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Well, it's been 7 months since I gave birth to my dd, so I think I'm ready to talk about the birth now. I was induced for both of my kids. The fist time, the epidural worked perfectly, but the second time, it didn't. I ended up giving birth without any anesthetic. To say it's "painful" doesn't do it justice - but I don't want to freak you out. I'll just say that the pain gets so intense that you 'check out' for a while. However, compared to my first, the recovery was incredibly fast. And to be honest, I felt pretty proud of myself...despite all of the screaming I did. Aaaaanyhoo, one of the things I though of was would it have been easier/slightly less painful if I had known about the breathing techniques? I never took any pre-natal cla__ses for either of my children (fully expecting to have epidurals that worked) so I had no idea how to breathe. I was really freaked out because I wasn't prepared for it, but I wonder how different it could be if you are mentally prepared for it. To end this, I'll just say that if I were going to do it all over again I would definitely get an epidural, but that's just me. The risk of anything going wrong is so small, despite what some groups would have you believe. Good luck with your choice.

the epidural was awesome and I'll do it again if i need it. :) I had a perfectly fine recover and no issues with the epi at all. Just didn't like not being able to get up and about after birth - but then again, everyone catered to me. :)

Why the hell do you women have to talk about drugs & epidurals? Anyone would think you were a bunch of druggies pushing for a new customer. This poor woman is asking about a NATURAL BIRTH & all your doing is scaring her into feeling like she has to have drugs. angelhdfd DON'T listen to anyone tell you that you need drugs to have a baby, because you don't. If you want a natural birth good on you, you CAN totally do it, our bodies were made to give birth. Taking drugs can hinder the birthing process, leading to interventions & even c-section. I had gas & pethadine with my 1st & it was the worst birthing experience as dd fell asleep due to the pethadine, my labour was slowed down as a result & they had to do tests on her while I was still labouring (NOT FUN). 2nd time around I trusted my body & was able to have a completely natural drug free water birth & ds was 9lb 3oz. Epidurals can greatly diminish your pushing ability & can lead to episiotomy, baby being vacuumed out or even c-section. If you really want a natural birth I recommend reading 'NEW ACTIVE BIRTH' by Janet Balaskas. It helps you understand how & why our bodies are sooo efficient at giving birth & why drugs & doctors have made the birthing process so much harder for women. Just remember Yes it is painful but it is manageable. Goodluck & I hope after you read the book you won't be so fearful of birth. Oh & what WP said about breathing, just breathe big deep breaths while contracting other than that just breathe normally, if you breathe too quick you can hyperventilate & feel a bit dizzy.

I forgot to mention that I am preg with #3 & plan on trusting my body again & having another natural birth. It really was a wonderful experience 2nd time around & I bonded quicker with him than I had with dd & I was able to go home within 24hrs because I had recovered so well. (No they didn't make me, I wanted to go home)

well E586467 ... I was just giving my OPINION from my own EXPERIENCE that drugs aren't as bad as SOME people make them out to be. To say that no one needs drugs isn't true either, but I'm not going to get into a long debate about drugs vs natural and what's better. Personally, I would LOVE to have a natural child birth but i was induced the first time and dilated so quickly that I had no time to figure out how to deal with it. Anyways....Just as drugs CAN hinder the process, so can NOT taking them when you need them. Some women reach a point where they have labored so long that they tense up or whatever, and labor stalls or doesn't progress and things such as C-Sections and such happen. Case in point, a friend of mine labored for 20 hours NATURALY and still had an epesiotomy AND had the vac. used. So...if you want a natural birth GREAT!!! So do I! Just keep in mind that that there is nothing wrong if you can't handle it and use some sort of drug intervention but if you want to do it natural, great and good for you! I certainly wasn't trying to scare anyone and I resent the fact that some people have to be so rude to those of us whose intent is to share our stories and opinions.

fefer1 NOT once did I say that NO ONE needs drugs! Of course drugs have their place & can sometimes prove beneficial, but women should not be made to feel like they can't give birth without them. This woman was asking about NATURAL BIRTH, WP's & your experience with an epi is better suited to someone asking about pain relief. She already said she was scared of the labour process, so how is only hearing about drugs for the PAIN going to help. Yes sometimes things don't go as we plan & drugs & interventions are necessary, but there are soooo many things you can do to help relieve the pain, & women are often NOT told of these options as administering drugs is easier. I am not against women having drugs during labour, but I am against women only talking about how 'painful' it was & scaring others into believing that they won't be able to manage without drugs.

angelhdfd I found the best pain relief during my natural labour was water. I used the shower to begin with & when I was towards the end more I hopped in the bath. The warmth of the water is comforting & helps ease back pain. Also you can try aromatherapy (talk to a licensed aromatherapist) & ma__sage is awesome. Also if you feel like being vocal eg moaning, groaning, screaming - go for it, making noise can really help.

E586467 as a first time expectant mother, i enjoyed reading your post. I am quite honestly tired of hearing women's 'horrendously painful' birth stories. my mother gave birth to me and my other 3 sublings without the need for any drugs whatsoever and said there is no need to scream during labour. it is the positive natural birth stories that i now focus on because you could literally make yourself scared to death when you hear horror stories, how many drugs you will need and how much you will scream with pain! at the end of the day we all have different pain thresholds, some of us feel we need drugs whereas others don't, so its each to their own at the end of the day. im just glad i heard about your positive natural birth story rather than negative ones!

