I am very much an advocate of natural childbirth. I believe that the less intervention, the better. However, the freebirth movement makes me nervous.
… ‘freebirthers’ choose to go through what some call the most painful and potentially frightening experience of a woman’s life with no drugs, no midwife and no medical help.
Delivering their own babies at home, often alone, they dismiss what they say is “fearmongering” by doctors and midwives and confidently catch their offspring as they leave the womb.
Nurses in the labor rooms annoy me. I would rather they not check my cervix every five minutes. I would rather they tell me what is going on and what to expect next, and give advice on how to better manage the pain. I would rather they not keep asking me whether I’m ready for my epidural. That’s like asking someone on a diet whether they’re ready for their chocolate. Doctors in the laboring room don’t exist until you’re ready to push. Scratch that. Doctors don’t even get called until you’re ready to push. Then the kindly nurses tell you to stop pushing. Yes, that’s right. Just endure 20 more minutes of needless intense contractions and resist your body’s natural urges to expel this child until your doctor can get here from his golf game.
However, I am glad they are there. I am glad that if something were to go wrong, they have the knowledge and ability and equipment to fix it.
Laura Shanley is one of the most prominent supporters of the freebirthing way: without fear, intervention, or medical personnel present. We are almost in total agreement. She states:
“It didn’t make sense to me that something that ensures the continuation of the race would be a dangerous and scary event.”
I don’t think she is taking into effect the concept of population control. In a perfect world, yes, giving birth would be completely risk-free and would produce a healthy mother and child every time. Unfortunately, because of that little fruit-from-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil incident, women were forever cursed with painful and risky childbirthing experiences. Of course, women have been giving birth without medical supervision for centuries! They also lost a much higher percentage of their babies and even their own lives during the process. So if you are alright with the possibility of losing your baby and your own life, then freebirthing may be for you.
I prefer the middle route: my next birth will be with a midwife. I will spend as much of it at home as I can (as I did with Benjamin’s birth), but there will be medical personnel and equipment present when I finally start pushing; whether it be in a hospital or a birthing center (preferably the latter).
What birthing methods have you had that you would recommend? Or not recommend? Or what would your dream birthing experience entail?
Seeing as how I’m still pregnant, I can’t tell you the birthing methods that I’ve had. We are planning on doing the birth naturally, as long as there aren’t any complications. We took a 10 week Bradley method natural childbirth class and feel so much better prepared. Kyle is also in favor of it as he knows what is going on and can be my knowledgeable advocate. I’m tired of telling people I want a natural childbirth because everyone thinks I’m nuts. I’m not anti-medicine and certainly not a “freebirther”, I just want my birthing experience to be as natural as possible. I guess we’ll see what ends up happening. And in response to the curse of painful childbirth, I always wonder what God’s plan was for childbirth to be nonpainful. Would the baby magically appear out of our uterus?
Lol, love the part about God’s intent for a non-painful childbirth, Joy! I think, in His all-knowing nature, he knew he wouldn’t have to worry about that.
I am proud of you for going against the grain and wanting an all-natural birth! You are reducing many risks to both you and your baby! I am currently working on a blog that explains why my belief in natural childbirth is so strong. Hopefully it’ll be done before you give birth and you’ll get some benefit from it. Be sure to look for it!
Hmm, my dream birth.
It goes something like this…
9 months and I’ve only gained 5 lbs. Dr. says that the baby is doing incredibly well and is “strong like bull”. No contractions at all. I fall asleep peacefully and wake up. My husband is standing over me and says, “Congratulations, we’ve got a baby!” Somehow during the night, I went into labor and had the baby. I feel no pain. There is no need for any hospital, etc, cause we’re both ok.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Not gonna happen!!!
Like Joy, i had all sorts of people tell me I was crazy and “a better woman” than they were. I don’t get it, why do people think it’s natural to use an epidural? Although my daughters birth was not my dream birth, I still went naturally. Sure it hurt, but what do you expect?
My dream birth would be actually carrying the baby full term, with a midwife, or a doctor and a doula to deliver the baby. I will stay at home as long as possible before going to the hospital, or maybe birthing center if I learn more about them. I will be able to walk around and move as much as I want, not be stuck in a bed and the dr will not give me pitocin! oh yah, and hopefully I’ll have an experienced good woman friend there to help- any ideas who could be my friend?
Haha. I’ll be your friend, Jes.
Here in The Netherlands the main way of giving birth is at home.
No painkilling at all.
Even when at hospital painkilling is not considered nowmal.
Only under certain conditions women get something. It’s considered of influence on the wellbeing of the baby.
Some painkilling might even interfere with C-section, in case an imergency C-section is necessary.
I have given birth quite some times, even from twins, and I’ve never had painkillers. Yes, it hurts, but from the way I felt, I could judge if things were OK or not.
I’m glad I was able to do it that way.
Hmm. I don’t really like Laura Shaney’s (sp?) site. We did UC, though. Her site is dreamy and I think helpful for keeping people from totally fearing childbirth, but it isn’t helpful for the ‘nuts and bolts’ issues of having a baby on your own. It *is* important to be prepared, things do come up. We had a couple things come up in our birth, but I had prepared very well ahead of time and we were able to handle them on our own. I hate to see people stick their heads in the sand about birth and then panic when something doesn’t happen how it should and rush to the hospital. I think (obviously) that it is perfectly safe to birth your children at home, but you need to become educated and know how to handle things at home, know when to transfer to a hospital, and know how to take care of yourself.
Here’s our birth story 🙂
http://greenbeanboutique.blogspot.com/2007/06/hannahs-birth-story.html
I gave birth to my now 4 month old in the best way I could imagine! I did go to the hospital for the peace of mind.
I labored at home with hubby for as long as I could. At the hospital, the head nurse asked our preferences. We told her “as little intervention as possible.” She said “you have the perfect nurse then!” The nurse we were assigned didn’t check me till I was ready to push, found me 100% and 10cm. Water broke a bit later, doc came, I pushed, had a few minutes of oxygen, my son’s head was guided out by doc, then she told me “reach down and get your baby!” so I got to pull him out of me! It was amazing!!! No pitocin, no epidural, no drugs at all. I pray that the rest of my deliveries go the same. 🙂