How did you 'come' to natural birth?

[SuperStar]

I was never one to imagine my future husband and children before the fact. So when I became pregnant it never occured to me to imagine the kind of birth I wanted. Luckily, one of my best friend's sisters (who I had never met) sent me some back issues of Mothering and a few other crunchy birthing books within my first trimester. Although I still have never met this woman, she has meant so much to me. It feels so right to me now, natural birth, I'm almost positive I would have turned to it somewhere along the line, but really, who knows...I might not have.

So, did you always know you wanted a natural birth? Did you find out about it only after a traumatic experience? Did the Mothering magazine have much to do with it or was it the influence of a friend?

[chiro_kristin]

For me it was just instinct. I have always hated taking pharmaceuticals, OTC or otherwise, even as a child. I'd suffer with a bad headache instead of taking a Tylenol. As a child, I eschewed chocolate chip cookies and chose apples instead.

I became a chiropractor because chiropractic is based on the fact that the body is a self-healing, self-regulating organism. I believe and always have that the body knows what it is doing as long as it is kept free of interference.

So, natural birth was the only way to go for me.

[Patchfire]

I've wondered about what makes some people look for natural birth and others not often, myself!

I started researching different aspects of pregnancy and birth before I was ever pregnant (or even ttc - this turned out to be a good thing when my timetable was turned on end and I got pregnant a bit earlier than planned!). I've always been a little suspicious of what 'everyone else' was doing, so I suppose I gravitated towards the minority view.

Once I started really doing my research, what convinced me for me personally was the impact the drugs could have on the mother and baby both. I have low blood pressure anyway, and learning that an epidural lowers blood pressure really 'sealed' it in my mind.

[Phoenix_Rising]

I waited years for my DP to be ready to welcome a child into our lives; when she told me that she was "ready" I started meticulously researching various things about pregnancy, childbirth, vaccinations, etc. What I found turned me completely off the whole hospital birth thing, medicated birth, etc. What I found was a better understanding of my previous beliefs that pregnancy and birth are natural things and a woman does not need to be told what she already knows about her own body. . .
-Susannah

[jerawo]

I got interested in midwifery from Naomi Wolf's Misconceptions, then read Spiritual Midwifery. After reading all the amazing biirth stories, I knew I could be one of those women, and I wanted to be one of those women so badly, to have an amazing, powerful experience that few women chose to have in our society. I wanted to be special, not one of the herd of hospital birthers. It was all "downhill" from there, and I had a homebirth for my first six months ago.

[Bleu]

I was mildly crunchy and, most of all, wanted to do everything I possibly could to breastfeed successfully. Staying away from patriarchal medicine appealed to me, and then I found out that I could start seeing a midwife for my well-woman care, not just pregnancy and birth.

[MamaChel]

Mine was pure stubborness. I had so much taken from me through sexual trauma as a child that I decided that I needed to allow my body to perform as it's designed to, without interference. Just to prove that I could. To me. With my first birth, I allowed others to take control for me by giving in just to get them to shut up. Big mistake, good thing about mistakes: I rarely make the same one twice. My next was born at home. This one will be born at home.

I am not afraid of birth, my body or the pain. I am terrified about being in a place where I am unable to control what is done to me.

[Artisan]

I grew up around natural birth. My mom studied to be a midwife, had a homebirth, had natural birth books around. So to me, it was normal. I chose a MW to deliver my first baby. Nevertheless, I still succumbed to the dominant birth culture in this country and doubted that I could give birth without an epidural, so my first was born in a hospital.

Really, what changed my mind about medicated vs. unmedicated birth was this forum. I read it daily after having my first and all throughout my pregnancy with my second. Talking to actual people who could answer my questions really helped.

[saintmom]

In 1976 I was working in a calif. health food store where I read a copy of spiritual midwifery.I knew from that point on I would be at home to give birth.My first two were born at home in '77 and '81 but then we moved and it was impossible to find a hb midwife for the next 3.Hs birth was a pain and i always left soon afterward ama.I finally stayed home with my last in '04.Wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

[SunRayeMomi]

<----mom's a midwife!

