and never considered anything else. I didn't care what anyone else thought. No pain of any kind, the epidural stayed in for 48 hours so by the time it came out the wound barely hurt.

Maternal mortality rates were very high historically due to post birth infection and sepsis from midwives/manwives with filthy hands. Purely human intervention caused. We are actually evolved to give birth successfully.

That's over simplifying it, I'm not denying that infection after birth was a huge problem that hygiene has improved greatly, but other causes for maternal deaths are postpartum heamorage, eclampsia, labour complications/obstructed labour, embolisms etc. Which while we now have treatments and interventions for are still leading reasons for maternal mortality rates today. These are things that can happen, they won't happen for the majority of women but they can happen and so denying that giving birth is risky feels really dismissive of the women who have gone through those things.

As part of my work I deal with cases where labour has gone horribly wrong. This affected (yes, skewd I dare say) my personal decision making. I was never going to go down that route.

@KevinTheKoala

Maternal mortality rates were very high historically due to post birth infection and sepsis from midwives/manwives with filthy hands. Purely human intervention caused. We are actually evolved to give birth successfully.

That's over simplifying it, I'm not denying that infection after birth was a huge problem that hygiene has improved greatly, but other causes for maternal deaths are postpartum heamorage, eclampsia, labour complications/obstructed labour, embolisms etc. Which while we now have treatments and interventions for are still leading reasons for maternal mortality rates today. These are things that can happen, they won't happen for the majority of women but they can happen and so denying that giving birth is risky feels really dismissive of the women who have gone through those things.

Actually, historically, those causes of maternal death fell far behind sepsis/infection. “Womb fever” killed far more than all other causes combined over 90% of deaths. Even in the first half of the 20th C, a hundred years after the simple practice of midwives/doctors washing their hands was introduced still 40% of deaths were due to sepsis. The other causes you list are now leading causes in modern times because the total number has dramatically decreased, but they were drowned out by the sheer numbers dying from sepsis historically.

I’m not denying that childbirth has risks at the individual level. I am merely saying that on a population, species level, human women and babies have in fact evolved to be able to successfully reproduce/go through childbirth. Less than 1% of women die now in childbirth....that in itself shows on the whole our bodies are well evolved for childbirth.

@RobinPenguins

Yes we need support from professionals but going into it thinking we aren’t “perfectly “ designed for childbirth is just terrible.

But we aren’t perfectly designed for it. That’s why maternal mortality rates were historically so high. As a species, we are not designed well for childbirth at all.

We are, and I strongly refute that we aren’t.

Have a look at the reasons for death in childbirth - some will be unavoidable, but a high proportion will be because of interventions which end up escalating.

If we weren’t successful at it, we wouldn’t be around unless we all had c sections.

Well we are designed for it, but that doesn't mean there's 100% success rate. In nature, sometimes animals die, but in human society we try to prevent that as far as possible.

So yes, we are designed for it, but we can't just let people perish in childbirth either. There are quite a lot of things that could go wrong- e.g. positioning of baby, which could end up fatal without medical intervention

Obviously in nature, it wouldn't matter because some would survive. Two things can be true at at once: we are designed for it and the female body is amazing, yet much can still go wrong and medical assistance/monitoring is needed to prevent that

Why? Because it’s cheaper.

I've had three unmedicated births.

My reasons for wanting to do so was to minimise the risk of complications. In our hospital classes they explained very carefully that although some interventions are absolutely necessary, the more interventions you have, the more likely you are to need further interventions. Eg. Forceps deliveries are more likely if the birthing mother has had an epidural than without.

I'm also a big believer in doing something until it stops working, at which point you try something else. For me, I never really felt like the pain got to a point I couldn't cope with it. It was the most pain I have ever felt, but the point at which I thought I couldn't cope anymore is the point at which my babies were about to arrive. Had that point arrived sooner, then I would have taken pain relief.

Honestly, my births were the most empowering and exhilarating experiences of my life. To see what my body could do, to see how my mind coped, to experience that raw, animalistic connection to nature was amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks after birthing my first.

I would never judge others though. People have different circumstances, different health risks, different pain tolerances, different luck. I don't glorify unmedicated births at a general level, though at a personal level I clearly do glorify mine a bit.

I’m a dentist and regularly extract teeth. There is no clinical reason to give an anaesthetic, but I have yet to come across a patient who requests a “natural” extraction.
Extracting a tooth takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes for a straight forward extraction, so why do we give anaesthetics. Because it is standard practice to make the procedure as pain free as humanly possible to avoid shock.
I’m quite sure if men went through childbirth, pain relief would have been developed that was safe and effective. A couple of paracetamol, a shot of pethidine or a risky epidural would be seen as inadequate now. We are constantly told it is the most natural process in the world but it is definitely not the safest. It is only during the last 50 years that mortality rates in both mothers and babies have significantly improved.

@Angrymum22

I’m a dentist and regularly extract teeth. There is no clinical reason to give an anaesthetic, but I have yet to come across a patient who requests a “natural” extraction. Extracting a tooth takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes for a straight forward extraction, so why do we give anaesthetics. Because it is standard practice to make the procedure as pain free as humanly possible to avoid shock. I’m quite sure if men went through childbirth, pain relief would have been developed that was safe and effective. A couple of paracetamol, a shot of pethidine or a risky epidural would be seen as inadequate now. We are constantly told it is the most natural process in the world but it is definitely not the safest. It is only during the last 50 years that mortality rates in both mothers and babies have significantly improved.

A better comparison involving teeth would be when children lose their baby teeth for their adult teeth. That is a natural process.

Having to extract teeth due to tooth decay/gum disease is not as comparable.

I think that’s a false comparison @Angrymum22, you extract teeth for a pathological reason, birth isn’t pathological.

I’d get that argument more if pain relief was actively being routinely denied from women who needed/ wanted it.

I do 100% agree that if makes endured birth (and actually pregnancy) much more would have been done to eliminate discomfort or pain across all stages, i also think that maternity services wouldn’t be in crisis now x

I’d get that argument more if pain relief was actively being routinely denied from women who needed/ wanted it. it is. What on Earth makes you think pain relief is easily available for women who wanted it.

Surely my choice counts the most?

I’ve done birth with drugs and without and I know how I felt about it. It’s no where near a tooth extraction situation.

I mean each of us as individuals-

My choice most important to me.

A lot of these posts don’t fit as I really did want drug free for one of them

No idea but my favourite birth was one where I didn't feel a thing at any point. Epidural sited before syntocin started as it was a VBAC. Dd was a back to back presentation, felt nothing throughout and she was delivered without any help, absolute bliss. Was back home less than 24 hours after drip went in.

@5zeds

I’d get that argument more if pain relief was actively being routinely denied from women who needed/ wanted it. it is. What on Earth makes you think pain relief is easily available for women who wanted it.

Perhaps I should have been clearer I meant in the UK/ US and generally speaking developed nations. In these instances, pain relief shouldn’t be denied to women that ask for it. I can’t imagine going to a UK hospital and asking for pethidine and being told no you can’t have any. There are obviously limits to what you can do with certain pain relief, ie no water birth straight after pethidine. And there are certain clinical guidelines to administering an epidural but, as long as the patient falls within those, then they shouldn’t be denied it. (I say shouldn’t because obstetric violence and clinical negligence do happen)