# Hoping for a natural birth/water birth



## Mrs Doddy

Looking for some support, this is my first baby (after a mmc last year) so I have no idea what to expect, I will have the baby in a hospital but is a midwife led unit and I ideally would like a water birth and always have because 

1. I find water soothing
2. It will help reduce tearing hopefully 
3. I don't want to be stuck on a bed with tubes and iv drips and to be stuck 
in one position 

Now I know that I have to have an open mind and nothing is guaranteed and if the pool is in use then I will have to re-think.

Drugs wise I would not like to have anything that is going to effect me or the baby after the birth, I know that you can't have anything but gas and air in the pool anyway. I don't want pethadine due to have read that it can effect breastfeeding, I don't want an epidural due to the length of time that it takes to set up and take effect and that you are limited on your movements and I dont like the idea of the needle, iv drips ect 

I am fed up of people telling me that I won't be able to do any of this and will need/want all the drugs when the time comes... thats as may be but at the moment I would like to focus my mind positivily and to try to cope in a way that is more natural. I am really looking forward to the antenal classes and the breathing techniques that I can learn. 

Is anyone else getting stick from people ?? am trying to ignore them and try not to talk about it as it winds me up that people cannot respect my desicion


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## lozzy21

Im getting crap from friends but my OH and mam have been nothing but surportive


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## nikki-lou25

Sometimes, in some circumstances there is a need for pain relief. However, we were designed to birth our babies...and yes its painful but I can honestly say it's nowhere near the pain my friends had told me, everyone was shocked that I got to 9cm without even gas & air...I dont expect people to be shocked, give me praise etc but it just shows that our bodies CAN and WILL birth our babies nearly all of the time and the pain is manageable with a positive attitude and the right support! :)


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## lozzy21

Exactly Nikki. Pain relief has only become common in the past 50-60 years. Before this we just had to deal with it and we did.

Your body when not stressed and filled with pain killers produces natural pain killers and hormones so you wont care about the pain.


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## silver_penny

It seems like everyone and their mom are more than willing to give you horror stories about birth, whether its from their own experience or from stories that they hear. Take them with a grain of salt, and if they really start to get on your nerves, you can always say to them "Thank you, but I am trying to keep a positive mental attitude and would only like to hear encouragement and positive stories. I appreciate your concern."

For one, I had my LO naturally, no drugs, no gas & air, just a mindset that my body was made to birth a baby and I didn't need any drugs to help ease the pain. To top it all off, he was breech, so they tried to push everything on me.

A book that I have read since then and has really opened my eyes is called "Childbirth Without Fear" by Grantly Dick-Read. It is kinda wordy, and was written in the 1940's, but is great for PMA building!


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## Pops

I very quickly learned that pregnancy, childbirth and the time after are subjects that everyone will have an opinion on which is fine, they are entitled to it, but we have got very good at smiling, nodding, saying thank you and carrying on with whatever it was we were saying! :haha:

Try not to let them get to you hun or to take anything away from the experience for you :hugs:

xxx


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## Freya

Ahhhh brilliant attitude and spot on about water helping you in labour, to add, water helps keep you calm, so baby gets more oxygen, so contractions are more effective and so labour is quicker! Alllll good!

There may be a local home/water birth support group. NCT may be able to help.


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## Drazic<3

Sounds amazing hun. Silver_penny is so right hun about Childbirth without Fear. The people who complain about pain have probably had horrible pain as they have been afraid, and fear causes pressure on the cervix and basically makes your body fight against itself. So their upset is probably utterly valid. However, if you trust in your body and remember that it's only fear which will bring you that extreme pain, you know you can do it :) 

I have an excellent natal hypnotherapy CD I could send you if you want? That is wonderful for building PMA :)


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## Guppy051708

I am sick of the negativity as well :(
I mean, i know in some instances such as an emergency C-section or a VERY long labor, drugs are needed, but given that everything is fine, i hate that ppl doubt my ability to Birth my baby. Drives me nuts when docs refer to you birthing your baby as "I will deliver you from your baby" :growlmad: anyways, aside from that, our bodies were made to do this! I am also a water birth hopeful. Everyone thinks im naive and that i will end up giving in to the drugs, et cetera et cetera. I think woman are just so fearful about labor and delivery they go in thinking they cant do it, so they dont! Im sure it will be intense, and it is def. pain with a purpose, but we CAN do this. 

