# Benefits of natural childbirth vs. epidural



## Jezzielin

I am thinking about trying to do this the natural way with classes and breathing. Between my friends who have had babies, I just don't see it happen anymore! Everyone gets an epidural but wondering if there is any information out there so I can better think it over?

Thanks!


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## Praying4bebe

Jezzielin said:


> I am thinking about trying to do this the natural way with classes and breathing. Between my friends who have had babies, I just don't see it happen anymore! Everyone gets an epidural but wondering if there is any information out there so I can better think it over?
> 
> Thanks!

This is my first pregnancy and I fully intend to have our sweet pea naturally. There are some good books out there. My midwives suggested Preparing for a Healthy Birth by Sylvie Donna. Now, I do have to say, many parts of the book I agree with, but there are some parts that seem a little odd to me. But the concept of a natural birth just isn't talked about that much anymore. My mom thought I was insane for even mentioning doing it without an epidural. 

I would see if you can check this book out...read over some of the info. It has some cool information about the history of interventions and tons of birth stories.

good luck and I hope you find the support you need!!!


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## preg_pilot

I plan on a natural home birth myself.
My mother had me in a hospital, but she had them turn the bed so that she was mostly sitting, had no pain meds and delayed cord clamping.
She claims it was a wonderful experience,


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## Larkspur

Look for books by Ina May Gaskin, she is kind of the guru of natural childbirth. Also Google hypnobirthing practitioners in your area. I did a hypnobirthing course and found it very helpful as preparation

I don't live in the States, and I think there is a much greater focus on midwife care and natural birth where I come from, so I know quite a lot of women who have had natural, drug-free births (including my mother and sister-in-law). One of my best friends had a 36-hour labour with a big baby and still came through just fine, another had twins, and another recently went 18 days over her due date to have a 2.5 hour easy homebirth. 

I think birth has become over-medicalised in many ways. The key seems to be avoiding the first intervention (pitocin induction, which speeds up labour cramps, making them harder to endure, making an epidural more likely, which can then slow down labour, requiring more pitocin, making cramps stronger, requiring epidural top-up ... you get the picture). 

Of course, if you need intervention for genuine medical reasons (fetal distress, haemorraging) it's best to take your midwife/doctors' advice. But if you are mentally and physically prepared, and you have a low-complication pregnancy (which most are), the likelihood that you can have a natural birth is actually very good.


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## Jezzielin

preg_pilot said:


> I plan on a natural home birth myself.
> My mother had me in a hospital, but she had them turn the bed so that she was mostly sitting, had no pain meds and delayed cord clamping.
> She claims it was a wonderful experience,

Why delay of cord clamping?

Thanks for your comments ladies!


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## Larkspur

A delayed cord-clamping (allowing it to stop pulsing before cutting - usually around 3 minutes) instead of clamping and cutting within 30 seconds of birth allows the placenta to keep pumping blood and oxygen and nutrients into the baby. It just means that they get the full benefit of the blood and are likely to have higher blood/oxygen levels, iron levels, etc than babies who have been clamped early.


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## aliss

I had an epidural (around the last 6 hours), when my son had shoulder dystocia, I was physically unable to do maneuvers to open my pelvis, move around to release his shoulders, etc. so the doctor broke his collarbone to get him out before he was deprived of oxygen. If I had not been impaired by an epidural, I likely could have done adjustments to get him out without hurting him (if you see Tacey's birth story recently in the sticky thread at the top, she was able to do this without the collarbone break since she had no epidural).

I'm not going to lie, labour without an epidural hurts like hell, but there is a lot more to birthing than just pain, we need to consider the ramification of complications. I will never have an epidural again after what happened and having a home birth so I can properly deal with dystocia again if I need to.

A lot of people go on about this "don't be a martyr ... blah blah blah" but I find that statement to be ignorant, nobody does it to be a 'martyr' they just don't want crap like that to happen to them!!!


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## preg_pilot

Jezzielin said:


> preg_pilot said:
> 
> 
> I plan on a natural home birth myself.
> My mother had me in a hospital, but she had them turn the bed so that she was mostly sitting, had no pain meds and delayed cord clamping.
> She claims it was a wonderful experience,
> 
> Why delay of cord clamping?
> 
> Thanks for your comments ladies!Click to expand...

Delayed cord clamping basically gives the placenta and the baby more time to separate on their own.
My mom waited until the cord had stopped pulsating (about 15 minutes) before cutting it.
Other people even wait for the cord to separate by itself, about 2-3 days after birth. (No clamping, no cutting)
It´s called Lotus Birth and I´m definitely going to research that one better, sounds really good to me.


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## RainbowDrop_x

I've never had an epidural so I can't comment on that side of things :flower:

I went into labour fulling intending to have every drug going.. I had nothing. 5 puffs of the G&A that everyone claimed was like a miracle drug made me feel as sick as a dog!!

For me the main benefits were being able to get up and be mobile literally minutes after having DD. There was no laying around waiting to get feeling in my legs back, I didn't have to have all wires and tubes attached to me and I could pee without every one having to look at the contents! 

