Views on Childbirth - part 2

Before I had any kids I had never even thought about or heard about homebirth. When I became pregnant with M&M I heard about a group of certified nurse midwives (CNMs) through some people in my BYU married student ward. They were located in American Fork and reported to be really good. Since I have never been crazy about too many doctors during my short lifetime the idea sounded intriguing to me and they were covered by my insurance plan. So I made an appointment to attend an introductory meeting where they meet with groups of expectant parents and talk about their practice, insurance, hospitals, etc. I think that that was the first place that I heard any mention about homebirth. One of the midwives that was conducting the meeting talked briefly about their beliefs about childbirth - how it was a natural process and that it was even safely done at home. The other thing that happened around this time is that I started immersing myself in childbirth websites on the internet. There were quite a few that I found that had birth stories that people had written and submitted for others to read. I became fascinated with reading other people's experiences. The one thing that struck me the most while reading birth stories was the marked difference between women who gave birth in the hospital with an epidural versus those who had natural, drug-free births. It was amazing to me the difference in attitude of these women. The women who gave birth without drugs had such positive views on their births and felt so empowered by the whole experience. Even more amazing were the experiences of women who gave birth at home, where they were in their own element and in control. I was increasingly saddened though by the numerous stories of women who chose to give birth in the hospital and through the process of hospital "procedures" were subjected to intervention after intervention which ultimately led to a C-section to "save" the baby.

At first I wasn't even interested in the homebirth part until I read more about it and the safety of it (but that came later on). I was also introduced to the idea of waterbirth which some stories also mentioned. More than anything though I quickly knew that I wanted a natural birth. I wanted to be able to have full feeling of my body & what it was trying to tell me during each stage of the birth process. I wanted to be able to walk & move around. I wanted to be fully awake & drug-free when I welcomed my baby into the world - to feel the natural high that comes after childbirth. I also wanted my baby to be drug-free and alert after birth. Another reason drug-free was appealing to me is that I have never been crazy about taking drugs for anything (even over-the-counter medicine) - I have to be pretty miserable before I will even take some Tylenol or ibuprofen. So the idea of being able to go through childbirth drug-free was very appealing to me in that aspect as well.

When I mentioned natural childbirth to DH, he thought that I was absolutely crazy. He felt that we have hospitals & drugs for a reason and didn't think that I could ever manage the pain associated with childbirth. He even said that in the scriptures you read that childbirth is meant to be hard & painful - so why would you not want drugs... Needless to say I was a little disheartened by this but I wasn't ready to give up yet. At one of my appointments one of the CNMs asked me if I was planning on taking a childbirth class. I mentioned that I wasn't too crazy about taking one offered at the hospital and was somewhat interested in natural childbirth. So she gave me the name and phone number of someone she knew who she thought was teaching some independent natural childbirth classes. I called the phone number and the lady who answered said that she wasn't teaching at that time but she knew someone else who was and gave me another name & phone number (it turns out that the first lady I talked to is now my midwife - I made the connection several years later).

So DH & I attended natural childbirth classes with one other couple through an independent instructor. DH & I absolutely loved the class & it was a real eye opener for both of us - but especially for DH. We learned about the whole process of childbirth and what the body goes through at each of the various stages. We also learned what the cause of pain in childbirth is and how to try and cope with it. I learned most of all that childbirth is almost more of a psychological battle than a physical one - so much of what a woman experiences can be changed by how she views the whole process in her mind. The reason we feel pain is because we are afraid and trying to control something that our body can do on its own. The less you fear the process and give in to your body the less pain you will experience (this is definitely hard to do). After attending a few classes, DH was converted to the idea of natural childbirth and we were both determined to have as natural a birth as we possibly could.