I went through the labour without any painkiller, which was not the plan.
My water broke, went to the hospital, my friend came with a bottle of labour induced massage oil which I rubbed all over my belly and my pain tolerance is rather high, so with several pushes, dr had to perform episiotomy and baby is out.

My initial birth plan is go for epidural but as our little one decided to arrive 3.5 weeks early, the anaesthetist was not around and the midwife assured me that epidural is not necessary for my case. She told me to try and I'm so glad I followed her advice. My mind was all about getting the baby out!

A friend of mine wrote this article and I thought it would be helpful here for those that are considering a non-medicated birth.

http://resources.thefeministbreeder....cal-induction/

As for me, I wish I had been strong enough to decline the epi! I was 42 weeks pregnant before I went into labor on a Friday night. I had a scheduled induction the following Monday so I was thrilled to have started contractions naturally! However, my labor did not progress after 12 hours so they did give me pitocin. It still took another 12 hours of laboring before the doctor said no more (I only dilated to 7 cm and was at 7 cm for a long time) and I ended up with a c-section. I knew that things don't always go as you want them to, but I was still so disappointed that I could not have him vaginally and cried before they took me away and after it was over. However, I had a beautiful and healthy baby boy who I just adore. It was all worth it, no matter what the original plan was.

Good luck to the mommies to be! And hats off to y'all that did it naturally! :)

Well props to all you ladies but I have no desire or want to experience natural child birth. I loved my epi for the first and want it again for the second! LOL

Originally Posted by Chantilly0379

Well props to all you ladies but I have no desire or want to experience natural child birth. I loved my epi for the first and want it again for the second! LOL

Hehe I completely understand!

To be honest I am scared of needles.and the thought of a huge needle.going into my.back freaks me out more than anything haha

I had a natural birth with my first. Took 6 hours from the time my waters broke ( just like in the movies, the gush!!!) I was and still am scared of caesarians and especially epidurals do I think I just willed myself into a natural birth. I admit, I had about 5 to 8 puffs of happy gas right at the end but nothing more. The midwife had to wrestle it away from me. It was only a midwife and my husband that delivered the baby. Not a Dr in sight. Not that I didn't want a Dr, I live in a country town and we are lucky if there is ever a nurse available at the local hospital.

Now , I am pregnant with my second ( even though it's my 5 th pregnancy) I am having this baby at a larger base hospital that is 55 kms away. I'm considered high risk cause of my age ( 39.5), previous miscarriages and some bleeding in these last few months. My specialist, other Drs and midwives all available.

Originally Posted by StylishFarmer

I had a natural birth with my first. Took 6 hours from the time my waters broke ( just like in the movies, the gush!!!) I was and still am scared of caesarians and especially epidurals do I think I just willed myself into a natural birth. I admit, I had about 5 to 8 puffs of happy gas right at the end but nothing more. The midwife had to wrestle it away from me. It was only a midwife and my husband that delivered the baby. Not a Dr in sight. Not that I didn't want a Dr, I live in a country town and we are lucky if there is ever a nurse available at the local hospital. Now , I am pregnant with my second ( even though it's my 5 th pregnancy) I am having this baby at a larger base hospital that is 55 kms away. I'm considered high risk cause of my age ( 39.5), previous miscarriages and some bleeding in these last few months. My specialist, other Drs and midwives all available.

Wishing you the best for your delivery!

Originally Posted by Sternchen

It really was a wonderful experience. It was hard and it still hurt, but the water helped take pressure off of my hip joints, my back, etc. The Business of Being Born is definitely an eye-opener! I thought the film was briliant!

good to know. the hospital has a birthing tub. my older sister works there as well. i hope i can do it as naturally as possible. i actually wanted to do it a birth center, but they aren't covered by my insurance. kinda sad that the non-hospital method is pricier than all the dr. stuff...

I had a natural birth, though completely NOT by choice. I woke up in the middle of the night with some slight cramping and within the next 45 minutes I was at the hospital, already fully dilated. Kiddo was out less than two hours after I woke up.

I remember being taken into the delivery room and asking the nurse when I would get the epidural. Then the words "Oh, it's too late for that" .....and I was like, "NooooooOOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooooooo!"

The pain was bad, although I admit not as bad as I was envisioning before it all happened, but then I have a very high pain tolerance. The contractions felt like REALLY bad menstrual cramps, combined with a really bad urge to push. It was like, cramps plus indigestion. I remember afterwards the nurse asking how bad the pain was on a scale of 1 to 10 and I said it was about an 8. The contractions were really all that I felt. I didn't feel the "ring of fire" or pretty much anything down there; I was concentrating way too much on pushing and the contractions than on anything else.

