We've had all our children "naturally." What does that mean? Basically, it means no pain medication, but more indepth it means no interventions. Wesley's birth has a couple of exceptions, but I'll explain that more indepth in his birth story.
"Why on earth would we choose to have NO pain medication," you may ask? Well, honestly, it all started out kind of selfishly. I've had back issues since I was 16 because of being rear ended. Then other accidents caused more problems. When it came time to start thinking about childbirth, I KNEW I didn't want a huge needle in MY back because of complications I had heard about from friends. So, I thought I would like to try "natural childbirth." I had a friend who had done this twice. From her, I learned about The Bradley Method. This was in FL.
When we became pregnant with Olivia (in Tx) we looked up Bradley classes. This is normally a 12 week course, but the class we signed up for was 10 classes. It was VERY educational for both of us. Dano & I learned a lot!
Originally, I was going to a traditional OB/GYN and planning a hospital birth... minus the drugs, IVs, etc. However, we began to realize this was going to be an uphill battle! We would try to discuss the alternative route we wanted to take with my OB, and we realized it was going to be a fight to do what we thought was BEST for the baby and for me during delivery and afterwards.
Yes, things had changed. Like I said, originally, the "no drugs" thing was about me avoiding a big needle in my back! NOW, after starting the Bradley classes, we realized the "no drug thing" was ideal for the baby, too! Not only that, but the birth process just happened a lot better when interventions were left out of the picture (induction, pain medications, continual fetal monitoring, time limits, no eating for mother, etc., etc., etc.). Also, the likelyhood of a c-section drops dramatically when things are left alone!
So, since we were faced with the dilema of fighting for everything we wanted (or didn't) or changing doctors. We began to pray for peace about staying with our present OB since I was already about 6 months along with Olivia. Well, God never granted us that peace... so now what?
Well, if you "stay tuned" I will tell you what happened next!
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We do natural too!I too was in a very bad car accident when I was 18 and ended up being told I would never have children because of all spine injuries. I have a nerve block in my spine and I did not want to take the chance of injuring myself anymore with an epidural. Besides the fact I am terrified of that huge needle! It is sooo much better for the baby and that was all I was worried about! I am just glad there are others out there that feel the true pain! Whew!!!!
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