So many women do not believe they can have a natural birth…. It really saddens me.
I was one who thought the same thing years ago.
The truth is that if you are willing to expose yourself to information, or in other words educate yourself, you can have a natural childbirth!
I was talking with my daughter the other day who is expecting her first child any day now. She is so torn for her friends who are either new moms or also expecting. They did not and are not learning about pregnancy, birth, labor, breastfeeding or even parenting on their own by reading to understand. They are terrified of natural birth and it really does not have to be the case.
As my daughter said, “I feel so confident in my ability to birth my baby naturally because I understand what is going on inside all because I have read this book!” She has actually read several books, books I did not even know about until after I had my 4th child. However, that day we were discussing what she had read recently and she was just starting to see why her friends were and are so terrified of labor. It is because they do not know what is actually happening inside of them. They are not educated on what to expect. they have not been taught about the emotions that come at certain points. So when they experience all of this they are terrified because they were not properly prepared. They have never heard an empowering birth story!
If we women can share our natural birth stories with the younger generation they will feel more empowered to achieve the same on their own. The sad reality is that so few of these younger women have heard true natural birth stories. Many of them have heard the stories of others who ended up having a natural birth not because they consciously planned and prepared for them but because it all happened too fast and they had not time for drugs. They also hear the stories from the women who had the epidural and how it was so great no worries.
The reality is that a drugged birth is not ideal for mom or baby.
I know that is not politically correct to say but the research does prove that those inductions that end up with epidurals or even if labor starts on it’s own but then an epidural is used, the bond is not what it could have been without the drugs. The rates of postpartum depression are much higher with the drugged births.
I am a great example and also firmly believe that if we are properly educated about the very complex process of birth we are then aware of what is actually happening in our bodies so we can have an experience that does not compare at all to what most women have experienced.
For me this is totally true! Oh sure I went thru the hospital childbirth classes but they did not teach me about the process of labor, all the intricate things that must occur to ignite labor, all the emotional signposts that happen at various points in labor and why the process is so long and difficult. This is the real empowering information!! This is the information that help women to realize that they are not crazy but that what they are feeling is normal.
We also need to expose women to the things, ideas and techniques, that help them cope with the intensity of birth.
It is hard work IT IS CALLED LABOR! It is not pleasant but let me ask you this……..what have you gone thru in life that was easy did you appreciate like you did something that was hard? It is a fact of life that the things that are more difficult for us GROW us, they MATURE us, they CHANGE US FOR THE BETTER.
I promise you PARENTING WILL BE THE HARDEST THING YOU EVER DO! Birth is just your first realization that you are on a long a tough road.
It is all worth it!! I so wish I could go back and teach my younger self the things I learned later on. Unfortunately we all make choices and learn from them and then grow into better people!
If you would like to know more about how to have a drug free birth please reach out to me. I have had every type of birth and speak from first hand experience. My goal is not to shame anyone but to EMPOWER women to realize what they may think is impossible actually is possible!
Is it going to come easily with no work or effort? I doubt it! Are there specific things you can do to make the whole process better? ABSOLUTELY!!!
LADIES! YOU ARE MUSH STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE!
Reference:
Kroll‐Desrosiers, A. R., Nephew, B. C., Babb, J. A., Guilarte‐Walker, Y., A., M. S., & Deligiannidis, K. M. (2017, January 30). Association of peripartum synthetic oxytocin administration and depressive and anxiety disorders within the first postpartum year. Retrieved March 08, 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/da.22599/full