Ive read a lot that say fear makes labor worse and actually has a physically affect. So i think learning whats going on will def. help.
The DH and I took Bradley method classes and i am SO glad we dropped the $$$ for it! It was totally worth EVERY penny! Bradley has a 97% success rate, so they must be teaching something right! lol I have been given the tools to get through the birth of my baby and ENJOY birthing my baby (though im sure there will be some pain lol). The best thing, is that it helped me to understand, relieved many of my fears and has given me confidence to birth my child. Those are some very important things when going natural! Delivering a baby is a marathon event! Any person in a marathon would prepare far ahead of time, birthing your baby isn't any different. 

It ironic that woman think they cant do it, so then they dont. It also ironic that docs put you in the worst position possible to birth- on your back! and then they make you lay there forever (unless of course you are going natural :thumbup:) anyways, getting off my high horse, GL to you. WE CAN AND WE WILL DO THIS! (given the correct circumstances) :friends:


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## kitkez

It's nice to read about other people and how they managed... without getting told that i won't do it without the drugs. I hate the fact that when i mention that i want it as natural as possible, i virtually get laughed at, especially by my OH's mum. Luckily my best friend and mum are very supportive. My OH is supportive to me but he seems a little sceptical because he's hearing from everybody that theres no way i'll do it without drugs! :growlmad:

I'm also hoping for a water birth, i hadn't thought of it before but i had a long conversation with the midwife last week and it's something i would really like. Our area is opening a birthing unit in September. I'm due on the 29th so she said there is no reason i wouldn't be able to use the facility. It's not attached to the hospital so there are no doctors available and it's all midwife led.

I actually feel stupidly excited. I can't wait to experience the labour!! Odd i know :haha:. Even though this will be my first, I find that i'm trying to reassure one of my friends at the miute about labour because she's petrified. I keep telling her that it's just pain at the end of the day. I don't feel worried at all, I just hope that i keep feeling like this :happydance: xx


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## bubbles

Have you considerd asking the hospital if you can take your own birth pool? I won a mini birth pool in a box for 99p the other day, it has cost me under £15 for it with P&P on top. I do need to buy a couple of other bits but will still get everything I need for no more than £60 (pool included) but you can get them new/unused with everything you need pretty cheap


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## Guppy051708

Oh yeah, not sure if this is a requirment where your gonna give birth, but at the place im going to you have to take a mandatory water birthing class. If you dont take it (and they are only scheduled every 3 or so months) you dont get a water birth. So i would double check with your birth location about that asap!


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## Sam292

I'm hoping to have a water birth in a midwife center too. I don't want to have any drugs as I'm really sensitive to them and sure I will end up feeling worse - sick, dizzy out of control- and wish I hadn't had them! People laugh when I tell them as if its not even possible and I know I wont be able to decide until it happens but I think if you plan not to have them at least it will take you longer to give in, and also there is not much you can take when your are having a water birth.

I have not taken so much as a paracetamol since I got pregnant - think I'm trying to build up my tolerance of pain. My logic is If I cant handle a headache I wont handle labour! Only time will tell but I think people too easily assume you will have all the drugs going these days!


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## Guppy051708

To me ...drugs are not an option :nope: (unless in the event if an emergency).
In my mind they simply do not exsist, therefore it's not an option. Think that mindset is very helpful. Sometimes I thnk now that we know drugs are available, we r more likely to give in. After all, women gave birth for centuries without- and it wasntan option then! Lol


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## snagglepat

It is very much a confidence/mental attitude thing at the end of the day. I used Natal Hypnotherapy with my daughter's birth and I now teach it to others. It was really effective for me but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what techniques you use, as long as you have faith that you can do it and your birthing partner(s) do too then you will. 

