Dinobaby's No-Epidural Birth

So there's a lot of talk about natural birth and epidurals. I had dinobaby without an epidural. It was awesome and it was rough. Would I do it again? Yes. Will I do it again? ...I dunno. 

Here's an excerpt from an email I wrote while the experience was still fresh:

"The actual labor was completely different than I expected, which surprised me because I had asked a lot of people about their experience and had read a lot. I guess it's just one of those things you can't really understand through someone else's perspective. 

I was induced around 2:45pm and he was born 6 hours later--so relatively short. I didn't have an epidural, but I really don't know how I feel about it. When we have another child, I don't know whether I'll try to go natural again [...] since I have no frame of reference, the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction is probably the same bringing a child into the world in whatever way it happens. While the pain was rather intense, in itself it wasn't all that overwhelming. What I didn't expect was that labor was a much more mental trial rather than a physical one. While I feel like I've given more physically in my life, it was by far the most mentally exhausting thing I've ever done. It was a really unique experience where I knew exactly what I sacrificing for. The majority of the time the contractions just happened to me and you ignore the pain and focus on something else. But during pushing, the last few contractions, I was choosing to escalate how much it hurt in order to get him here, which was a really difficult choice for me to make so deliberately."

Isn't my sister gorgeous?
(also notice how my husband looks like he hasn't slept at all, he didn't)

I've also had a lot of friends ask me about different pain management techniques so here's my run down.

Hypnobabies--maybe it'll work for you. Did it work for me? No. I totally buy into the concept that your brain is amazingly powerful, and your perceptions really do change the way you experience things. However, Hypnobabies didn't do that for me. It's really goofy. Like, everything gets the prefix "hypno" kind of goofy. "Your hypno-birthing experience" "hypno-partner" "hypno-anesthesia" And the general tone was anti-doctor, like as soon as you get to the hospital you're supposed to put up signs that essentially say "take your medical training and experience and shove it you-know-where, because in this room the pregnant lady is bringing her child into this world with unicorns and rainbows and won't be needing any of your help." Hypnobabies also told you that there would be no pain, just extreme pressure. ...which really just reminds me of getting shots at the dentist. "You'll feel some pressure as this piece of steel punctures your gums" 

Yay midwives!

Midwives-- Oh my heck, I love them. Let me say that again. I LOVED my midwives, and the particular midwife that helped me deliver-- double helpings of love. Because what you really need is no-nonsense  encouragement. She knew when and where to push to relieve the pain. She didn't get too poetic or artsy. She just got the job done. And, no it wasn't just the moral support, because I had about one hundred people in the hospital room with me (okay, maybe just four) and they were very loving and supportive. However when my midwife finally arrived it was like being handed a life-preserver in the middle of a stormy ocean. Midwives are the bomb. I never want to have a baby without one. 

Hospitals-- I don't really get the angst here. Granted, I've heard some pretty lousy stories from my close family so I know that hospitals aren't always super awesome to laboring ladies. However, mine was awesome. No one rolled their eyes when I said I was going natural. Nor did they say "I told you so" when I asked for the anesthesiologist in the black moments of transition while my midwife was delivering another baby. And when I told them I didn't actually need the epidural afterall, they were fine with that too. The staff was very nice, very supportive. The one tiny drawback of the hospital was that I was dying of thirst and I really, really, really wanted some juice and they wouldn't let me (just in case of C-sections, they don't want you having junk in your stomach when they put you under).  The cost was exorbitant...but that's the broken medical system for you.  

Meditation--...if I was going to go the natural route again, I would definitely look into meditation. Because like I said in the email, the pain is all a mind game. And unlike hypnobabies, we're all different  and imagining some mystical wave of pain-relief wasn't my thing. More of my thing was thinking about how divine my body was, and that the pain wasn't an indication of harm. I've heard good things about listening to a few instrumental pieces of music with lots of ascending and descending lines, and using your knowledge of the music to give you momentum through contractions (that was advice from a piano performance major though, so who knows)

Bottom-line if you're pregnant and you've stumbled across this page, do whatever you want. No one's the same. We all start out in labor at different stages of readiness--physically and mentally. Did I mention I was induced? Right. 

So really, don't sweat it. Get the epidural if you want to, and don't if you don't.  

Oh and by the way. 

When you think you're done, you're not. All you want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep, but you can't. There's stitches. They'll check your vital signs, and they'll make you pee, not to mention the utter weirdness of nursing for the first time. Just expect it. It was four more hours before I was actually able to close my eyes. (And yes, I did get medication immediately after dinobaby was born. I'm not a masochist. You better believe I was taking Oxycontin and a whale of a dose of ibuprofen regularly around the clock.)

What do you think about epidurals?  Did you like your birth experience? Or do think the very phrase "birth experience" is a little too granola for you?