While my own labours were anything but "Painless" and there were moment where I'd of given my left arm for even just a 5 minute break from the transition contractions, foremost on my mind was the health of my baby. With my labour with Kael, I was threatened with a Caesarean Section If I didn't progress that last 2 cm to reach the Almighty 10 . Being exhausted and completely stressed out because of the unsupportive atmosphere with the knife looming over my head, I agreed to an Epidural, figuring that I was more than likely heading to the OR anyway.... If only I had stuck to my instincts and told them all to go to hell.
...Hindsight is 20/20, right?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Why Suffer When You Don't Have To?
Natural birth mamas stand out a little don't you think? And when it is made know that we are interested in/obsessed with/or preaching natural childbirth, sometimes the response is this:
"Why go through all that suffering and pain when you don't have to?"
Almost any woman who has planned a natural birth has heard this question. What is the point of going without drugs when they are available? Would you have a cavity drilled without painkillers?
This statement, though it seems to make sense, is wrong on many levels.
First, it assumes that labor and birth is in and of itself painful to the point that suffering occurs. I looked up the definition and the first one I found for suffering is this, : "agony, an acute state of pain."
I have met many natural birth mamas who firmly state that their birth was absolutely PAINLESS. I personally did not feel like my first birth was ever really painful, and I never felt like I was suffering at all. I mentioned this to my husband a few months afterwards and he laughed in my face! I looked to him like I was in a LOT of pain. Birth certainly looks painful to the outside observer, especially if that observer is a man and has never experienced joyful birth. (He claims that time had altered my memory of the event and there may be some truth to that.)...
HERE to read the entire article