[Spark]

I just thought that was how it was done. My family came from the farm. I never saw a cow or a barn cat get an epidural.

[philomom]

For me it was just the right thing to do. My feelings get hurt if I have to take Tylenol for the headache that won't go away. And then the whole "needle near the spine" thing, I'll manage without out that fear, thank you.

Bonus, all this natural child birthing is better for the baby too!

[TOmom]

I read an article about midwives in Canadian Living magazine years before I thought of having children - I knew right away that a midwife was the way to go for me. The thought of med free birth scared me but an epidural scared me more. When people tell me how they couldn't birth without meds I reply that I probably couldn't either if I had a doctor in a hospital instead of a midwife at home - midwives are priceless in my experience. After being present for my first homebirth my SIL has since gone on to have 3 beautiful homebirths herself so I feel like I have had a small but significant positive impact in the world. I can only hope that my daughters remember the wonderful homebirth of their brother last month and carry that memory when/if they have children of their own.

[3daughters]

I guess I'm a minority here. I did learn about natural birth after a traumatic experience. I had two episiotomies against my will and did NOT want to get cut again.

I truly hope that my daughters will be like the women who were never exposed to anything else. I'm constantly reinforcing to them that I saw a midwife for pre-natal and birth and not an OB and that mothers don't need to go to hospitals to have babies.

[mothragirl]

i chose natural birth because i'm afraid of hospitals and not comfortable with male doctors. i had a terrible colposcopy experience with one of the OBs at the hospital i was going to deliver at and decided that it was not for me. when i started researching it and found out how much safer it is for babies it sealed the deal.

[midwestmeg]

What a great question!

I chose a natural birth because I believe pregnancy is a natural part of life, not a medical condition. I read somewhere that a midwife is trained to view pregnancy and birth as 'natural' and 'normal' unless proven otherwise, whereas a doctor is trained to see 'problems' and 'treatments'. So it made complete sense to me to have a natural birth and, then, if there were problems I could seek medical help. I have this view for most everything life; treat holistically, take care of yourself, give it time, and then, if absolutely necessary, seek help.

I also noticed that while the medical world is getting better with epidurals and such, either women had them and loved them, or the experience was so bad they wrote a book on it to let other women know. I guess I just figured my body would know how to do this and I should trust it.

[broodymama]

Fear of needles. : I have a phobia of needles and didn't want one in my hand, much less in my spine.

Now I know about the other benefits of natural birth as well, but when I was planning on DS' birth it was just the knowledge that I did not want a needle in me.

[mariposita]

Mine is actually a strange story...

I always had a fear of birth to the point where I didn't know if I wanted children. I was in China leading a group of exchange students when I realized I was pregnant. My name in Chinese meant "purple butterfly". I started having really vivid dreams about having a baby underwater. I had never heard about waterbirth or anything. When I got home (over a month later) I googled "water + birth" just for the heck of it. That's when I discovered that waterbirths even existed. The first two hits were for Waterbirth International and a waterbirth center - both within 30 minutes from my house!!! The top of the birth center's homepage was a purple butterfly. I have this strange protective connection with butterflies, so I felt instantly drawn to it. I immediately scheduled a visit and felt so wonderful at the birth center that I chose to give birth there. I then realized that I didn't have a fear of BIRTH, but a distaste for hospital births.

I ended up having a gloriously easy 2 1/2 hour waterbirth and am excited for our upcoming home waterbirth!

[darkstar]

Cool story mariposita I saw my dog give birth and it was just so instinctual and natural, I knew that I had that in me too. I had two wonderful natural non invasive birhts


darkstar

[Peony]

When I was in nursing school, one of my professors was a CNM who strongly believed in low intervention birth, didn't believe in homebirth though. From that part on I knew I would have a low intervention birth.