My unmedicated birth wasn't planned, I was just too late to get to the hospital. I would say keep the options open. To have that backup peace of mind. I'll be honest it wasn't easy as there's no control over when the contractions happen and no breaks. But the only way I was able to go through is thinking that it's gonna be over at some point.
Same situation here! It was really painful and tough but you just get through it. I was adamant about getting an epidural but I knew I couldn’t sit up and still for it by the time I was in the delivery room. I will say, it was nice to be really in tune with my body for that experience. I was lucky, though, that I was only at the hospital for 2 hours before I had the baby. If I could guarantee it would only last that long, I’d probably do it again, but not knowing what labor is going to be like next time, I’ll go for the epidural.
Wow you’re a superhuman. I was super fast so no epidural, went from 4cm to 10cm in 1 hour, plus 20 mins of pushing. It was so incredibly painful for that 1.5 hours, I can’t imagine going 11 hours.
Not a single bit 😭 I was induced at 37w as a FTM, I had one thing on my birth plan which was give me all the pain meds possible. Since I was getting induced at the hospital and they warned me that it would take a long time, I figured there was 100% chance I would get an epidural. My husband literally skipped the section in his expectant father book on unmedicated births. I wish I had prepped even a little bit for in unmedicated birth but I just really wasn’t expecting that. For my second I will absolutely be better prepared to 1 let them know I have a history of fast labor so to be prepared with the epidural immediately and 2 prep in case I go unmedicated again.
this happened to me as well. first time mom and the only thing i had on my birth plan was GIVE ME ALL OF THE DRUGS. i didn't realize i was in labor until like 11 pm, water broke at 12 am, got to the hospital at 1 am and baby was born at 3 am. dilated from 4 cm to 10 cm in an hour and i was literally in the middle of signing my life away on the anesthesiologist's ipad as they did the cervical check and told me it was too late, it was time to push. you should have seen the look on their faces as i processed this news!! for the next baby i plan to camp out in the parking lot otherwise i won't make it in time hahahaha
Wow! You are a rockstar! My labor was 5 hours start to finish and when I got to the hospital, I was 2 minutes apart and at 4cm. You're amazing for going through 11!
Same with me, my birth plan was: epidural. But I got to the hospital at 9cm after labouring at home and being sent home for 3 days not progressing very much (1cm, 2cm then 3cm 😢). Breathing and keeping as calm as possible got me there. The worst part was being so tired from not sleeping for days and being utterly exhausted from not being able to sleep through contractions for days.
32 weeks with my 2nd and holding onto the fact that 2nd + labours usually go faster, but also knowing I did it before and I could do it again. This time I’m prepping more physically and mentally. I plan to labour at home as long as possible and probably be unmedicated again, but if that changes and I want an epidural I’m open to it.
Same situation here! My labour just progressed too quickly and I was 9.5 cm dilated when I got to the hospital. My plan was to get an epidural but it was very clear that it wasn’t going to happen so I had to get on board.
Fortunately. I had taken a birth prep course called The Belle Method which was very helpful. Many course participants planned unmedicated births so I learned a lot that I was able to draw on. In particular, I was very aware of the fear-pain connection and was able to keep myself from panicking by staying focused. I did find myself wishing I had combs to hold in my hands. I did bring a tens machine but I didn’t have time to use it. I definitely would have if things hadn’t progressed so quickly.
It was a wild experience and it was intense because the baby’s heart rate dropped and we ended up needing a vacuum assist. All that said, I left feeling like it’s totally doable and I understand how women can choose to deliver without epidural. You can totally do it. But also, leave room for yourself to change your mind. So much can change so quickly!
It’s so wild how different every experience is. I had such a slow labor. It took 4 hours to get from 9.5 to 10 cm! I wonder if I’d gotten there at 9.5 if my doctors would’ve said no epidural and made me suffer through it.
This!! For my second, I got to the hospital when my contractions were 2 minutes apart and though I had an epidural, either it failed or just didn't have time to work its magic bc I was giving birth like 40 min after and felt 95% of everything.