I was so fortunate that labor was quick, and didn't have to deal with any sort of side effects from drugs. I was up and walking within a few hours afterwards. I've heard some horror stories from friends....one had an epi and ended up with a c-section and was bedridden and out of it for two days afterwards, another had an epi and her legs went numb -- it took 6 months for her to get full feeling back in them. But if I had to do it again (well, OVER again, because there will NOT be a next time), unless I knew labor would be fast again, I would still get the epidural. I can't imagine having to go through those contractions for hours on end.

Edit: Oh, I forgot that I did have an episiotomy. That wasn't in the plan, but doc said that baby was coming out so fast that I would have torn. So I DID have a little bit of local anesthetic down there. I was told all this AFTER the birth, though. I wasn't in any state to pay attention to details during!

With my first pregnancy, my son was 10 days overdue and there was not a lot of amniotic fluid left so I had to be induced.

It took 16 hours, an epidural and an episiotomy to get him out.

I really wanted a natural birth, but sometimes, you have to do whatever it takes to have both mother and child safe.

My second pregnancy was a lot easier. This time my daughter was a week early and it only took 6 hours to get her out. I had the pethidine, but it did nothing for me.

I REALLY want a natural water birth this time round, but i am absolutely terrified of birth full stop after the trouble that i had with my daughter, my story goes:
I started having contractions on the Weds evening and lost my plug, they were then on and off again for the next few days and finally on Saturday i went into actual established labour.
By the time it came to pushing (late Sat evening) i was already really tired but i tried pushing anyway, they had me push for HOURS and baby just wasn't coming. They then decided it was because i was just too small to push her out and babies heartrate dropped drastically so i ended up with an emergency episiotomy and ventouse, and OMG did it hurt like hell! Even worse was then being stitched up for well over an hour afterwards with no pain relief, i thought the pain would never end!
So all in all i have realised that it is untrue that your body will naturally 'open up' wide enough to let baby out, mine just didn't and without the episiotomy and ventouse i have no idea what would of happened to us, but understandably i am terrified for this birth because although me and my daughter was fine eventually (which is all that matters) i really don't fancy going through the same experience a second time....

Originally Posted by platinum_girly

I REALLY want a natural water birth this time round, but i am absolutely terrified of birth full stop after the trouble that i had with my daughter, my story goes: I started having contractions on the Weds evening and lost my plug, they were then on and off again for the next few days and finally on Saturday i went into actual established labour. By the time it came to pushing (late Sat evening) i was already really tired but i tried pushing anyway, they had me push for HOURS and baby just wasn't coming. They then decided it was because i was just too small to push her out and babies heartrate dropped drastically so i ended up with an emergency episiotomy and ventouse, and OMG did it hurt like hell! Even worse was then being stitched up for well over an hour afterwards with no pain relief, i thought the pain would never end! So all in all i have realised that it is untrue that your body will naturally 'open up' wide enough to let baby out, mine just didn't and without the episiotomy and ventouse i have no idea what would of happened to us, but understandably i am terrified for this birth because although me and my daughter was fine eventually (which is all that matters) i really don't fancy going through the same experience a second time....

I'm curious what you did to prepare for birth last time around? Did you take any classes, read any books, hire a doula, etc.?

If you read Ina May Gaskin, she believes a lot of the process of dilation is psychological. It is interesting. I worry that you might be setting yourself up for failure by stressing about your previous birth experience. Most women can have a vaginal birth without the episiotomy, etc. There is a good chance also that your body will cooperate with you better this second time around (most second labors are significantly quicker than first labors).

My recommendation would be to do some reading, and some thinking and searching inside yourself so you can feel ready and prepared and confident for this birth. Your body has done the process once, and should do it even better next time! Good luck.

Originally Posted by Litigatrix

I'm curious what you did to prepare for birth last time around? Did you take any classes, read any books, hire a doula, etc.? If you read Ina May Gaskin, she believes a lot of the process of dilation is psychological. It is interesting. I worry that you might be setting yourself up for failure by stressing about your previous birth experience. Most women can have a vaginal birth without the episiotomy, etc. There is a good chance also that your body will cooperate with you better this second time around (most second labors are significantly quicker than first labors). My recommendation would be to do some reading, and some thinking and searching inside yourself so you can feel ready and prepared and confident for this birth. Your body has done the process once, and should do it even better next time! Good luck.

Yes i went to ante-natal classes, watched birthing videos, etc but the fact of the matter is that some women just have very small pelvises and birthing canals and nothing can change that, it had NOTHING to do with dilation (my cervix dilated perfectly fine) but it has to do with the fact that the babys head got stuck in my left hip-bone and then even when we got past that stage i was just not wide enough to birth without the help of the episiotomy, i would of tore all ways to h£ll if i had of continued to push without the episiotomy (and even then i do not know if my muscles are too fierce to of even torn, because for the ferocity of pushing the baby just wasn't budging)
At the end of the day you cannot understand the situation if you are blessed enough to have a *ahem* looser vagina that can birth naturally without instrumental aid...