I was in labour for 27 hours with my daughter and it was painful and hard work, but I had learned skills and techniques to use, I knew I could do it, and I coped. I used no drugs at all and although when I got to transition I was ready to give up, my birth partners were prepared, knew what was happening and what I wanted so they supported me through that difficult stage. Before I knew it I was pushing and I absolutely loved that part! No pain, just working with my body, feeling every sensation as her body moved down and out of me. The memory still makes me shiver. It was just incredible.

I can't wait to do it again!

Gina. x


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## LoolaBear

i know exactly how you feel! when i was pregnant with the twins a friend of mine was always blarting on about how traumatic her birth was and how painful it was and that it lasted ages and that blah blah blah she even praised me for choosing an elective c-section as it was the easiest and most straight forward option and that it was good that i was taking the easy way out especially with two in there as she knows there would be no way i could handle it twice. the cheeky cow! i felt like slapping her. i wouldve had a natural birth if the fact that both babies were breech and twin one, my little girl, was lying in such a difficult position that if i had gone for a natural birth my pelvis wouldve had to had been broken and she wouldve probably been made severely disabled or even died thats how badly she was lying! so i chose a c-section for the health and safety of my babies the cheeky moo. and she only had such a traumatic birth because when her 'perfect' water birth didnt go to plan like she wanted in her fairytale(she thought two hours in the pool and he would be out! :shock::haha:) she paniced causing her little man to turn just before entering the birth canal and he came out sideways. had to have pethidine, then an epidural and an episiotemy (spelling rubbish i know :haha:) and finally arrived. but her labour was nothing compared to some and was only 16 hours and she moans that that was long!?! dont know hoolw she would cope with a 40 hour labour then :haha: aparently the traumatic birth is what caused her 'PND' but really she acutally just got the baby blues majorly, got prescribed anti-d's and stopped taking them after a week as even though she was still down she felt so much better now that her husband was practically doing everything even though he worked all day ahd she sat on her fat backside.
sorry that turned into a really long rant then! she really did do my head in though thinking i couldnt go through it and even though i didnt with the twins as i thought of their health and safety i am going to approach the idea this time round and if it doesnt work for me then so be it i wont feel like a failure i will do what ever it takes for the saftey of my children unlike her, extra rant here lol, she was told she will need an emergancy c-section and once theatre was free she would be going in, with that she pushed and pushed even against advice of the medical professionals as she was adement after going through her 'majorly traumatic' birth she wasnt going to give up at the last hurdle and have him removed from her she was going th push him out, even though she was told as he was sideways and bigger than average he could dislocate or even break his shoulders! definately not thinking about her baby then.
grrr sorry went off on one again! but shes definately one of those who likes to preech the worst in everything but i just ignore her. best thing to do really, if its what you want then go for it, doesnt work for everyone but it might for you. xx


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## pheobe

Hey hun,

have just popped in here for a nosy really - wish this area had been open when I was having my boy 

I also had the same view point as you with regards to pain relief and all I got was negativity and people telling me there wasn't a prayer I'd do it alone!...My son was 10lb the labour took 42 hours worth of contractions and 20ish mins of active labour pushing him out, all natural. I felt every contraction and yes they hurt but they were exciting and as they got stronger I just got closer to meeting my little man. When he was born I looked down and his eyes were wide open, he was perfect  I remember every second as if it were yesterday because I had a clear head. I can't wait for the opportunity to do it again.

All the negative crap I listened to just helped me feel even more proud of myself when I'd done it because I'd proved them all wrong.

Good luck to you hun, with the right attitude and good luck on your side you'll get the birth you want and it'll be the most amazing experience ever!

xxx


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## Carrie29

i am the same and want to avoid all pain relief, even gas and air and just have water. i've just ordered some hypnobirthing cd's and book so plan on using that. The thought of the pain relief actually scares me more that birth itself. I know it's going to hurt more than anything i've ever experienced but i'm just going to try and remember that women have given birth all of their existence and they didn't used to have any pain relief.. 

Saying that i really hope i get the chance to have a natural birth, at the moment my placenta is low so if it doesn't move i'll have to have a c-section, but fingers crossed it will move up!


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