I have gotten this one SO many times and I'm sure that you other natural birth mommas have heard this one too. It just drives me crazy. Does anyone REALLY believe that I do all I do so I can have some praise or recognition? I mean, come on. It would be so much easier to go to the hospital and let them take care of everything, than to work for weeks on getting together my birth kit, research methods and resources on my own (water birth, birth stool, etc), study endlessly about natural birth (LOVE Dr. Bradley) and have everything lined up for the labor, delivery and newborn care.
It would be easier to take a needle in my back and sleep through the labor than to study relaxation techniques, change positions and stay on my feet all day long if labor isn't progressing (did that with DS)
It would be easier to flow with the mainstream people all around me than deal with the negative comments from all the people I know who believe that the only way to give birth is with a team of doctors and nurses, in a brightly lit, sterile hospital room.
It would be easier (physically anyway, though not emotionally!) to hand my babe over to a group of people in scrubs who I have never met before, to let them scrub, stick and swaddle instead of taking care of its first needs myself.
It would be easier for my DH to drive me to the hospital and turn me and our baby over to the doctors and nurses swarming around us, than to take responsibility for our care. It would be easier for him to watch a dr. come in at the last minute and tell me to push than to stay on his feet for hours holding me up, rubbing my back and whispering in my ear that I'm doing a great job. It would be easier for him to watch the dr. deliver the baby than to stay plugged in all through the labor and catch our babe himself, under the direction of our midwife.
It would be easier for us to have a hospital birth covered by insurance, than to factor midwife fees and birth supply costs into our baby budget.
I do not make any important decisions regarding my family based on ease or appreciation. Parenting isn't easy, and a lot of the time it is a thankless job. I didn't choose to go against the flow to look like Wonder Woman. (it would have been silly of me if I had, because these days people think of us more as backwoods, backwards pioneer women) I chose natural birth because I truly believe that it is the best thing for my baby and myself. I believe it is less traumatic for the entire family, to stay home and do as much for ourselves as we can in our own environment, than to uproot our whole family so I can give birth in a strange place. I believe it is a more peaceful arrival for the new baby to be born in our home, into our arms, than to be born into a room full of people and instruments and smells and bright lights and loud noises, then carted around with all the other babies (kind of like herding tiny cattle) and made to wait in line for its most immediate needs at only a few minutes old. (it makes me sad to think of my DS lying in that plastic bassinet in just a diaper, cold and alone in the hospital nursery while I was in recovery after my cs, instead of lying at my breast where he belonged)
I think it will be an easier adjustment for my toddler to have his parents at home, than to go to the hospital to meet the new baby then spend two or three nights with someone else while he waits for us all to go home.
I have read about the dangers of epidurals; I don't choose to labor med free because it's more comfortable or because I think I'm stronger than my friends. I do it because I don't want any negative side effects - I want to be able to move freely and meet my baby uninhibited by drugs.
I DO have reasons - real reasons, based on logic and study, for doing things the way I do them. Do the people who know me really misunderstand not only why I do things this way, but even the fact that I have reasons? Do they really believe that I am just trying to do something different, because it is different? Do they really think that I need validation so much to go the harder route, simply for some "atta girls"?
I personally think it's that they feel threatened. Like they think I'm going to judge them for doing things differently from me. (I mean, obviously, if I'm doing it one way over another, I must think my way is better right?) Whatever their reason - it's really annoying.
Anyone else?
It would be easier to take a needle in my back and sleep through the labor than to study relaxation techniques, change positions and stay on my feet all day long if labor isn't progressing (did that with DS)
It would be easier to flow with the mainstream people all around me than deal with the negative comments from all the people I know who believe that the only way to give birth is with a team of doctors and nurses, in a brightly lit, sterile hospital room.
It would be easier (physically anyway, though not emotionally!) to hand my babe over to a group of people in scrubs who I have never met before, to let them scrub, stick and swaddle instead of taking care of its first needs myself.
It would be easier for my DH to drive me to the hospital and turn me and our baby over to the doctors and nurses swarming around us, than to take responsibility for our care. It would be easier for him to watch a dr. come in at the last minute and tell me to push than to stay on his feet for hours holding me up, rubbing my back and whispering in my ear that I'm doing a great job. It would be easier for him to watch the dr. deliver the baby than to stay plugged in all through the labor and catch our babe himself, under the direction of our midwife.
It would be easier for us to have a hospital birth covered by insurance, than to factor midwife fees and birth supply costs into our baby budget.
I do not make any important decisions regarding my family based on ease or appreciation. Parenting isn't easy, and a lot of the time it is a thankless job. I didn't choose to go against the flow to look like Wonder Woman. (it would have been silly of me if I had, because these days people think of us more as backwoods, backwards pioneer women) I chose natural birth because I truly believe that it is the best thing for my baby and myself. I believe it is less traumatic for the entire family, to stay home and do as much for ourselves as we can in our own environment, than to uproot our whole family so I can give birth in a strange place. I believe it is a more peaceful arrival for the new baby to be born in our home, into our arms, than to be born into a room full of people and instruments and smells and bright lights and loud noises, then carted around with all the other babies (kind of like herding tiny cattle) and made to wait in line for its most immediate needs at only a few minutes old. (it makes me sad to think of my DS lying in that plastic bassinet in just a diaper, cold and alone in the hospital nursery while I was in recovery after my cs, instead of lying at my breast where he belonged)
I think it will be an easier adjustment for my toddler to have his parents at home, than to go to the hospital to meet the new baby then spend two or three nights with someone else while he waits for us all to go home.
I have read about the dangers of epidurals; I don't choose to labor med free because it's more comfortable or because I think I'm stronger than my friends. I do it because I don't want any negative side effects - I want to be able to move freely and meet my baby uninhibited by drugs.
I DO have reasons - real reasons, based on logic and study, for doing things the way I do them. Do the people who know me really misunderstand not only why I do things this way, but even the fact that I have reasons? Do they really believe that I am just trying to do something different, because it is different? Do they really think that I need validation so much to go the harder route, simply for some "atta girls"?
I personally think it's that they feel threatened. Like they think I'm going to judge them for doing things differently from me. (I mean, obviously, if I'm doing it one way over another, I must think my way is better right?) Whatever their reason - it's really annoying.
Anyone else?
. Now I just try to be supportive of the ladies around me, whatever their birth choice, because you're right- choosing your birth is HARD work!
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: you!
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