If you have seen the movie
"The Business of Being Born",it changes the way you look at childbirth. If you have not seen it, please WATCH IT!! Women have been giving birth for centuries without drugs or medical intervention. In the case of high risk pregnancies or when an emergency arises, it is great that medicine has advanced to help. However, women's bodies were created to give birth.
After the long labor of our first child, I knew there was a better way. We had prepared with Hypnobirthing but only for a little over a month. I was in labor for 20 hours without an epidural and having contractions 5 minutes apart that were all in my back. Because of the back labor I gave in to an epidural only to have a horrible reaction which didn't allow me to walk for 3 days. I also had uncontrolable shaking, it took 2 times to get the epidural in the correct location in my back, I had to be given a drug to stop the labor because of all this and then given Pitocin to "get going" again. The total labor was 29 hours!! I had to have an MRI to figure out why I could not walk while my husband took care of our newborn. I could not feel my left leg for 3 days. The team of neurologists, anethesiologists and other physicians in my room trying to figure out what caused this was ridiculous. Thank God it was only a temporary problem and I finally got the feeling back in my leg to walk again. The lower back pain for months after was not fun either...all from the drugs in the epidural cocktail.
Our plan to achieve an all natural birth with the second child and succeed was something we knew had to happen. We took a Bradley Birth class this time and hired a
doula, Kathy Shamoun from Openspace Wellness, who is also an acupuncturist. We did come across some obsticles with me being diagnosed with gestational diabetes and the doctor talking about inducing. Inducing almost always leads to an epidural because the contractions become so fierce (not as nature intended) and increases the risks of a c-section.
I was able to manage my diabetes with diet and not be induced. I followed my normal acupuncture routine and did all of the recommended things to get labor started naturally and labor started on my due date! After walking up and down escalators, eating eggplant parmesian, wasabi with a spider roll, raspberry tea and other things...the contractions started about 10 minutes apart at 4pm. At first I thought it was Braxton-Hicks again, but they continued to get closer and closer together. Around 10pm they were 5 minutes apart and we knew the doula needed to come and we needed to get to the city. We made it to the hospital when the contractions were about 2 minutes apart so I was only in the labor/delivery room for about 2 hours. The doula/acupuncturist, Kathy, put needles in appropriate locations to help with the discomfort while at home. Towards the end I did have some back labor but it did not last long thankfully. Having her apply pressure to my lower back was key along with the deep breathing/gutteral sounds you are encouraged to make during contractions. It really really helped me focus, almost making me numb. It was not anything like I imagined or you would see on TV. I was silent during the pushing...no pain at all!! I went from 6 centimeters to pushing out the baby in an hour. I delivered at 3:50 am standing up while leaning over the bed as shown in the picture. This was done without drugs and without a tear or stitch needed. Read about
perineal massage...the best kept secret for a natural birth!! We did not cut the cord right away and waited until the pulsating stopped. Read more on the
benefits of waiting to clamp umbilical cord. This is possible!!! My recovery was so much easier than last time, my mood is better, my milk came in faster, my stomache flattened quicker too! I know a natural birth is not possible for everyone, but if you don't have complications you should at least research it and give it a try. The cesarian rates go up and up in this country. Birth should not have to be a surgery unless absolutely necessary. The all natural experience we had was amazing!
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