Natural Labor, Should You or Not?

Natural child birth involves no pain medication given during your entire labor. Having an epidural, means that a catheter is placed into the epidural space, which numbs half of your body during labor.

I would have to say that any woman who is expecting, should always pick the option of natural labor. Unfortunately, stories that have been circling the world for as long as I can remember in regards to natural labor, stop those thoughts quickly.

Now I do understand that some women do not have any choice but to have a c-section because of medical conditions with the mother or the baby. That is completely understandable, and I agree that it should be done if that is the case. Asking for a c-section or an epidural completely takes away from the experience of child birth.

After having seven children all naturally, I have to always make sure when women who ask me "does it hurt" to tell them exactly how it feels. My answer is always, "yes it hurts", but then I elaborate the answer and explain it more in detail. Does it hurt? Well of course it hurts! The best way to describe the pain, is a really bad charlie horse located in your stomach instead of your leg, which can last for hours on end.

Can you deal with the pain? Yes you can deal with the pain if you set your mind to it. If you remember that after all that pain and agony has finished, you have this beautiful baby to love and cherish. Sure you are tired, sometimes exhausted afterwards, however there is nothing like going through natural childbirth.

Unfortunately, doctors today rarely give women the chance to have their babies naturally. For instance, my oldest daughter was in labor with her first child four years ago. After only 3 hours of light labor, the doctor decided to give her a C-section. There were no medical emergencies, just the fact that he did not want to wait it out for another 20+ hours before she began to have hard labor and deliver. Unfortunately, doing this caused her to be very distant with her baby, due to the pain she was having from the incision.

What are the some of the benefits of having natural labor? Many I have to say actually.

1. Instead of being stuck in a bed waiting for the feeling in your legs to come back, you can get up and walk around immediately. If you have had a c-section, you have to wait up to 8 hours before you even attempt to get out of bed and move slightly.

2. You get to tend to your infant immediately. Watch them give him/her a bath, weighing them in, dressing them, blanketing them, making sure they are healthy. A lot of women miss that time with their newborns.

3. You get to take a shower immediately. After hours of labor, the one thing I wanted to do was shower. Luckily since I had them all natural, I was able to just 30 minutes after having my children.

4. You get to eat immediately. If you have had an epidural or a c-section, eating is not something they recommend right away. Many women tend to get nauseated, so the wait a few hours before giving you anything solid to eat.

5. You get to go home within 24 hours if all goes well with the baby and your health. If you have had a c-section, most women cannot go home for 3-5 days after giving birth. Who would want to stay in the hospital that long. Definitely not I. The faster I get home, the faster life begins again.

If you choose to have epidural during labor, remember there can be side effects when doing so.

Some of the side effects to the mother include, prolonged labor, nausea, headaches, backaches that can last days to years, postpartum depression and inability to urinate.

Side effects to the baby include, direct toxicity to the infant (no matter what anyone tells you, anything you take for pain during your pregnancy goes directly to your infant), drowsiness at birth, taking longer then usual to begin sucking, fetal distress (can lead to emergency c-section), and jaundice.

Please understand that I am not writing this to scare new mothers, but to make them aware that natural child birth is not as bad as many women make it out to be. Yes it is painful, there is no doubt about that, but it is over so much quicker then you think, and the experience is something you will cherish and never forget.