"What's wrong with drugs?"

[PiePie]

So, I gave birth without drugs despite 41 hours of labor. : My initial email birth announcement didn't mention that, but when folks followed up and asked me how I was feeling, I mentioned that I was so proud of that. One friend wrote back, "What's wrong with drugs?" Now usually I am cautious (not cautious enough according to DH...) about this because I am speaking to friends who did have drugs with their own births (often by C-section) -- however, this friend has no intention of having kids ever, so that is not a concern here. Where do I begin?

[Warda_Rose]

How about using "I feel" statements?

[danotoyou2]

Originally Posted by Warda_Rose

How about using "I feel" statements?

I disagree. I think "Studies have found..." statements would be a much better route!

You can just keep it brief: studies have found that women who don't use pain medication have fewer complications during and after labor.

And good job in going med free in a long labor! It IS an achievement, and I wish more women were doing it.

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by danotoyou2

I disagree. I think "Studies have found..." statements would be a much better route!...

I agree.

A lot of moms will dismiss studies thinking, "Well, it turned out okay for my baby." I might add in something about epidurals and chronic back pain for mom *or* not wanting to further set your child up for becoming an addict by flooding him with narcotics at the same time he's receiving the greatest concentration of bonding/imprinting hormones.

~BV

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Yep, facts. That's the way I'd go. I prefer my babies drug free and here's why. I prefer no needle in my spine and here's why. You know, but put more nicely

[hubris]

I tell people straight out that medications interrupt the normal chemical processes in the body that are necessary for a healthy, normal birth process. Medications and their administration (e.g., sticking a needle in your spine for an epidural) carry risks to both the mother and baby. If you interrupt the birth process, you may require other interventions, which also carry risks to mom and baby, and further interrupt the birth process, requiring further interventions...etc.

Plus, the body already has a way of dealing with discomfort: endorphins. Mmmm, yummy endorphins. Why accept some cheap risky imitation when you can have the real deal AND still be able to feel your own legs and work with your body?

[applejuice]

There is plenty of evidence that drugs, all of them, pass through the placenta and affect the baby's health. This has been around for decades. What does a dose of painkiller that makes a mom who weighs 150 pounds loopy do to a fetus that is five to nine pounds? The liver of the fetus is not fully developed until a few months after they are born, so what is the advantage of giving drugs to a mother that will cause her baby to breathe shallow and sleep deeply to the point of death?

Most women are quite conscientious about their tobacco, alcohol and OTC drug intake during the nine months leading up to labor. Why do they suddenly open their veins, spinal columns, nasal passages, and mouths to the strong narcotics that strangers pump into their bodies in the hospital during labor?

[Juvysen]

I tell people that I decided it was too much to take the potential risk of side effects and the possibility of more stringent intervention or harm to my baby to just side step a little pain. I did it and women have been doing it for millenia w/out pain meds. It *is* do-able and going the "weenie" route (imo) isn't worth the possible consequences, to me. Of course, I try and put it into nicer terms. I also tell people that this was my choice and has no berring on other people's choices... I just hope that they were informed choices, you know?

[JustJamie]

I had a drugged birth, and wish I had not; so perhaps share with her that the rate of c-sections is higher among women who elect for painkillers; the epidural is not always effective (it wasn't for me), yet the simple fact that it was administered limits the positions in which a woman can labor regardless of the effectiveness of the drugs. (I wasn't allowed out of bed despite having full feeling and control of my body.) Additionally, the epidural can cause some women to not know when or how to push, resulting in either stalled labors or severe tearing. (This happened to my mother during my brother's birth - she went drug free for me)

[JamieCatheryn]

I don't know about you but I went natural cause I'm a scaredy cat - not of normal pain but of needles, unnatural pain, side effects, limited mobility, unnatural chemicals, and sugery.

[Romana]

I'd glance at the pertinent chapter(s) of The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth and give a short summary. Then give her the book title in case she's interested in studies or more info.

[AlpineMama]

My main reason was that I was scared of the side effects - I always get the icky side effects from ANY drugs and the ones they use for labor are pretty heavy on the potential baddies. Now that I've done it and it wasn't so bad, I don't see why you WOULD need drugs for a normal healthy delivery. And I also think the endorphins and other hormones your body makes naturally are better drugs than anything they can give you synthetically. Kind of like Nature's gift. And of course you and baby are both more coherent afterwards and there is less of a recovery. All in all... I say it's a no-brainer. Unless of course something is TERRIBLY wrong and you're in massive amounts of pain, but that's not a normal healthy labor by any means.

