*like, although I think it goes so much further than medication. Some women feel empowered by going drug free for their births. I don't think birth experiences would be the same if men gave birth though.. I know I was bullied, disrespected, talked down to, treated like I was an idiot, was told I was a bad mother for my choices, sworn at, denied medications, etc.
It comes down to treating women as human beings during birth.
I totally understand individuals wanting to be drug free, I have a ton of friends who have had unmedicated natural births.. you know, being from hippy Vancouver Island and all ;)
I'm not always a fan of 'movements' though, since they tend to feel like they want everyone to want the same thing..
I did the drug-free thing because I believed the hype that epidurals caused:
a) respiratory distress in the baby b) slower contractions, leading to a greater likelihood of induction, leading to a greater likelihood of a c-section
Turns out those are both falsehoods and so I suffered for nothing, which really sucks.
I can totally get that labour isn't as bad for some women, or it's over so quickly that pain relief hardly enters the picture, it's just start, push and out. Lucky people those are.
i don't know where you got the info about the drugs not affecting the baby negatively.....i'm pretty sure that epidurals do and can cause great difficulty for the baby and is counter productive to an effective labour
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Actually, a book was just published that goes over a collection of recent statistics, and basically the stats show that no, epidurals don't correlate to respiratory distress, or a c-section.
Epidural Without Guilt: Childbirth Without PainI had a spinal during my c-section and I spoke to the anesthesiologist about epidurals/spinals affecting the baby. He said because the medication is delivered directly to my spinal fluid, it doesn't enter my blood supply and then does not cross the placenta and go into the baby. He said absolutely no -- it does not affect the baby. I looked into it more later and some people do say that a tiny bit could enter the blood supply, but it is very unlikely that any crosses the placenta to make it into the baby's blood supply. But then other people refute that, so I don't know. The stats show us that it is fine anyway, though. I now think that the main risk of an epidural are to the mother, not the baby
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It comes down to treating women as human beings during birth.
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I just find the natural birth movement to sometimes be extreme.
What it comes down to is supportive and adequate care.
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I'm not always a fan of 'movements' though, since they tend to feel like they want everyone to want the same thing..
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a) respiratory distress in the baby
b) slower contractions, leading to a greater likelihood of induction, leading to a greater likelihood of a c-section
Turns out those are both falsehoods and so I suffered for nothing, which really sucks.
I can totally get that labour isn't as bad for some women, or it's over so quickly that pain relief hardly enters the picture, it's just start, push and out. Lucky people those are.
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Actually, a book was just published that goes over a collection of recent statistics, and basically the stats show that no, epidurals don't correlate to respiratory distress, or a c-section.
Epidural Without Guilt: Childbirth Without PainI had a spinal during my c-section and I spoke to the anesthesiologist about epidurals/spinals affecting the baby. He said because the medication is delivered directly to my spinal fluid, it doesn't enter my blood supply and then does not cross the placenta and go into the baby. He said absolutely no -- it does not affect the baby. I looked into it more later and some people do say that a tiny bit could enter the blood supply, but it is very unlikely that any crosses the placenta to make it into the baby's blood supply. But then other people refute that, so I don't know. The stats show us that it is fine anyway, though. I now think that the main risk of an epidural are to the mother, not the baby ( ... )
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By the way -- nice to hear from you. I've missed you around here.
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