Natural Childbirth

What is a Natural Childbirth?

It depends on who you ask. I’ve heard nurses define it as a vaginal birth -- even with pitocin, an IV, and an epidural. A midwife I knew says it’s a birth that is within the mother’s power, even a cesarean is natural. But for the most part, it’s defined as an intervention free birth; there’s no IV, no antibiotics, no pitocin and no pain-medicine.

Why Would Someone Want a Natural Childbirth?

All of the common medical interventions involved with childbirth carry side-effects and health risks for you and your baby. Many of them increase your odds for more interventions. This can by cyclical -- each intervention leads to another.

• For example, an epidural might slow down your labor, requiring pitocin to speed things up. Pitocin can make labor harder and more intense, increasing your need for more epidural medicine. With more epidural medicine, you grow number and might have difficulty pushing your baby out. You might need forceps or a vacuum procedure to help your baby be born. At worst, you might need a cesarean. This is just an example, and getting an epidural does not mean you will need all these interventions -- but it increases your risk for it.

To many women the risk of side-effects and interventions do not out way the benefits. There’s also the philosophy that the pain or discomfort of childbirth has a purpose. Many women describe natural childbirth as the most enlightening, powerful and wonderful experience of their lives. To them, what they experience isn’t unbearable pain and it’s worth it for the birth of their children.

How do I get an Intervention-Free Childbirth?

• First you need to decide what natural childbirth means to you. Would you still consider an induction with pitocin natural? What about an IV? What about antibiotics if you’re beta-strep positive? At what point do these interventions become acceptable to you?
• You need to talk to the people who will be attending your birth and find a primary birthing coach, whether it’s your mom, a friend or your partner. You will have to discuss what your goals are make sure everyone is willing to help and support you. You need to be on the same page about what you expect from each other.
• You need to learn as much as you can about childbirth. The best way is through a childbirth education class. You can take one through a local hospital or hire a private childbirth educator to come into your home. You can look into the Bradley method or hypnobirthing. If you take a hospital course, be aware that these courses are aimed for teaching about interventions, not on how to get through childbirth without the need for pain medicine. The Bradley Method and Hypnobirthing are all geared toward natural childbirth and have very high success rates.

• You might want to think about a writing a Birth Plan.

A birth plan is a list of what you hope for your birth. It includes things like ‘would prefer not to be offered pain medicine’ or ‘would like a few minutes to discuss any possible interventions in private’.

• • The birth plan is primarily a communication tool. It should be used to discuss your plans with your birthing coach and support people. You need to take it into your care provider a few weeks before you give birth and go over every point with them. Your wishes may not be possible or may require a compromise.
  • Keep the list down to one page and only note the important things that you really, really want. Do not list things such as wanting to play music, or keep the lights dimmed. Your nurses already know that and will be accommodating even without a birth plan.
  • Finally, remember that just because you write it down, doesn’t mean it will happen. A birth plan should be used to discuss your wishes. You need to be flexible and understand that birth can not be planned or controlled.
• You might want to hire a doula or a professional birthing coach. She provides physical, emotional and informational support. Studies have shown that births with doulas have fewer birthing interventions, including the need for pain medicine. Additionally, no matter what happens, mothers are much happier with their births, much happier with their partner’s support during it, and have a better bond with their baby if a doula was present.
• Finally, you need to look at the statistics of your birthing facility and care provider. If you don’t want a cesarean, you might not want a hospital that has a 50% cesarean rate. If you don’t want an episiotomy, you might not want a care provider that has a 60% episiotomy rate.

In Conclusion

The choice of a natural childbirth is a personal one and not for everyone. Natural childbirth takes a lot of work to succeed, but the experience for you and your baby may be worth it.