First Pregnancy...question about natural birth!!!

Hi ladies,
This is my first time and I was considering having my baby naturally. A friend of mine had a natural birth and she said it wasn't bad at all, it just burned really bad when she ripped... but she wasn't in labour that long at all... compared to some people her birth was extremely easy. Then there are other people that say its extremely painful and they were planning on doing it naturally but decided to get the drugs. I don't know what to do or if there is any web sites where I could read up on ways to make it easier to have a natural birth. If anyone knows of any web sites where i could read up on it with out having to buy a book I would appreciate it if you could tell me one.
If any of you ladies had a natural birth I would love to hear your stories.. even if you were going to and ended up getting the epidural I would love it if you shared your story. Thank you... ;)

Hi Carla.

You can read both my birth stories online @ BellyBelly Click HERE for Lachlans or login to the main bellybelly site and visit HERE for Kameron's

Lachlans was with no epidural, Kameron's was with epidural.

Love :smt049

Thanks for telling me read your story. So I guess a natural birth was painful for you. Only if that chinese student would have been there when she was supossed to be. Well hopefully more people will tell me their stories so I can prepare for whatevers in store for me..lol

Carla,

My birth was natural. I wanted a water birth, as I had read that they were less painful and made you less likely to tear. Well, I got my water birth, but not quite as I expected. (read here)

I would recommend doing a search online for waterbirths and natural births, there are quite a few other natural pain strategies you can use in childbirth, and lots of web pages.

Hi Carla,

I had a natural birth with Nicholas. I was determined not to have any drugs as I didn't want it going to Nicholas in anyway and I had heard of some bad experiences with epidurals. Although I did have the gas and the doctor had to cut me so I didn't tear. I mean it was slightly painful but not unbearable IYKWIM. I was in labor from Friday morning and had Nicholas on the Saturday at 5.30pm.

Honelsty I was more scared of peeing or using my bowels more than anything (sorry TMI :-# )

If you can do it without any complications and the doctor says it is fine then go for it.

Kazz & co \:D/
Nicholas 26/10/02

Thank yous so much for your advice. I can use whatever I can get. im trying to take in as much as possible, so thank you again for all your help!

Hi Carla

Below is my birth story in case you are interested...! I had planned on a natural birth but was flexible in that I was prepared for anything! I don't think you will know if you can cope with the pain until you are in the situation. Everybody has a different pain threshold and what is mild pain for one person could be excrutiating pain for another! Don't worry too much abuot the whole thing as you really do forget it all once you see your baby!

Good luck!

****

My story...

My mother had always told me I was a sleepyhead but imagine sleeping through labour! Well amazingly that's exactly what happened to me! Around 4.30 am on a Sunday morning, 3 days past my due date, I awoke with what seemed to be mild cramping. As my waters had not yet broken I assumed that this was not the onset of labour so I fell back to sleep without realising that I was about to sleep through the major part of it!!!! I awoke again at 7:00 am with more discomfort and decided to take a shower thinking this could be "it." However, I was not entirely convinced as, after viewing the birth videos at the prenatal classes, I was envisioning myself to be writhing around the floor in agony. About half an hour later and much to my dismay, the pains became progressively worse very, very quickly. I was pacing the kitchen in pain screaming at my husband Nick to "check the pregnancy manual" to see what we should be doing as, of course, we forgot everything we were taught at the pre-natal classes! At this point all my good (naïve!!!) intentions of a "drug-free" birth flew out the window. Bring on the gas, the pethidine, the epidural… and I wasn’t even at hospital yet!

I was slightly panicked as my contractions were already 5 minutes apart and, according to the midwife, you are supposed to go straight to hospital when you get to that point. My husband put in a frantic call to the hospital and was told to "stay at home – you have hours to go." But the timings of my contractions and my constant cramping were telling us a different story so, despite what the midwife had advised, we thought we would go to hospital anyway. The 20 minute trip seemed to take forever and I laugh now imagining what other drivers must have thought seeing me thrashing about in the back seat of the car! When we arrived at the hospital I was examined and the midwife was shocked to discover I was already 10 cm dilated (too late for drugs!!!). So it was just as well we didn’t stay at home or we would’ve made headlines… "Father Delivers Baby In Backseat of Car." The obstetrician was called immediately and when I was examined advised in amazement that I was ready to bring the baby into the world! I started to push but things became serious very quickly as the baby was in distress and it's heartbeat dangerously low. To speed things up the doctor decided a vacuum extraction was necessary and if that didn't work I would have to have an emergency cesarean. Two pushes and an almighty scream later and our little angel Gabriella enters the world - a gorgeous little 6 pounder and of course, the most beautiful baby we have ever seen.

Goodluck to everyone that is about ready to push out their bundles of joys, if you are going for that "natural" approach to labour there might be a couple of articles on the new main BellyBelly site that I thought might be of interest to you. Leaving well alone: A natural approach to labour and also Pain in labour: Your hormones are your helpers

Once again wishing you all the best for the upcoming births.

Love

I found the book "Active Birth Handbook' to be very helpful in having a natural birth. I think the author was called Janet Balaskas (?) or something like that.