Natural Birth? You can do it!

[boogs]

My sisters' due in two days and it's got me thinking about my labour with dd. OK I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet here, I just want to pass on some info and knowledge I think all women should be aware of. Talking to friends/family who've had babies, it seems that alot of them get caught up in all the 'labour aid' possibilities. There's so much these days that can help us in labour, epidurals, gas'n'air, pethidine, etc, etc, that it's almost seen as inevitable to 'take' something during labour.
After having dd, and relaying my birth story I found that people were almost suprised that I didn't take any drugs, in any form, like 'how did she do it?' During the first stage I was at home, on a lovely shagpile rug on the floor, propped up against the bed. Dh gave me honey and hot water to keep me going cause I was there for a few hours. Each time a contraction came I got up on my knees and leant forward on the bed and got my lower back rubbed by dh. i was like this for hours, and I was really comfortable, and the pain was only bad when the contractions peaked. But when they died down, it was almost pleasurable. When I got to the hospital I was 9cm, and two hours later she was born. I was only pushing for 25 minutes. The crowning was really painful, like fire, but I didn't tear thank god!
I've heard so many scare stories about women who've had an epidural early on, which has lead to other forms of 'painkillers' and ended up having c/s, because they were so drugged up and numbed that they had no strength to finish.
My point is that a natural birth is attainable for any woman, even if you have a low pain threshold. Labour is painful no matter what, and I reckon it's better to feel the pain and control it than to have some drugs control it for you.
'New Active Birth' by Janet Balaskas is a brilliant book that helped me achieve childbirth without intervention and drugs which sometimes make things harder than they have to be.
It makes me feel sad that so many women opt for ceasarians without even trying to do it naturally which is better for mother and child. I'm not putting anyone down for any intervention they decide to take on, of course it's each woman's choice but I think more women should have faith and confidence in their natural ability to give birth.
Raspberry leaf tea, perenial massage, yoga, deep breathing, back massage, upright positions (instead of lying back on the bed in a pasive position) are all natural ways of controlling the pain of labour.
I hope this doesn't sound like a lecture, but I know I've given my sister confidence to try it naturally, and wanted to give anyone who's in doubt or scared some encouragement and advice.
Good luck to everyone who's expecting, and just trust in yourself!

I had no idea that pethadine could slow labour, I've never heard that??!??

I had diamorphine, great stuff! Does that slow labour too?

I went into established labour at 9.30am and ds was born at 15.35pm. So I think that was relatively short for a first baby.

A labour album Boogs??!!!!!

I even hate the photos of me after DS1's birth - I look like death warmed up! The thought of photos of anything during labour makes me squirm. Still, each to her own!!

Ninja, I had hypnotheraphy before DS2's birth to try and rid me of the feelings I'd been left with following DS1s birth. I literally have no positive memories of it whatsoever. The hypnotherapy did make me feel more relaxed & positive about the whole thing and DS2s much easier labour helped erase a few more of the ghosts too. It does get better

Mine was 6 hours 45 minutes start to finish. Had gas and air. Wanted an epidural but too late and was glad I didn't in the end. It was a very unique experience and it is the thing I am most proud of that I have done in my life (so far).

Pethididne and diamorphine can both slow down labour, making contractions ineffective. Sometimes results in a syntocinon drip being needed to restart things.
However, it can aid relaxation which allows labour to progress. You just don't know what is going to happen once it has been given.

Cheers Mears.
I can't believe wasn't told that!

boogs - my mother took some photos for me during my labour and I really treasure them. Normally I hate any photos with me in them, so it wouldn't have even occurred to me to ask, but she took them very unobtrusively. I had a 40+ hour natural birth at home.

I hope all goes well for your sister! She's lucky to have you for support - I know I valued all the support from my midwife, my mother and dp immensely.

Mum2Toby....that's what I am often on about.... the selective nfo you get once in labour !
I was recently with a mum who asked the MW : if I have an epidural, what will happen... answer was (I am not joking):

• You will be pain free and allowed to relax it may help you dilate.

