X-posting from Pregnancy Boards- Questions for moms who had a natural birth

I am really aiming for a natural birth (open to the option of medical intervention though, if it's in the best interest of baby and me), but am a little scared. Anyone who has done it- can you give honest feedback (and I really mean brutally honest!!) on how it was for you? Would you do it again? Any tips or advice for how to get through it?
TIA!!

Re: X-posting from Pregnancy Boards- Questions for moms who had a natural birth

I've done it twice. I had the same mentality as you - I'll try for it but if it doesn't work, I'm ok with medical intervention. I think that is a huge plus to be open to it - mainly because I know friends that were adamant about it & felt like a "failure" because they opted for pain medication. No one should feel like a failure after they gave birth.

Both of my deliveries were relatively easy. I mean it did hurt, no doubt but really no complications. I did take a Bradley course, which I found helpful.

I liked knowing that contractions come in waves...slowly hurting, getting worse & then easing off. DH could watch a monitor & tell me it was coming down so really I only had to breathe out during the peak times. Well, that was my first labor. My second labor...I went barely had time to shake the doctor's hand & DH missed the birth but that's a whole other story

My theory was millions of women have given birth naturally & if they could do it, so could I .

and yes, if I were having another child (I'm done...done...done), I would absolutely try again for natural child birth.

This isn't me forgetting the pain. I know how much it hurt & the burning when they came out. It's really about how well you can manage your own pain & I was always pretty good about pain if it was expected. A papercut would send me over the edge though

Message edited 11/18/2009 1:17:33 PM.

Re: X-posting from Pregnancy Boards- Questions for moms who had a natural birth

I did it both ways and honestly, the vaginal delivery was awesome. It hurt a lot at the end only because they turned off my epi because I wasn't pushing well. Once that wore off- WHOA the pain! But that was only until I got pain meds later and then I felt fine. Plus you can eat right away and that is the best feeling in the world! You can also shower right away too.

I tried to have a natural birth with my son and it was going really well until he went into distress and his heartbeat dropped. He was a really big baby. THe C-section went well but because I already had an epi and THEN a spinal block- I was numb for several hours and it was very scary. I don't remember feeling ok until late that night. I do remember being really ****** that I couldn't eat or enjoy the champagne I brought with my family. Plus I couldn't shower for a couple of days and that just grossed me out. The recovery from the vaginal one was really easy but the recovery from a C-section was a lot harder in my opinion.

Hope that Helps!