[wannabe]

I'd just go with - I didn't use drugs for 40 weeks, why fall at the last hurdle?

[hubris]

Originally Posted by applejuice

Most women are quite conscientious about their tobacco, alcohol and OTC drug intake during the nine months leading up to labor. Why do they suddenly open their veins, spinal columns, nasal passages, and mouths to the strong narcotics that strangers pump into their bodies in the hospital during labor?

Yup, it strikes me as very strange that there are some women who are dead-set against ingestion of ANY caffeine, alcohol, soft cheeses, or deli meat during pregnancy, but blithely accept an epidural as "safe". Holy risk perception muddle, Batman!

[intorainbowz]

Originally Posted by bryonyvaughn

A lot of moms will dismiss studies thinking, "Well, it turned out okay for my baby." I might add in something about epidurals and chronic back pain for mom *or* not wanting to further set your child up for becoming an addict by flooding him with narcotics at the same time he's receiving the greatest concentration of bonding/imprinting hormones.

~BV

Do you have a link to back up that claim? Because it could be considered a rather inflamatory claim.

[Jimibell]

Originally Posted by PiePie

So, I gave birth without drugs despite 41 hours of labor. : My initial email birth announcement didn't mention that, but when folks followed up and asked me how I was feeling, I mentioned that I was so proud of that. One friend wrote back, "What's wrong with drugs?" Now usually I am cautious (not cautious enough according to DH...) about this because I am speaking to friends who did have drugs with their own births (often by C-section) -- however, this friend has no intention of having kids ever, so that is not a concern here. Where do I begin?

Congratulations PiePie!!!
Where did you give birth?

[etoilech]

Originally Posted by bryonyvaughn

*or* not wanting to further set your child up for becoming an addict by flooding him with narcotics at the same time he's receiving the greatest concentration of bonding/imprinting hormones.

~BV

Um, yeah I'd like to see some facts regarding this. I support natural childbirth (I am a trainee midwife), but I have never come across any information regarding a correlation to abusing drugs as an adult. :

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by etoilech

Um, yeah I'd like to see some facts regarding this. I support natural childbirth (I am a trainee midwife), but I have never come across any information regarding a correlation to abusing drugs as an adult. :

I don't have the reference but I know Henci Goer is referencing them in her talks and they might be on her website.

They were Scandanavian studies done in the 70s, 80s & 90s maybe. Due to socialized medicine it's really easy to pull birthing data on adults. Anyway I believe they compared groups of people who'd tried recreational narcotics and those who were had become addicted to recreational narcotics alongside their birth records and found those that had narcotics administered during labor/birth were far more likely (6 or 7xs maybe?) to become addicted. I'd think anyone with a family history of addiction would take special care to avoid exposing their children to narcotics alongside bonding hormones.

~BV

[thismama]

Originally Posted by applejuice

Most women are quite conscientious about their tobacco, alcohol and OTC drug intake during the nine months leading up to labor. Why do they suddenly open their veins, spinal columns, nasal passages, and mouths to the strong narcotics that strangers pump into their bodies in the hospital during labor?

Um, coz they are in unbelievable pain perhaps?!?!?

[applejuice]

They were Scandanavian studies done in the 70s, 80s & 90s maybe. Due to socialized medicine it's really easy to pull birthing data on adults. Anyway I believe they compared groups of people who'd tried recreational narcotics and those who were had become addicted to recreational narcotics alongside their birth records and found those that had narcotics administered during labor/birth were far more likely (6 or 7xs maybe?) to become addicted. I'd think anyone with a family history of addiction would take special care to avoid exposing their children to narcotics alongside bonding hormones.

Dr. Bertil Jacobson did this report. It was written about in Omni Magazine in 1988. Do you think this may explain the psychedelic generation of the 1960s after their mothers were given amnesiacs during labor in the 1940s and 1950s? The study also said that babies born by forceps would use mechanical means to commit suicide and babies with cord problems would use suffocation methods.

See also:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3834823.html

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/317/7169/1346

I have posted this before on MDC and been flamed by mothers who said I was adding to their guilt by stating that they were now being told their children were destined to be drug addicts because of the drugs they took during labor. I am only trying to add to your knowledge and information. Will your OB tell you about this? Your anesthesiologist? We live in a culture that believes chemicals will solve our problem.