I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this thread, even though I know it is pretty old. Another woman gave me the links on a recent thread I had posted, as I have been looking for more information on UC and have found little support on here because not many women have experienced it. I am still pretty torn on whether or not we will be following through with it, but this has given me a better background on what the experience could be like, especially your birth story. I hope more women consider this idea as the result of your story; the US has turned childbirth into such an unnatural, medicalized process which it is not at all. It is normal, natural, and our bodies are built to manage it.