natural birth

Alice - posted on 05/13/2010

Mianda,
Oh no, you are not nuts! It is amazingly wonderful to have a fully natural birth! :) I have 4 girls, all were born without any medication. My last 3 were born at home with a direct-entry midwife present. I love giving birth at home, in my own turf, where my older children can be there to see their new sibling as soon as possible. It is a wonderful, spiritual, empowering experience and I pray you have an amazing birth!!

Cin - posted on 05/13/2010

For my second baby i was med free and it was wonderful ...recover time was faster and healing as well ..not alot of pain and discomfort...i was up on my feet lets say 3 weeks and my body responded more natuarally and i dropped the baby weight faster than my first one..i still have some but im working on it now...

Melissa - posted on 05/11/2010

Right here! Proud of it too. My friends and family doubted my ability and said I was making a mistake.

Kristin - posted on 05/11/2010

I had a waterbirth for the second and third after the doctor induced me for my first. He had an important place to go...Vacation to go GOLFING!!!! Anyway I loved it so much more relaxed and relatively painless. Water helps a lot

Annie - posted on 05/10/2010

I'm 19 and I just had my first baby in Jan....All natural at home in her room with a pool and NO drugs it was FANTASTIC!!!! I was able to move when I wanted and where I wanted....I was in hard labor for about 3 hours and I only pushed for 20 mins.....I'm so happy that I never went to the hospital...I also used this method called hypnobirthing and I suggest it to anyone because it really works...yea the pain was intense but it wasn't too bad that I couldn't bare it....for my next children I will defiantly have it at home with no drugs and probably in a pool again too!!

Dara - posted on 05/10/2010

I went natural but not by choice. In total my labor and delivery lasted 3 hours. I had her 20 minutes after I got to hospital. Honestly the delivery was fine but I don't know if I could have handled longer labor it was HORRIBLE!!!! Only upside really was that I didn't have to have cathider (SP??) and got to walk around. All in all I had a very quick recovery.

Becky - posted on 05/10/2010

With my first I had nothing! I loved every minute of it and felt so proud afterwards that I was able to do it. I am the youngest and always have been kinda of a baby when it comes to pain so when I told my sister I wasnt going to have any pain meds she laughed in my face. She said that she couldnt even do it without pain meds so how would I have able to do.. Well I did and it was the best thing in the world that I ever experince. With my 2nd I wanted to do the same but things didn't go according to plan so I couldn't but with my next child I will be trying to go natural again.

Imogen - posted on 04/21/2010

My eldest was gas and air and pethidine...an 8hr labour, my middle daughter was gas and air and a 1hr 40 min labour and my youngest was gas and air and had her 50 min after getting to the hospital! Each labour I remember more and more of it and the last birth was amazing!

Jessica - posted on 04/20/2010

I went natural when I had my son. Honestly, I thought it was better. With drugs there is so much more involved, when its a naturall birth, it goes by quicker! I think you could do it. Just dont focus on the pain, its truly mind over matter! Good luck. Hope It all goes well!!

Gina - posted on 04/20/2010

Trust and listen to yourself! I have six kids. My fifth child was born at home with out any meds. My sixth child, now just 11 weeks old, was born in the hospital with no meds. My older kids were all born in the hospital. With each child, my labors were very fast, but the hospital staff always seemed jitter that I did not want pain meds; that is really all about their own fears surrounding labor. Go with your gut and enjoy your labor!

Katy - posted on 04/19/2010

i had my little girl with out any pain medication it wasnt planned but i didnt have time to have any lol.i went from 2 centermeters to 10 in just over an hour i wanted an eperdural.its not as bad as you would think its was the contractions that hurt the most not the birth.x

Cathryn - posted on 04/19/2010

My labor for my first baby only lasted a few hours and went too fast for pain medication and I am so grateful. I am so glad that I did not have a long labor and because of that I didn't need pain medication. If I have a long labor the second time, I may have an epidural. It was a great experience though! I was only at the hospital for an hour before I delivered so no IV or anything.

Meghan - posted on 04/19/2010

I had all three of my children natural. No pain medication at all!

Sandra - posted on 04/19/2010

I had my second baby girl all natural!!! Not by choice either. Started having pains around 3:30pm on the way to the hospital by 5:30pm....put in room by 6:30pm doctor came in to check me @ 6:45pm and he looked then told me" what ever u do do not push!!!! The head was right there!!!! The room was not even set up! Baby was out at 7:15pm...... Now, that I think about it, I am glad I didn't have time for meds! It really was not that bad!

Shannon - posted on 04/19/2010

I did the same thing and got the same responses! Also, people would tell me that I wouldn't be able to do it, but I did! The only medication that I got was (very little) Pitocin because I was 10 days late! I loved going natural. I want the best for my baby and I felt that was the best thing I could do. I spent 10 months avoiding medication, why would I take it the last day I was pregnant? My boy was 8lbs 7.8oz too! How big was your baby?

