Has anyone had a completely natural birth?

[stepmummamumma]

Hi all 👋

I am half way through my first pregnancy and have been looking at my options for childbirth. I feel very strongly about induction, sweeps etc and plan to refuse any interventions. I preferably would like to do it drug free but perhaps gas and air to take the edge off.

I do know that as I haven't experienced child birth before that I haven't felt pain like it before and that might change my mind, but I would like to have as natural as possible plan, assuming things are healthy.

I would love to hear some stories from women who have managed this to help me feel like it is possible.

Thank you so so much

Gas and Air for my first, nothing for my second so I remember EVERYTHING second time round. Not sure if that’s w good thing!

My waters broke at 10pm and I was in slow labour since then. Real pain started at around 3am, delivered at 11:45am. I had gas & air in the last 10 mins and it was fabulous! I remember the key to managing the contractions with no pain relief (pain reminded me of severe diarrhoea pain 45 secs on, 15 secs off) is breathing to get through the pain spell. If you misuse that energy for screaming, speaking, you'll miss the trick in managing the pain that comes like clock work. Eventually, the last stage my body alone did all the pushing, midwives told me to not push just yet, to which I had to tell them I did none of, my body managed the whole performance. I actually enjoyed it, the best bit was, aside from the joy of meeting our DD, my morning sickness and permanent heartburn stopped!

Yes - no pain relief at home
It was my best birth, where I felt the calmest

Gas and air just made me feel ill with my first so I didn’t miss it

I have! #1 and #2 tho one nearly died. #3 and #4 were gas and air

Good luck, OP!

To be fair most women in the world do. It's doable!

I've had two with no intervention or drugs - no gas and air. One was an unplanned home birth that hurt so much I thought I would explode. Labour was only over an hour long but in that time had it of been available I would have taken anything going.

Just go with flow? Know your options and the terminology but you have no idea how you'll feel or what birth you will have. Everyone wants a simple pain free birth with no intervention but not everyone is that lucky.

I did everything right; I worked out, ate healthily (as much as I could when not being sick) attended bany yoga and walked daily but my baby still came at 29 weeks for unknown reasons and it was incredibly traumatic. If you get a natural birth that's good but it's also a lot to do with luck. Personally I bloody loved the drugs though and am looking forward to them again!

Had sweeps with all three of mine and glad I did as they were all born within 48 hours. I hated being overdue, I hated pregnancy from about week 35 tbh . If I wasn’t having an ELCS this time I would have the sweep again.

I had a ‘natural’ birth the second and third time, only had gas and air once I started pushing. They were fine and I managed with the pain just by breathing through, I didn’t go to hospital until they were about to be born.

DC1 though, entirely different. I had a back to back delivery so the contractions were constant and as strong in my back as my front. It was absolute agony. I got through twelve hours of it before admitting defeat and having the epidural, what a relief .

I planned to have a completely natural birth with him but honestly, I’ve realised it’s better not to bother because birth can’t really be planned. You have no idea what will happen and how you’ll feel at the time, don’t guilt trip yourself if you wind up having every pain relief going.

Also I’m sure it’s been said already but you win no special accolades for having no pain relief.

Two natural births, the second a water birth. I feel really grateful to have had them.
Do lots of pregnancy yoga and keep your fitness up. NCT birth classes if they still exist.
Don’t get too idealised, just go into it knowing it’s not called labour for nothing. I remember realising that I felt so out of control during labour, and we associate that with danger, and bad outcomes. But for most people it’s a false association. Our lives are very controllable now in the western world, which is great, but makes us a bit “weak”in some ways.
Ooh I’m rambling now, hope you have a great birth x

@OutPinked ...I'm definitely not looking for any accolades!

But it is known that interventions such as inductions and epidurals disrupt your natural ability to produce Oxytocin. This can mean than contractions are more unnatural and so often more painful.

Oxytocin is also so important for bonding once the baby is born and for helping stimulate breastmilk. There are links to a lack of oxytocin and PND etc etc

When you have an epidural or c-section they give you an IV of synthetic oxytocin as your body will not produce enough naturally as you are bypassing labour. Also, when speeding Labour along hospitals often inject you with synthetic oxytocin which can interrupt your natural levels.

So it truly has nothing to do with trying to be brave, or be better than anyone else..I really just believe that my body's natural oxytocin will be better for baby (and my recovery), than a synthetic variant. But I also don't know how things will go and if I will be able to cope with the pain? I'm just thinking what is best long term. My mum suffered from PND with me and I really don't want that if it is avoidable.

