Why I Chose a Non-Medicated Birth

I have been incredibly honest from day one of pregnancy (both with myself and y’all) that I am going into this whole pregnancy/labor/mommy thing knowing… nothing. I mean, literally, nothing. Other than the fact I knew with everything in me I was ready to be a mama, I had zero grasp of ALL THE THINGS. How to change a diaper… never done it before, so I am not really positive. Bring up sleep or potty training and I just about want to tinkle my pants my self. But, like most everything in my life, when I make my mind up about something, I do it. I do it all in, and I make my own opinions and methods to do so. I take advice and ask a lot of questions, but all with the goal of custom tailoring things to my own ideas.

With that, I knew I was going to have an opinion about how I give birth. I would say I am like 60-40 on the crunchy vs. not-s0-crunchy scale. (40% of me being the “crunchy”) I do not diffuse oils or immediately go to a suitcase of them when I am sick or hurt, but I do have a few I use when I don’t want to take medicine. There will be a couple in my hospital bag! And, though I eat as clean and healthy as possible (and much because of my health, I have to), I certainly don’t have my own garden growing in the backyard. With that context (so that you don’t immediately discount me as one “type of mom” vs. other “type of mom”- both are great!) the location and methods for my birth were really important to me. I knew pretty deep to my core that I did not want a medicated birth -to the best of my ability- because of my experience with medications in my life. Allergies to antibiotics that we didn’t even know about caused a lifetime of issues, and I don’t want anything in me if I can help it. (But, I do believe medicine is a gift of God, so I am not anti-medicine in the slightest.)

Anyways, I began researching ways to avoid an epidural, which if I am honest is 1000% the leading factor initially making me explore a non-medicated birth. I am the queasiest person you will ever meet, and ever since I can remember (I mean, truly since I was young), one of my biggest fears in having a child has been- and still is to this day- having to get an epidural. So, I would rather endure a shorter labor with more pain than a likely longer labor (I will get into that) with zero pain but no control over my body.

Every woman is different, and I respect every single method a woman chooses for herself to bring a human into this world. Like, did you just read that? You’re bringing a HUMAN INTO THE WORLD. I ain’t judging how you decide to do it.

I am also most definitely not saying that what I have chosen to do is the end all, be all, perfect, most spectacular way to do birth. Not even in the slightest, especially considering I haven’t ACTUALLY done it yet. But, I will share more in depth the reasons I am willing to try a non-medicated birth vs. a traditional medicated hospital birth.

1. Inducing labor prematurely will almost certainly cause a longer labor. Your body knows when it’s time. **There are absolutely scenarios that inducing is SO necessary. I am thankful for science and medical advances that have allowed for this as an option in life or death situations for mom and/or baby. 
2. Pitocin is no doubt sometimes necessary, and I am not against it. But, it does take your labor from 0 to 100 instantly and can cause big issues. This paired with premature induction can cause a laundry list of potential issues and outcomes, and your statistic for ending in a c-section sky rockets.
3. I want to feel when to push rather than being told when to push. Doctors are doing the very best they can in monitoring your body throughout pregnancy, but bottom line- nobody can know what your body truly is feeling except for YOU. Women without epidurals are often heard saying, “I have to push right now”, and they do and it is successful. Women who cannot feel what’s going on down there sometimes are told to push when, if they were unmedicated, would not feel it necessary or the right time to. This can cause higher risk of tears (I cringe every time I write that word) and hemorrhaging, which obviously is both painful and a longer recovery.
4. I want to be able to walk around and get into positions that I feel are most successful for my body to labor and deliver in. When you are numb from the ribs down, you obviously can no longer move and are forced to stay on your back.
5. I do not want an IV in my back while being forced to stay on my back my entire labor and delivery.
6. I want to be able to labor in the shower/tub.
7. I want to go home as quickly as possible post-birth to get into my new routine and getting baby situated. (Again, this is in relation to recovery time with epidural vs. no epidural and all the potential things that can happen with interventions.)
8. I want to eat and be as present as possible for as long as possible.
   

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   I hope this helps you guys out who have asked me to share why exactly I chose a non-medicated birth. We are taking classes with my midwife every week that are essentially training Paul to be my coach (or doula), and learning methods to make my non-medicated birth better and more successful. All this to say, too, if the moment came where medicine or interventions were necessary, CLEARLY we are going to do whatever is best for Baby K. What my midwife says is this, and note that it’s not ALWAYS true but often is: Once you use one intervention, it’s likely more will be needed and cause further delay of delivery. Being I am a git r’ done kinda girl, this is a huge reason why I have chosen non-medicated.

My goal is a quick, seamless, from home for as long as possible labor, and -most importantly- a healthy baby boy in my arms at the end of all this.

I love you guys and -as always- thank you for following along this crazy journey on The Cake, for being part of my life, and contributing to this community. I am SO THANKFUL for each of you. Now, can you believe it is… 47 days until my due date?!?! HOW. Like, seriously, how?

I will just be over here hyperventilating, but y’all have a spectacular day. 😉

xoxo- Han

All photos by Cottonwood Road Photography for The Cake by Hannah

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