Deseree - posted on 04/19/2010

I have had 3 natural births and to be honest would not have changed them at all, really the pain is all part of he joy and it is controllable, my first baby who is now 11 was a very relaxed first child and my midwife was a dream i also had my girl in a birthing unit, and i was very surprised how easy and not as bad as i expected, my second child who is now 7 was also realxed and i had enough time to get into the room and nearly get my kit off lol and he was on his fast way into this world his was a hospital birth, and my 3rd who is now 13 weeks was a water birth which i didnt want as i was more concerned and upset of the yuckyness, but it was a great experience for me to try and since there will be no more im glad i had 3 different but natural experiences, i was horrified when friends wanted a caesarean no matter what as i heard that healing time etc takes longer!!

Rochelle - posted on 04/18/2010

I was induced with my first and the pain was too much so I got an injection (pethidene). I was lucky with my second, my water broke at 05:50am and he was born at 12:40pm. the pain only really started at 11:00 so there was no need for any meds. Both were vaginal births.

Danielle - posted on 04/18/2010

i dont think i be able 2 do it next time.

Sara - posted on 04/18/2010

Oh! If it helps, my sister just had her 8th on Easter. The last 4 were unassisted child births, and all 8 were [well obviously, if they were UCs] natural, no drugs. :)

Sara - posted on 04/18/2010

I tried but my son was getting stuck [hips hadn't moved apart enough - they induced me and turns out I wasn't quite 42 weeks] and it was *excruciating.* So the epidural, and later a spinal block, were absolute heaven. But before that, the labor was a breeze. I ended up with a cesarean. I'm doing a VBAC next time, natural, and I'll be damned if they don't let me. Lol. But for as much experience as I did gather with a natural birth, I enjoyed it. And it really wasn't that bad. :)

Heather - posted on 04/17/2010

I had my daughter naturally. I had planned to throughout my pregnancy, but I will admit that when it came down to it I finally did ask for something, but I was already at 10 cm dialated so I couldn't. I'm glad it happened that way because I know what I went through for her and it was definately worth it! Also I wasn't groggy afterwards so I held her right away and got to capture and remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Gwen - posted on 04/17/2010

i had no pain medicine until they broke my water.after that i just had the Newbane shot. It didn't feel like it did to much tho, so it felt like i was all natural.. LOL..but I would do it that way again for sure!

Joan - posted on 04/17/2010

I did this as a well with mine and was happy about this. I dont like to take drugs either and it can slow the birthing process as well. I would like to have natural for my other ones as well

Christy - posted on 04/17/2010

My first two babies I has all natural with no pain medication and loved it! It was worth it. My babies were so awake and I knew I did what was best for the baby. My third baby was breech and had to have a c-section. I was not happy about it at all, but it had to be done since I was in labor. My son is three months old now and if I have another one, I will go all natural again if possible. I love the experience of doing it without pain medicine. Congrats to you for using no pain medication !

Emily - posted on 04/16/2010

Your not nuts, good for you that you are a strong enough woman to do so :)

Stephanie - posted on 04/15/2010

With my daughter Orali I went all natural and it felt very rewarding.

Mianda - posted on 04/14/2010

thank you all who has responded I am glad to hear that there are many other women out There that agree that it is an awesome excperience to go all natural... I was open to having pain meds if it was too hard for me to hand but I had my mom and she helped me through it if it was not for her I don't know how I would have handled it as well

Helen - posted on 04/14/2010

Birth has become such a medicated, overcomplicated thing these days with so much social influence and misinformation affecting peoples choices. There is this expectation that child birth has to be this horrible, painful, agonising experience when that is not the case at all.

Good on you for going natural! you are not crazy, you are just doing as women have done for thousands of years and done what their bodies are meant to do!

I had planned a beautiful natural birth, using Calm Birth (hypnotherapy, breathing, etc) However, we had unexpected complications and ended up with epidural and vaccum extraction much to my disappointment. Will definitely using our lessons learnt to from this one to try for fully natural birth next time.

Good luck, trust your body and do whats right for you, not what people think you 'should' do. :-)

Danielle - posted on 04/14/2010

I Gave birth to my son Naturally and at home! We did not plan on having him at home, we planned on having a water birth at the birth center with the midwives, but my son came to fast so the midwife came to the house and delivered him here!~ I loved the whole experience, it was wonderful and cant wait to do it again! Next time i will PLAN a home birth tho!! :)

Lindsey - posted on 04/14/2010

That's the way I went too. It was so rewarding. The baby was so alert and things went very smoothly. Do you have a midwife or doctor -- sometimes that makes a difference. You should do what you want. My family was like "Be open to pain meds, okay?" and I was, but I didn't need them!

MELANIE - posted on 04/14/2010

I did because I planned it and would have been all natural even if I had planned for drugs. I was already a 9 when I got to the hospital and my baby was born 35 minutes after I got there.