Wow. Sorry if I came across as negative. I really just thought my story was relevant because I have experienced both a drug and drugless birth. I was just being honest. I guess I should have phrased things a bit better. If I may leave you with a better piece of advice: Be prepared for anything. Each birth is as unique as each person, so you never know exactly how it's going to go until you are going through it. You want to try natural? Good for you. Read as much as you can about it - knowledge is power. But learn about the different anesthetics that are available to you as well. If you do find it difficult to manage the pain, don't beat yourself up if you opt to use them. Statistically speaking they are safe for you and your baby and no hospital would give them to you if they weren't. Only you will know the best way to do it at the time. Keep an open mind to all possibilities, even the ones you don't want. My natural experience was completely unexpected, but now my dh and I look back at it and LAUGH. I'm such a wimp when it comes to pain that I wear it on my sleeve like a badge of courage. I'm proud of myself for doing it (even though I didn't have much of a choice). I hope you have a crazy, amazing birth story of your own one day. Good luck.

Cat24 I am glad my positive experience has given you some inspiration & hope. How far along are you? It is true that if women ONLY hear negative things about birth & how much it hurts, they will end up having a negative experience themselves because they go into it with fear which in turn causes unnecessary pain. I forgot to mention that keeping upright & forward leaning will not only help shorten the labour but will help ease some of the pain. When a womb contracts, it contracts forward & down. If you are lying down -especially on your back- your womb has to contract much harder to do the same job as it is contracting up & across, which causes each contraction to be unnecessarily more painful. Being upright (walking, kneeling, sitting, squatting) uses gravity to help birth the baby, instead of just your muscles. I recommend reading 'NEW ACTIVE BIRTH' by Janet Balaskas, it really helped me understand the birthing process, the best positions to labour/birth to minimise pain & I no longer had the fear that I did with #1.

angel I have given birth all naturally to 4 children. Each delivery was different. I won't tell you it doesn't hurt because it does, but there are natural ways to help reduce the pain and fear is the biggest! Fear of pain can make pain more intense. You need to know the process of birth, have a focus point ( for me my 1st was time. I watched the clock in 15 min periods, 2nd was a spot on the ceiling, 3rd because of no drugs he came so quick a nurse delivered him, 4th I again foccused on time) There are many good things about not using drugs. It is really mind over matter. TO give birth naturally you have to be mentally prepared. Breathing helps, I cussed some to...lol. But the pushing part is what hurts the least. Pushing makes it feel better and I don['t have any horror stories about long pushing because I didn't use meds and feeling the pain will make you want to push more effective and longer and harder. I never pushed more than 12 pushes and that was because it was my 1st. I like the Bradely Method of child birth. I am now ttc num 5 and will not use meds again. I don't regret not using meds. I had all really healthy children, except 3rd was a premie, but shee was 5lbs 15 ozs and came home with me at 48 hours even though she was 7 weeks early she also only had to stay only a few hours in NICU since I chose not to have meds. There are many benefits medically, mentally, and physically. Educate your self find a cla__s and a good support person and You CAN do it! Its only as bad as you think it is.

What E said about water is true. I had the hospital bring in these huge baskets of hot towels that were we and they kept placing them on my stomach the presure and warmth helped. Just like the cramps with AF and how hot baths help!

Sorry to post back to back but when i made my original post I hadnt read the whole thread. I thought it was much longer. What E also says about standing and such is also true. Gravity helps with the birth and using an epidural all you can do is sit there which takes longer. Its also said to be harder to push with meds especially for first time moms who don;t know exactly how to push. Pushing is less effort with out meds For me sqautting was the best way! But even if you decide to use meds still prepare your self forchild birth incase meds don;t work or wear off to early and you aren;t able to get anymore. sorry so much

E i am just over 31 weeks pregnant at the moment so im starting to think about the birth more etc. I am going to go to some ante natal cla__ses to see what they are like and socialise with other mums. I will find that book you suggested and give it a read. i want to be as prepared as i can mentally and then i think it make it better rather than just panicking about how bad the pain will be and how many st_tches i might need etc etc. i usually deal with pain mentally anyway and by breathing well as i find its never as bad as you think it is when your mind is at peace. it was good to read mama's advice and stories as well. i know it will be scary because ive not done it before but im going to try and be as positive as possible and not freak out when the pain starts!

I think it's best to go in with an open mind. Some woman go in wanting so badly to have a natural birth that they feel dissapointed with themselves if they do take something during labor. The way I would be about it is to think ok, I want to go natural but if I end up taking something that's ok too. I had to have a c-section but I had contractions 2-3 minutes apart for ten hours. I was all for an epidural when I was induced with my first. They broke my water right away and they contraction were hellish, just right on top of the other. Since I was induced, I wasn't able to get up from the bed except to pee anyway. This time though, I knew I had to have a c-section so I couldn't get a spinal till it was time for that. Any pain meds I could have had would have to be injected into my IV and would have made me groggy. I was just waiting my turn for my c-section since it wasn't considered an emergency, and since it could have been at any time I didn't want any part of my son's birth to seem fuzzy. That's why I turned them down this time. Getting up and stretching every once in a while really helped becauce my body would get sore if I layed there too long. I would just breathe through the contractions and watched tv in between. I would also watch the numbers on the monitor so I could tell when the contractions peaked and when it was starting to go down. Somehow it seemed relaxing to watch it go up then know the worst was over and I cold start to relax.

Cat24 what was suggested to me was at around 34wks onwards is doing ALOT of forward leaning as this encourages bubs to be in the best position for birth & try to avoid any positions where you are slouched backward like a recliner. Also (only if baby is head down) you can do squatting to encourage bubs to move further into your pelvis. I'm glad you're going to a birthing cla__s, it does help & you will also learn about the pros/cons of medications should things not go to plan (I really hope you can have your natural birth, but it doesn't hurt to know just in case). Also make sure anyone that will be at the birth knows your wishes, as what they say & do can make a difference to how you cope. Do you have a doctor or a midwife that will deliver the baby?