No Drugs, Are You Crazy?!

That's something I often hear when I mention to someone that I had a pain medication-free birth with Mason, and I'm planning on a natural birth with this baby. (I don't quite consider Mason's birth completely "natural" because I was induced with Pitocin through an IV. To me, a natural birth is one without any medical intervention.)

There are a few reasons I feel strongly about having a natural birth, and none of them are because I want to feel some sense of accomplishment or because I'm a glutton for punishment. It mostly all comes back to wanting the healthiest baby possible.

• Reason 1: I know that all drugs given to the mother are passed to the baby through the placenta. I don't like the idea of my baby getting any sort of drugs in her system, even if it's "safe".
• Reason 2: Epidurals often make newborns groggy and sleepy, and I don't want her to be too sleepy to nurse right away. Statistically, babies who nurse within 30 minutes after birth are calmer, healthier, and take to it better than those that don't. Nursing is very important to me, and I want to do everything I can to make it easier. I was able to do that with Mason, and he was a champion nurser for two years.
• Reason 3: Epidurals often slow down labor and lead to further interventions such as having to use forcepts. Since the mother is basically stuck in bed with no feeling from the waist down, this makes sense to me. I'd rather be able to move around and let gravity help with the process. Plus a shorter labor sound better than a longer labor.
• Reason 4: More mothers on epidurals end up with c-sections that mothers that aren't. I want to avoid a C-section if at all possible. I don't want to have major surgery, with all the risks involved, just before having to take care a newborn. It would also mean a longer recovery, not being able to nurse right away, and that someone else would be the first to hold my baby after she's born.
• Reason 5: Women have been giving birth without drugs for centuries. It's a completely natural process, and if millions of women have been able to do it, then I should be able to too.

I'm by no means knocking any mother's decision to have pain medication during childbirth. Believe me, I've been there, and I specifically remember saying "Now I know why women get the drugs" after about 2.5 hours of the most intense pain of my life during labor with Mason. I fully realize that there are women who just can't do it and know themselves enough to know it's not worth it to even try. Plus, anxiety about the pain alone would be enough to make labor too tough for a lot of people.

So as with Mason, I'm going into this birth with knowledge about natural pain relief options, a supportive husband, a midwife who will help manage pain and labor, a birth plan for the nurses and any backup doctor so that they can help me get through it, and basically with the idea that I'm just not going to give myself a choice about whether drugs are an option. I think all of these things are essential for anyone who wants to have a natural childbirth.