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Hi Ladies,
I am hoping for a natural, drug free labour and birth but all the stories I have heard have been horror stories or traumatic, out of control births. Everyone tells me to just take the drugs, they laugh at me when I say I don't want them.
I am confident in myself and not anxious about birthing my baby but could really do with some inspirational stories.
So if you have one, please share :D
Thanks :D
here is my last birth FionaJill: Welcome to the World Iain Jasper.
My 3rd http://milkfionamilk.blogspot.com/20...-november.html
my 2nd http://milkfionamilk.blogspot.com/20...of-august.html
and my 1st http://milkfionamilk.blogspot.com/20...gust-2002.html :)
Yep, my VBAC with DD.
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ng-122124.html
There is a link to mine in my sig :D
My SIL also had a drug free natural labour but she's not on here.
Try & remember that giving birth is what our bodies are made for. The horror stories are the exception not the rule so to speak, just that no-one really shares the normal birth stories because they aren't as interesting IYKWIM. At least, that's what I think.
Here is my last birth - The birth of Anelise
I am hoping to have a pretty much identical birth for this baby too. Anelise is the only birth I can classify as drug free as I had a natural placenta delivery also. My others (apart from DS1) have been pain relief free though.
I was induced but completely drug free aside from 2 panadol for a headache 2 hours prior to induction. DD's labour from start to finish was about 6 hours and I was laughing the whole time! I think having a beautiful midwife really helped. She even made me crack up when she sent DP out to get me hungry Jack's food for lunch. Sorry I can't elaborate more really. It was basically just a bunch of thumb twiddling and reading magazines between contractions. I'd definatly go for drug free for the next one as it was completely a positive experience here!.
Hope that helps hun!
this is mine :) https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ne-146886.html
they did break my waters but i still did it without drugs :)
Good on u!
IT just to annoy the **** out of me everyone told me take the drugs, u cant do it without them blah blah, what a load of crock!
I had pre labour for days,weeks, anyway, the day i went into labour i had bad period cramping for hours, i started having contractions and had them 3 min apart for a while at home ,i had back pain ,but i was coping fine , called the hossy around 9 at night they said to come in when i felt i could not cope, we were going to stay at home as i was coping fine but we went in as the hot water ran out LOL..
Walked into the hossy fine, contractions along the way, went to the loo lost my plug, and was 6 cm dialated on examination,laboured for a few hours, pushed for 1 hour and bub arrived at 230.
I had no drugs,the ice chips were my drugs of choice :) I had a 8 hour labour + pushing..
I didn't need drugs, yeah it hurt it hurt a lot but my birth exp didn't require them, and why take drugs if u dont need them? I had a great birthing exp ,And it really gets to me when ppl say 'take the drugs'
Good on u for wanting what u want,stick with it and do what u can to have the birth you want, if something happens and u need drugs, take them, don't feel bad about doing it as situations do arise that can't always be helped ! U are going to do an amazing job! :)
hun
i can honestly say that i was never in pain with my DS2 birth- not even overly uncomfortable
it was pain free, natural, drug free active VBAC
but I had to fight for it
heaps of research and plenty of information to throw back at them
here is the link
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ong-91722.html
Just nod and smile when others tell you that you *won't* be able to do it. Every woman and every birth is different. Believing in yourself and your body is the first step to getting your dream birth.
In saying that, I didn't have a drug free birth despite all my efforts. I so badly wanted drug free but it just wasn't to be. DD was posterior, the back pain was hell, and she ended up being stuck so my OB had to manually turn her (both hands up there, ouchies) and then vacuum her out. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful for an epidural!! But, before my epi, I did get to 9cm drug free. I laboured for approx 6 hours before my epi and found a fitball, the shower and lots of 'rocking' really helpful. A great birth team who knew what I wanted and supported that made all the difference too. My waters broke spontaneously at home too so I think that helped me mentally as I knew my body was taking over and doing its job, ITMS.
Anyway, I do know of a few brilliant drug free births in my circle of friends. My sister had an amazing drug free, 1.5 hour water birth with her second son. It was incredibe! One of my close friends laboured for about 24 hours at home but wasn't really sure it was labour and delivered her daughter within an hour of arriving at the hospital - there was no time for drugs!! Another two friends delivered their second babies drug free and both said it was amazing and completely different to the experience they had with their first borns.
Believe in yourself and your body, be sure that your labour team knows your plans and look into natural coping techniques. But also be prepared that things can change and I think it's wise to know a bit about medical interventions in case you need to go down that path.
Good luck though!!
Links to both of mine in my sig.. have fun reading them all.. there are a lot more GREAT stories out there than most people realise :)
**warning** DD1's well i think of it as a GREAT story while others consider it frightening, i like to think of it as proof our bodies KNOW what to do and even when they shouldn't often things do go right :)
My DD's wonderful drug-free labour story is here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...th-109993.html
I HIGHLY recommend that you read this thread though: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ods-45345.html It is brilliant at explaining how your body works during labour and how you can work calmly with your body. I got so much out of the thread and give it huge credit for why my second and third labours were both awesome :D
ETA - I would also like to say that I didn't experience "pain" with DS2's and DD's labours either :)
Mine's in my sig. It was natural/drug free up to 3rd stage. I didn't agree with that bit, but by then I had other things on my mind.