Lindsey - posted on 04/14/2010

with my first labor lasted about an hour or so after i got to the hospital..no pain meds i never planned on wanting them and with my second they had to break my water so i was there for 3 hours and had no pain meds it was nice not having pain meds

Carolyn - posted on 04/14/2010

you guys are lucky you had quick labors mine lasted 2 days active was 19 and pushing was 3 lol I was one tired momma by the end of it lol

Carolyn - posted on 04/14/2010

I did lol I tried to have pain meds but they wore off had 2 epidurals and they didn't work so went natural. to me it was easy I was up walking 15 minutes after my son was born and where my epi was my back still hurts now so next time around its natural again

Emily - posted on 04/14/2010

I had gas for less than one hour and then pushed for 2 hours till my son arrived - I had the gas taken off me as my contractions were not lasting and my midwife decided that i needed to be able to feel everything more - but it was the best decision. I don't think that I will use any for my next child.

Anna - posted on 04/13/2010

I had originally wanted to do a natural child birth, and even wanted to hire a doula. We didn't have the resources for that, however, and my loved ones weren't very supportive of the idea of no pain meds, so I ended up with an epidural. I had a very pleasant birth experience anyway, with absolutely no complications and a very quick recovery, so I don't regret anything. I do, however want my next birth, if there is one, to be au natural, and this time I'll gather the support I need to make it happen.

Lindsay - posted on 04/13/2010

I also had an all-natural childbirth. I am very pleased that I did! It was so nice to not have to recover from medication afterwards. I had planned on going drug free, but thought I would be open to getting an epidueral if I really felt like I needed it, but I just took each contraction as it came and breathed through them. It was tough but I'm so glad I did it!

Jessi - posted on 04/13/2010

but it was amazing not only did i get to watch her come out but i could feel everyting her nose arms legs everything i loved the strength i felt afterward;)

Jessi - posted on 04/13/2010

i had twins on jan 12 lillian came all natural no meds but remington had his arms up so they c-sectioned him quite a night for me!

Randi - posted on 04/12/2010

i had a natural child birth as well. i won't do it any different with any other children either. my friends are the ones who think that i am crazy for not having any drugs. you know what i think God didn't make us to not be able to handle the pain. i had a midwife and i think that is what helped. she was with me the whole time i was in active labor. i also had the best nurse ever. they both were amazing!!

Kim - posted on 04/12/2010

I had a natural birth with my little girl & would do it again. The midwife kept trying to talk me into having an epidural but i stuck to my guns!! I really wanted to do it natural. I'll do it again if i have anymore too!

Estelle - posted on 04/12/2010

I also went all natural, but not by choice. I was only in labor for four hours from start to finish so by the time I got to the hospital there was no time for pain meds. However, after experiencing a natural birth I will most likely do the same when having any other children.

Kris - posted on 04/11/2010

My first I had nothing, my second I had panadol and for my third I had panadol but nothing else all natural.

Laura - posted on 04/11/2010

My Mom thought I was nuts too! Don't worry, you will make the right decision in the moment. I went in with an open mind and decided that I wouldn't take anything. IT was great!!! The last hour of labor (After 13 hours) was the hardest but I felt really proud of myself after wards. Plus, you are so much more lucid and aware which helps you feel no control and ready. The bonus was my son latched 5 seconds after coming out and he's been a great breastbfeed baby ever since.

Debbie - posted on 04/11/2010

I have had six children and all without pain relief, all natural. I was 19 when I had my first and 34 when I had my last. The longest labour being 8 and a half hours and the shortest being 2 and a half hours. I had decided before going into labour with all of my little angels that I would not use pain relief, but if the situation arose where I felt if I got too tired, that I would ask for some. I am so glad that I perservered through the pain, cause I think the end result is so much more of an enjoyable experience when u r fully alert and in control when they pass that tiny little bundle of joy up to you. Good luck with the decision that you make

Joan - posted on 04/10/2010

I did with mine and wouldnt want to do it any other way =)

Kristina - posted on 04/10/2010

I had a natural birth, but it wasn't my choice. By the time the doctor got there to give it to me, I was 10cm dilated and started to push. But I'm so happy it went that way, I love the fact that I was strong enough to bring my daughter into this world all on my own without having to dull the pain. I don't know why.. but I just found I felt so much better afterwards.

Lisa - posted on 04/10/2010

Gas and Air with my first and nothing at all with my second. Its so much better - found it really enjoyable. not only did i not have any pain medication - by choice, i had no midwife either,my husband helped me - not by choice, but as it only took half an hour and she got lost on the way! (planned home birth)

Jenny - posted on 04/10/2010

I have had two home births- my first was a water birth and the second was supposed to be but baby came too fast. I know natural birth isn't for everyone but I loved the care of the midwives throughout pregnancy and they made me feel like I was in control and to trust my body. I feel so empowered by giving birth naturally.

Amy - posted on 04/10/2010

I'm 29 and was hoping not to have pain meds. I lucked out because my son came waaay too fast to even consider meds. I didn't have time for an IV or anything and I'm so glad, because all I had to recover from was the actual birth, not meds, too. :)