To which I added : and you will be stuck on your bed, it could slow down your labour because your are no longer mobile, it increases your chances of a managed labour (drip and instrumental delivery). It will take about an hour from you asking for it and "it" working. It may not work 100% either.

The mum looked at the MW in a "is this true?" - MW said.... hmm yes !

Mum went for epidural... had drip and later section.

I am NOT suggesting she would not have had a section BTW.... just showing how the information is being passed on. And I do not feel I was scaremonguering just stating facts.... you can then make up your mind what you want to do.

No - you have to hand them back. But hubby whisked them away to photocopy beforehand.

You can ask the hospital for a copy but you may get charged for copying/administration.

OK, I'm all for anyone having the birth of their choice, if that's possible and I know we've been over this again and again -BUT - I still don't understand why people find the concept of choosing a cs so baffling (or, indeed, 'sad'. I personally know three intelligent, informed, confident, normal women who all chose to have a c/s with their first baby despite their being no pressing medical reasons for it. Their reasons? They wanted a serene, predicatable, not prolonged and pain-free experience. Far from feeling 'sad', all three are thrilled with their choice and would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, one has two children by cs by choice and is the most fantastic, dedicated mother I know. I had my ds by cs with complete placenta praevia (probably would have both died without a c/s) and having had that experience, wouldn't dream of having a baby any other way. It was fab. No exhaustion, no hours and hours in labour, no pain, no fear, no screaming or crying (except with happiness). I also felt like 'me' throughout, which I also liked a lot. It seems a very rational choice to me (after all, all those female obstetricians aren't completely thick). Obviously the idea of c/s doesn't appeal to everyone and if you prefer to have an unmedicated birth, well that's totally your choice too and good on you. I hope you have a wonderful time and sympathetic midwives. But women who have c/s's by choice aren't from Mars, you know

Just wanted to add some support to Boogs. I didn't feel she was lecturing or saying everyone should have a natural birth - just trying to encourage women to bleieve in themselves. OK so not everyone has a natural birth, maybe not everyone wants to and that is fine but so many times women are pressured and bullied into interventions which do make life harder.

OK so a lot of intervention IS necessary and does good but its generally accepted that the medical profession these days tends to err on the side of caution and jump in there which can lead to other complications which could have been avoided with a little more time and patience.

My own beleif is that we hear so many stories of difficult births etc needing lots of intervention and if these means both baby and mum come through OK then that is fine. But not every birth is like that and women shouldn't be afraid of birth which is a feeling which often comes through. Yes it hurts but there will always be an end in sight. There is nothing wimpish about choosing pain releif or intervention - women just have to get through it the best way they can, but so often those who have a "natural" birth do so through chance rather than choice.

There seems to be an attitude at the moment that anyone who speaks out for natural birth is somehow attacking women who do not go down this route - but this does not follow at all. I genuinly beleive that Boogs was simply trying to inspire confidence - so good for her.

I agree Katherine. I think that although a lot of births are complicated and definitely need caesarian there is sometimes intervention that is uneccessary. I am not talking about people that choose cs but people that want a natural birth and aren't in grave danger but have an emergency cs because the doctors want to control the labour (I sometimes think they want to get it over and done with quickly too).

So what if an epidural makes labour last longer?
At the point you ask for one you just want the agony to stop.

The length of the subsequent labor was of no interest to me at all, I just wanted the pain to be less.

As for not being able to move around . So what? As my sil said " I wasn't planning on going anywhere"

I agree, Jasper.

I must be a strange 'un, because I didn't really mind how DS came into the world, as long as he was happy and healthy.

Not saying that women should not think about the type of birthing experience they would want, but I just didn't really give it too much thought

Pupuce/Mears: Just wondered about the epi. I had mine when I was about 8cm dilated (worked within minutes) and was never told that it would be too late. When is it officially 'too late' to have one?

LadyP - I SCRRRRRREAMED for an epidural for an hour or 2 and when they eventually said ok.... they checked how many cm's dilated I was and said it was too late. I was just about ready to push though.