I'm one of those people who enjoy birth. I think it rocks! Sure, it got tough at times, but nothing too bad.
GL - do lots of research, look at hypnobabies/hypnobirthing if you have time
You can do it!!! :D
Both my births were drug-free, although not completely natural as had ARM with #1. Birth stories are in my sig.
All the very best!
:yeahthat::
I love your original post - by the sounds of it, you'll have the birth you want. Your confidence in your ability to birth naturally and without drugs is the key - you sound like you're well on the way to birthing your baby the way YOU want. Don't let anyone - other mothers, the medical profession, friends and family - undermine your confidence in yourself.
I had two incredible births, both spontaneous, drug free and they were the most empowering experiences of my life. I desperately wanted births free of intervention and without drugs. To this end I educated myself as best I could about the birthing process, found out what my rights and options were and then I enrolled DH and I in a hypnobirthing course. I could wax lyrical about hypnobirthing, but suffice to say if I felt confident before the course, I felt like I had a super power afterwards, such was the faith I had in myself. And the course also helped DH understand totally where I was coming from and be the best support for me that he could. In addition I had weekly acupuncture which I'm certain helped me have easy, relatively quick labours. With DS1 my waters broke at 7.30pm and he was born at 4.25am. Of that, I was only in "hard labour" for the three odd hours I was in the hospital - I pushed for 30 minutes. With DS2 I knew I was in labour around 7.30am, arrived at hospital around 11.30am was in "hard labour" not long afterwards and he was born at 2.14pm - pushing again less than 30 minutes.
With both births I stayed at home as long as I could, I stayed relaxed and I kept the faith. With bub 1 you're not sure what to expect, and I was really keen to experience it for myself. It's fair to say that birthing isn't exactly a picnic, but it is definitely not something to be feared. Hypnobirthing taught us to embrace any "turn" our birthing may take, so we were prepared if we needed assistance, but fortunately I had straightforward births. I found birthing to be hard work at times, but ultimately just so rewarding. And I'll be honest, there is pride in yourself when you can birth the way you want. And then to be able to get up and walk around an hour or so after the birth is also a good feeling.
Good on you Babyluv - I wish you all the best in your birthing journey. Just keep the faith :lol:
I keep meaning to put DS' birth story on here but haven't yet! So I'll just briefly share his entrance to the world!
I planned a drug free birth and told people I wanted to be in control - they all laughed at me. It used to really annoy me but I knew what I'd read on BB that it was possible.
I went into full blown labour (in that I mean I had strong regular contractions right from the start, no pre labour due to DS not engaging until my waters broke) a few days after DS' EDD and was quite comfortable using the TENS that I had hired. With that and using some nice hot water in the shower I lasted at home for 10 hours, when I got to hospital I was already 8 cms!
I had already told my midwife previously that I wished to be left to labour how I saw fit at the time. So she just sat back and observed, only checking bubs heart rate regularly. Once I was in the birth centre I only used my TENS, thought I'd be in the bath or shower but just didn't feel the need. I found the TENS fantastic, it didn't take all the pain away but certainly made it managable.
After a few more hours my waters broke and DS unfortunately landed in a slightly off kilter position. I said that something was wrong but my midwife let me go for awhile longer before calling a doctor in to check me out. As I said, DS landed funny when my waters broke so he was presenting with his head off to one side. The doctor said he probably wouldn't come down on his own so I would need a vaccuum delivery. By this stage I had been in labour for about 15 or 16 hours. I was disappointed that I wasn't going to get the birth I had hoped for, but I had given it my absolute best! I was also getting quite worn out by this stage. I had spent most of the labour on my feet, which was my bodies way of trying to get DS in the right position. I had no control over this and just felt the urge to stand, it's amazing how our bodies just know what to do!
Unfortunately DS was still too high up for a vaccuum when I was getting all ready for it. I had no urge to push at all but had to push DS down in order for the doctor to get him out. My midwife popped me on the toilet and everyone who came in to assist with the vaccuum left. I pushed and pushed with all my might! I found this extremely difficult with no urge to push whatsoever! But pushed him so far down my midwife eventually said I could do the rest on my own!
After 2 hours of pushing I finally got that wonderful urge to push. It was such a relief to finally be working with my body and this was probably the easiest part. DS was eventually born after 22 hours of active labour, 20 of those hours spent on my feet and no pain relief! The poor kid had a lovely big bruise on his head from where he had been presenting.
When my midwife visited me the next morning, I cried while I thanked her for giving me the birth that I wanted. If I had needed the vaccuum I still would've been proud of myself because I gave it all I had. But for someone that had been so afraid of birthing, I'm still astounded that I did it!
Hope that helps. It might sound like I had a hard time but I still wanted to share to show that even when things are against us we can still get the birth that we want! I forgot to add that DS was 9lb!
I had two amazing labours, my first a lot longer and harder and I used gas. My second was shorter and my body seemed to just know what to do - no pain relief.
Links to both stories are in my sig.
Mine for DD1 was very quick :lol:
The quick arrival of Nakita Lily Robyn