Natural Childbirth

I had a natural childbirth when I had Baby. I wasn't completely against medications during labor. Believe me, I signed the form for the epidural, just in case I needed it. I figured that I'd never been through this before, so how did I know whether or not I could handle it? But I wanted to try. Some people looked at me like I was nuts for wanting to have a natural childbirth. But I wanted to try to do it for several reasons: 1.) I figured I was capable of making it through the pain without meds. 2.) I didn't want Baby to come out all drugged up. 3.) I didn't like the idea of a needle in my back. 4.) I wanted to be able to get out of bed. 5.) I've had severe nausea with anesthesia before and didn't want that to happen again. 6.) I hate even having my mouth numbed while I'm at the dentist. Why would I want half my body numbed?

Even though I had plenty of reasons for not wanting an epidural, I hadn't ruled it out. And I've got to be honest: If I hadn't had hubby right there through the contractions, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. When a contraction would start, if he wasn't right next to me, I'd feel anxious and I'd call him to come over to me and hold my hand. He'd hold my hand and I'd close my eyes, and we breathed together--hee hee hoo--through it. I would have been overwhelmed and panicky without him. But he was right there with me, telling me I was doing great.

Even though I wasn't drugged up, I was out of it for much of my labor. At one point, the nurse came in and said, "Well, they're sending me home." And I thought she said they were sending ME home. In my head I was thinking, WHAT?!? I thought they were sending me home to labor for a while. It took me several minutes to comprehend that they were not, in fact, sending me (the woman in hard labor) home. Rather, they were sending her (the nurse) home, and I was getting a new nurse.

My sense of time during labor was nil. I couldn't tell you if 10 minutes or 2 hours had passed. The whole afternoon and evening were a blur. It felt like I pushed for 5 minutes (I actually pushed for 20). Suddenly, it was 8 p.m. and I had a perfect, sweet little baby in my arms.

The best part of having a natural childbirth was how normal I felt afterwards. I felt fantastic! I probably felt too fantastic, since I proceeded to not get any sleep that night. I was too excited about having a baby! Between my own excitement, and the nurses coming in every few hours to help me breastfeed, and getting moved to a new room at 4 am, I got about 40 minutes of sleep that first night. Not a great thing, considering many sleep-deprived nights were in my future!! If I had to do that again, I'd try to calm down and get some rest that first night. But my point is, I felt great. And I would do it again, as long as hubby is there to hold my hand.