Birth plans & drug-free birth - how much do you want it?

[Lil_Pearl]

IK - Exactly, fear = tension = pain = intervention, longer labour, cascade of events that leave a woman feeling bewildered, and it can all follow through into motherhood, too. It really says something when women think your naive for choosing normal, everyday birth, doesn't it? The naivety of it. The media has a lot to answer for, I think. Not only in scaring women, but in showing birth as something that takes a couple of minutes, something you swear through, talk all through, puff and pant through, and have green sheets draped around you, with the doctor in mask and all, and that this is all okay, and, see, it only takes a couple of minutes, and then the doctor has 'delivered' your baby, and you can sit back and smile. Television shows and movies have a birth "scene", and that is the information women grow up with....that medical is good, that birth hurts but is over quickly, that a lit-up room and strangers are conducive to a healthy labour. No pre-labour, or two or more hours of pushing and working with your body, no dark rooms, no closed eyes and peaceful music, no 'zoning out' to get in the swing of the labour flow...no reality.

Most women don't have a knowledge of the whoole adrealin vs. endorphins thing. Most women don't realise that the smallest thing can hinder endorphin release and bring about a flood of adrenalin.....smells, sights, the trip to the hospital, booking in, being watched, being spoken to, being expected to answer questions, bright lights...the list is huge. Hospital situations, un-known or disrespectful staff, a support person who isn't educated in the art of birth, it can all lead to ones birth going "off track". Often, instead of partners and staff taking away the fear trigger (or even realising it exists!), allowing hormonal balance to return in time, they offer epidural, or say "oh, you labour is not progressing", hook you up to the drip, or, worse, rush you in for an emergency c-section. Staff need further education in a lot of cases. I think, Kelly, you've mentioned somewhere that you think medical staff (obs, midwives, etc) should be trained in natural birth first (such as a doula course), before all the medical stuff. So true, I think that should be a whole year of education in itself.