Labour did hurt, I'm not gonna lie but it was nice to actually feel the pain. I know that sounds weird but honestly, it was nice to experience it IYKWIM? I had no intervention at all I was left to do my own thing until DD arrived, epidural's also run the risk of intervention (forceps etc) being needed, and forceps was one of my biggest fears when I was pregnant so that was more than enough to put me off :flower:


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## Samiam03

RainbowDrop_x said:


> I've never had an epidural so I can't comment on that side of things :flower:
> 
> I went into labour fulling intending to have every drug going.. I had nothing. 5 puffs of the G&A that everyone claimed was like a miracle drug made me feel as sick as a dog!!
> 
> For me the main benefits were being able to get up and be mobile literally minutes after having DD. There was no laying around waiting to get feeling in my legs back, I didn't have to have all wires and tubes attached to me and I could pee without every one having to look at the contents!
> 
> Labour did hurt, I'm not gonna lie but it was nice to actually feel the pain. I know that sounds weird but honestly, it was nice to experience it IYKWIM? I had no intervention at all I was left to do my own thing until DD arrived, epidural's also run the risk of intervention (forceps etc) being needed, and forceps was one of my biggest fears when I was pregnant so that was more than enough to put me off :flower:

With my first I got an epidural not long after being admitted to the hospital...it isn't so much that I was in pain...I was just scared of the pain. My epidural ended up getting cranked so high that I couldn't move my legs at all. I never felt the urge to push or anything and after 4 hours of pushing and my son not moving an inch, he had to get vacuumed out. He came out with hemoraging (I know I'm spelling it wrong) on his head and refused to latch or eat for two days...all he wanted to do was sleep nonstop. And on top of it I was in excruciating pain afterwards from the vacuum birth.

Then months later my son started having developmental delays...didn't sit up on his own til over 6 months...didn't crawl until a year...didn't walk until almost 14 months...and he is almost 2 and having severe speech delays. I don't care what anyone says...I blame the vacuum and my reckless doctor.

This time I refuse to let the epidural near me...I can't do this to another kid. Everyone says the epidural is the miracle drug but they never tell you about all the side effects and interventions it can cause.


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## solitaire89

I too, have never had an epidural. I have, however, had a completely drug free natural birth.

I see you are in the US, but you may find this interesting; it is taken from the NICE guidelines (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) from the UK. It is public domain, so I don't believe that I'm posting something I shouldn't. If anyone disagrees, please let me know and I'll remove and give advice of what to seach for to get it! I found this when I was doing some research before my LO was born.

1.5 Pain relief in labour: regional analgesia 

Information about regional analgesia
Before choosing epidural analgesia, women should be informed about the risks and benefits, and the implications for their labour. 
This information about choosing epidural analgesia should include the following: 
 It is only available in obstetric units. 
 It provides more effective pain relief than opioids. 
 It is associated with a longer second stage of labour and an 
increased chance of vaginal instrumental birth. 
 It is not associated with long-term backache. 
 It is not associated with a longer first stage of labour or an 
increased chance of caesarean birth. 
 It will be accompanied by a more intensive level of monitoring 
and intravenous access. 
 Modern epidural solutions contain opioids and, whatever the 
route of administration, all opioids cross the placenta and in 
larger doses (greater than 100 micrograms in total) may cause 
short-term respiratory depression in the baby and make the baby 
drowsy.

The 2 points that struck me were that it is associated with longer second stage and increased risk of assisted birth, and also that all opioids cross the placenta.

I know you're not asking about the other pain relief drugs, but, again for interest and from the same document:

Intravenous and intramuscular opioids 
Pethidine, diamorphine or other opioids should be available in all 
birth settings. Women should be informed that these will provide 
limited pain relief during labour and may have significant side 
effects for both the woman (drowsiness, nausea and vomiting) and 
her baby (short-term respiratory depression and drowsiness which 
may last several days). 
Women should be informed that pethidine, diamorphine or other 
opioids may interfere with breastfeeding

I suppose it's just food for thought.

I used hypnosis for the birth of my LO. As I said, I had no pain and no drugs, not even a paracetamol. There are no side effects, and no effect on the baby. Anecdotal evidence suggests that babies born using hypnosis are calmer and sleep better, but there have been no studies done to date.

From a purely personal view, I enjoyed the birth of my LO. I would not change anything about it, and if I am lucky enough to birth again, I will be doing it naturally.

I hope this is of use to you, and if you have any questions about hypnosis for childbirth, feel free to ask :flower:


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## CatandKitten

I opted for a nonepidural birth for my first for many reasons:

I was more scared of being numb than being in pain, in fact I was looking forward to the challenge of pushing my body mentally and physically. I wanted to freely move, eat and drink during labour. I didnt want an IV line started if I didnt have to. I feared pain meds would somehow harm or effect my baby. Most importantly I wanted to feel completely present during the birth and fully experience every sensation even the scary or unpleasent ones.

My suggestion is to read books on natural childbirth and surround yourself with positive stories of birth. I liked the book Natural Hospital Birth.


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## NaturalMomma

Here are some links on medicated vs unmedicated

https://suite101.com/article/natural-birth-vs--medicated-birth-a6881

https://womenshealthissue.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/medicated-or-unmedicated-birth/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000331.pub3/abstract

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD002006.pub3/abstract

Delayed cord clamping

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004074.pub2/abstract

https://academicobgyn.com/2009/12/0...ng-should-be-standard-practice-in-obstetrics/


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