Two natural births - one in a birthing centre then one at home (both in a birthing pool) - gas and air made me feel sick so I didn't even have that. It is absolutely possible but please keep an open mind and be aware that both plans are great but so often are thrown out of the window! Think of it as a 'loose' plan and let your birthing partner know that you are allowed to change your mind, and don't put any undue pressure on yourself or see it as any kind of achievement to do it without any drugs or interventions - so much luck is involved! My third baby was induced, I was climbing the wall and begging for an epidural.

Depends what you mean by natural. It’s difficult, because birth is emotional, and it becomes a loaded term. Some people object to it, because of implied judgement ie “unnatural”.

I had two totally physiological births. By the definition that they started spontaneously (no induction by pessary or drip) they progressed normally (no augmentation such as drip or breaking of waters ) they were unmedicated (no pharmaceuticals such as pain medication or ergometrine for managed third stage) and all three stages of labour were completed without assistance (no interventions such as internal examination, sweeps, electric monitoring, manual removal of placenta or stitching).

So technically yes I had two “natural” births but if I’d have needed any of the above I’d have been first in the queue to get it.

Hmm... all I know is, with DC1, my contractions went from very very painful to completely pain free as soon as I had the epidural!

Good luck OP, I hope the birth goes really well.

My first didn’t have any interventions (not through choice - we got to the hospital too late!). I was fortunate to have a fairly quick labour.

My second and third are twins and were born by ELCS.

Both experiences were as wonderful as each other.

Hi OP, I haven't read the thread but wanted to say that yes it's possible. I have had 3 natural labours. No intervention. No drugs etc. My 3rd was a pretty incredible experience and slightly enjoyable! (In a very painful way!)

PND can also be made worse by a feeling of failure. Failure to give birth naturally, failure to breastfeed etc. All people are saying is don't get to hung up on the idea of 'natural' cause you never know what might happen.
But I had an induction with my first cause my dd heart rate was erratic, ended up in an emergency section cause her heart rate dropped. It saved her life. Second was a spontaneous labour after my waters broke, I had had and air and all was going well until I got stuck at 7cms for 5 hours. Then I started getting pain in my section scar and then everything is a blur. Had another section and this one saved my life.
My friend likes to tell people how she gave birth without pain relief. I'm just happy we all made it through alive, as that is the most important thing.

I was induced for postdates with ds1 so in that sense the birth wasn't entirely natural- but all three of my dc were vaginal births without intervention or pain relief, although I did have the injection after delivering ds1 to speed up delivery of the placenta (refused it with ds2 and ds3, which apparently is rare and which one of the midwives at ds3's birth was really odd about!).

I hate women beating each other up for their birth choices. Go with what works for you. It's fine to deliver without pain relief. It's fine to have pain relief. It's fine to stand up, to lie down, to squat, to be in water, to be out of water, to have a home birth, to have a planned section, etc etc etc.

I wanted to avoid pain relief if I reasonably could, mostly because I really feared the cascade of interventions. That said, I was very clear with myself and dh and everyone else that whilst I would find it bloody unhelpful to be offered pain relief, if I asked for it it meant I wanted it and there was to be no attempt made to dissuade me. Mostly what I wanted was to be in control of my body and birth as far as possible.

Also I’m sure it’s been said already but you win no special accolades for having no pain relief.
Even though I know it's generally quite kindly meant, I do wish people wouldn't say this. It implies you think someone has chosen to avoid pain relief simply because they think they will 'win' something, and that's unfair- lots of people want to avoid any intervention at all, and whether or not they are acclaimed for it has no bearing on their choices.

Just gas and air here. I am brave and strong.
Wiping out the memory of begging for a c section both times and being told it was too late :o I'm really pleased that was how it turned out as I think I recovered incredibly quickly but if I'd needed pain relief I'd have had it

I only had gas and air. I was really high and it was fucking brilliant.

So...
DC1: Induced, 25hr labour, drip, epidural, the works. Really positive experience, bonded really well, incredibly special memories.
DC2: Born two hours after waters breaking unexpectedly, one hour after contractions started, no pain relief. I actually think I went into shock afterwards due to the speed. Struggled to bond, hefty case of PND.
So it's not always the case that natural=good=no PND...

I think having a birth plan is a good idea but just be prepared that you may have to deviate from it.

First birth was hospital- had gas and air and local aesthetic for an episiotomy.

Second was a planned water birth at home on four paracetamol and TENS machine.

I did hypnobirthing with both which I found immensely helpful. However, I would have done anything I was advised to get them out! I was also fortunate that both labours were short, so even when it was painful the window of dealing with it was short! All the best for safe delivery.

Yes, totally natural, no gas and air.

There's nothing 'special' about it though. Women are put under WAY too much pressure to do things in an 'ideal' way during pregnancy and birth. A 'natural' birth is no better than any other.