Originally Posted by platinum_girly

Yes i went to ante-natal classes, watched birthing videos, etc but the fact of the matter is that some women just have very small pelvises and birthing canals and nothing can change that, it had NOTHING to do with dilation (my cervix dilated perfectly fine) but it has to do with the fact that the babys head got stuck in my left hip-bone and then even when we got past that stage i was just not wide enough to birth without the help of the episiotomy, i would of tore all ways to h£ll if i had of continued to push without the episiotomy (and even then i do not know if my muscles are too fierce to of even torn, because for the ferocity of pushing the baby just wasn't budging) At the end of the day you cannot understand the situation if you are blessed enough to have a *ahem* looser vagina that can birth naturally without instrumental aid...

I'm not really sure what to take from your comment about having a loose vagina. Your response is incredibly rude. I hope you did not intend it that way, and that I am misreading what you wrote.

I don't know that I have much else to say to you. You seem convinced that you have an anatomical limitation. Maybe you do. If that is your attitude going in, then it seems likely you will have an episiotomy again. Studies have shown that tears heal better than episiotomies, so they are going out of style, at least among doctors who pay attention to the current research in the U.S.

For the record, I had to push with every ounce of strength I had for 2 hours before my son was born. It's not like I just lifted my leg and he fell out. Jesus.

Originally Posted by Litigatrix

I'm not really sure what to take from your comment about having a loose vagina. Your response is incredibly rude. I hope you did not intend it that way, and that I am misreading what you wrote. I don't know that I have much else to say to you. You seem convinced that you have an anatomical limitation. Maybe you do. If that is your attitude going in, then it seems likely you will have an episiotomy again. Studies have shown that tears heal better than episiotomies, so they are going out of style, at least among doctors who pay attention to the current research in the U.S. For the record, I had to push with every ounce of strength I had for 2 hours before my son was born. It's not like I just lifted my leg and he fell out. Jesus.

Well to be honest i was slightly insulted by what you wrote to me in your initial post so i guess that it depends on how you actually mean things, but to tell somebody that basically they did not do enough in order to prepare themselves and that they could of pushed their baby out completely naturally (when you are quite clearly not part of the staff that delivered my baby) was offensive and one-minded...

Women are all built completely differently and no 2 vaginas are the same, i am not saying that i have an 'anatomical limitation' but i am saying that some women have very small vaginas (to the point where it very often hurts even whilst having sex) and whilst my cervix dilated fully and i went without drugs for any pain then the baby just could not come out of me (no matter how hard both she and i tried!) and the midwifes AND doctor decided that enough was enough and i needed intervention (and i just thank goodness that it was only of the instrumental variety and not c-section)

I did not think for one minute that you just popped your baby out (i would not be so quick to presume about another womans birth) but i was trying to explain the difference in womens vaginas are as different as womans faces and no 2 are the same... I am actually envious of the women that are looser down there and can give birth easier, without aid

Originally Posted by platinum_girly

Well to be honest i was slightly insulted by what you wrote to me in your initial post so i guess that it depends on how you actually mean things, but to tell somebody that basically they did not do enough in order to prepare themselves and that they could of pushed their baby out completely naturally (when you are quite clearly not part of the staff that delivered my baby) was offensive and one-minded... Women are all built completely differently and no 2 vaginas are the same, i am not saying that i have an 'anatomical limitation' but i am saying that some women have very small vaginas (to the point where it very often hurts even whilst having sex) and whilst my cervix dilated fully and i went without drugs for any pain then the baby just could not come out of me (no matter how hard both she and i tried!) and the midwifes AND doctor decided that enough was enough and i needed intervention (and i just thank goodness that it was only of the instrumental variety and not c-section) I did not think for one minute that you just popped your baby out (i would not be so quick to presume about another womans birth) but i was trying to explain the difference in womens vaginas are as different as womans faces and no 2 are the same... I am actually envious of the women that are looser down there and can give birth easier, without aid

I did not know anything about what you did to prepare for your first birth, so how could I be telling you that you did not do enough? That's why I was asking. If you take the time to read my earlier post, I was clearly inquiring what you did to prepare, not accusing you of anything. If you feel you did everything you could the first time around, that's great. If you didn't, maybe you should this time if your goal is to have a water birth. The reason I mentioned Ina May is because you seem to have a mindset that you have this anatomical limitation that prevents you from having an intervention-free birth, and a lot of what she writes about is how a lot of these issues can be psychological. But if you're not interested, by all means, carry on with your current mindset.

AFAIK water births are incompatible with episiotomies and vacuum suction, so if a water birth is what you want, you'd better figure out what you can do to avoid the interventions that would interfere with that plan. That's my only point. I'm not sure why you brought everyone else's vaginas into it.