That's right Gracie, they can't make you take anything, but you might agree to anything when you're in labour. I know people who've suggested all sorts of crazy things in labour, and even tried to leave and say they'll come back and give birth another day!
You need to really go through this with your birth partner, so they can help you make decisions and remind you why you've made those decisions. Also so they can advocate for you and when staff offer an epidural they can remind the dr's that you're not interested unless it's absolutely mandatory.
A good question to ask would be 'do you think I can cope without it?' Hopefully you'll have an ob honest enough to say 'yeah, it'll relieve your pain, but you're doing fine without it'.
While determined that I didn't want drugs, I was aware that if my birth support partners and midwives said 'you're not coping' (like I had an extraordinarily long labour and I needed to rest), then in the end a healthy baby was what mattered most.
Who are these people? Why are they trying so hard to talk you into something you don't want?
It's terrific that your partner is in the same frame of mind - he can talk for you if you are too busy concentrating.
BTW - DD 1 - born at Knox no pain relief (and she was a biggie). They gave me gas but didn't tell me how to use it so I was sucking on nothing - so that proves that concentrating on breathing through the pain works. No tear, no stitches.
DS - only had peth as I was talked into it by a stupid midwife that didn't bother telling me bubs was posterior - I got scared when things felt different from the first time. He was born about 20mins later, I didn't need it at all. No tears again.
DD 2 - Perfect waterbirth at Angliss birth centre.
What to wear? I searched for the perfect outfit and ended up wearing a pink, sparkly strapless (stretchy) mini dress with matching pink leg warmers. Yes I did!
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