LadyP - it is usually too late when fully dilated. It depends though what other factors there are though.

Jasper - are you having a laugh??????
It's not the length of the labour that is the issue of the epidural.... it's the fact that it leads to further interventions which are not always successful either... not to mention that in some cases epidural CAN leave you with problems short and long terms. At a recent labour I was very surprised to hear the aneasthetist LIST all the risks of the epidural. It was the first time I heard the whole list actually.

And at the risk of annoying some.... epidural stops your body from making endorphins which are important hormones for both mother and baby, they play an important role in bonding and breastfeeding. And before I 10 of you tell me they had no problem bonding and BF.... let me add that we are human being and we have "intelligence" which helps us bond and BF... but for some this is an issue (it is one in the animal kingdom where animals reject their off-springs born by ceasarean).

Let me share with you the answer to 2 questions I have asked Dr Michel Odent in a recent interview :

The pain of childbirth may be described as 'positive pain' in that it is a means to an end, a process that a woman endures in order to meet her baby face to face.
Do you consider (if at all) that experiencing the pain of labour is a necessary part of the rite of passage of childbirth, and in what way (if any) would you say that experiencing the pain can contribute to a woman's spiritual growth?
In the middle of the 20th century it wasn?t politically correct to raise this point. Natural childbirth movements were denying the concept of physiological pain in labour. According to French and Russian schools of psycho-prophylaxis, pain was reflexo-conditional, and therefore cultural. So we had to recondition women to make childbirth painless.
In Britain, G.D Read was saying that there is no example of a physiological process which is painful; so labour must not be painful.
In fact the connections between the pain of labour and maternal love had been intuitively understood in many cultural milieus. As early as a century ago, Eugene Marais, in South Africa, gave a few puffs of chloroform and ether to sixty birthing Kaffir bucks. The mothers did not take care of their babies. Such observations were confirmed in other species. Krehbiel and Poindron showed that ewes who have given birth with an epidural don?t take care of their lambs. In the current scientific context it is possible to interpret these connections between pain in childbirth and maternal love. It is the physiological system of protection against pain that participate in the induction of maternal behaviour. This system of protection is complex. It includes the system of endorphins.
One knows that beta-endorphin is a releaser of prolactin, the typical motherhood hormone.
Also the reduction of the activity of the neocortex is a protection against pain on the one hand, and on the other hand a way to make humans as instinctive as other mammals. Let us add that oxytocin is a depressor of memory (protection against pain) and also the main ?hormone of love?..

Some studies have made the point that labours with pain relief or labour augmentation may lead to greater difficulty in breastfeeding and bonding. Do you not feel that this argument is another one to make women feel guilty about the intervention they agreed to have during their labour?
This question must be raised in terms of whole populations: forget individuals. Effects of birth are detected at a cultural level. There are good reasons why, in our society, breastfeeding is shorter than many women would like. There are complex connections between birth physiology and the physiology of lactation.
In a sense lactation starts before the baby is born.

Not having a laugh at all. I am deadly earnest.

The point I was making was at the point in labour you feel you can take no more ( and ask for an epi) all the stuff about cascade of interventions, possible bonding problems you might have read about go right out the window.

All you care about AT THAT POINT is that the pain is too much and you want it to go away.

You don't give birth in theory, you give it in practice, minute by minute.

I see what you mean....

hi willow2, I'm ok now - lucky that dp was supportive through and after and my daughter is perfect (excuse any mistakes she's feedingv at the mo). physically i still feel drained- par for the course i assume, stiches got a little infected but lavender, tea tree oil and homeopathic remedies have solved that. at least that pain meant i never noticed sore breasts ! I'M LUCKY that breast feeding is going really well and i have my baby in cloth nappies - 2 things that werereally important to me. i still have odd tearful moments when i think about the experience, but even just writing it down here hs helped so much. as i say my so beautiful ds is just the most important thing.

oh well pupuce, now at least I feel my incredibly b***y painful recovery from a c section was actually helping me bond with dh