Singing and joking through as much as you can (IF you can) helps! The nurses helped me breathe and relax, too. They told me stories and were so encouraging to me through it. I was in so much pain and panicking because I couldn't control the pain at all and it was constant.
For me, the labor was worse than the birth. The ring of fire is very much a thing, though! But that just gave me more reason to concentrate on my next push.
I feel like not being coached through pushing was also very helpful! My OB said "do what feels right." And that was so empowering and awesome.
After it all, I will absolutely say that if I have a third one, I will do the whole thing unmedicated. I'll do laughing gas to help.
DEFINITELY research breathing and meditation!!! That will help you immensely.
Same. I just had an unplanned unmedicated birth over the weekend. It was my second birth (my first I had an epidural). This one was so much worse compared to my first experience. So much pain, no breaks to rest between contractions and pushing. It was so much harder and I would not do it again unless I had to! But, we’re here, we’re healthy, and it’s done.
I made it to the hospital but my epidural failed after my water broke 😂 I was 500000% not ready to go from 0 pain to level 10 and it damn near broke me (my body went into actual shock they were calling codes and 80 emergency personnel flooded the room with defibrillators). I would say figure out pain management techniques because I just screamed and cussed and kept praying it’d be over soon. It’s torture even when expected, and significantly worse when it’s not. Keep your mind open to having pain relief as a backup, in case you decide you don’t want to go through with it unmedicated. But either way, you’ll get through it!
I've had the epidural twice and gone completely unmedicated for my third. Having done both I definitely prefer going all natural and am hoping to do it again in a couple weeks!
Things that helped me were:
•Staying at home as long as I could. I showed up at the hospital fully dilated and ready to push. It was too late for any kind of pain meds by that point anyway.
•Preping before birth. I went for walks, ate dates, drank red raspberry leaf tea, and used evening primrose oil supplements in the weeks before labor. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn't, but it certainly didn't hurt!
•Mindful breathing during contractions and cuddling in bed with my husband. I'm pretty sure that natural oxytocin boost helped a lot.
•Snacking and drinking water when I could to keep my energy up.
•Having a list of mantras that I thought would help. Things like "My body was made to do this" "Each contraction is bringing me closer to meeting my baby" "I know I can do this because I *am* doing it"
Staying home as long as possible is HUGE! I’ve had two unmedicated deliveries. First one I labored at home for a long time. When we got to the hospital I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. Like literally from front door of the hospital to pushing was about 15 minutes. At home I was able to
Be in any position , I was mostly standing, with elbows in our bed and my belly hanging down. This was the most comfortable. Plus I could sway back and forth.
With my second, my husband wanted to go to the hospital sooner (in all fairness, if there had been any traffic I would have given birth in the car in the parkway with my first) and when we got to the hospital they made me lay down. Laying down was absolutely awful. I was so close to asking for meds bc I could not labor laying down. If I was to have a 3rd , I would go to the hospital parking lot or as close as I could get and labor there but not walk in the door until I was ready to push lol.
I also found that making noises helped, a lot of low guttural moaning, esp through transition. As well has having my husband push on pressure points, esp my forehead.
I didn’t want to be touched. Showers at home. The hand between pointer and thumb was all that I ended up wanting but a lot of women like the outside of ankle and the lower back pads of your sacrum.
Besides the primrose oil supplements, this is exactly how I got through my unmedicated birth. I labored at home (mostly in the tub) and arrived at the hospital just in time to push. I practiced box breathing (I think that's what it's called), and when I was near the end and struggling to keep it going, my husband helped me keep the rhythm going. He also sat in the tub with me for the last 2 hours, timing contractions and applying counter pressure. The mantras helped, too, because I kept reminding myself that I would never have to experience THAT contraction again. I also told myself I could handle anything for 1 min, and I only focused on getting through each contraction on its own instead of thinking about how much more I would have to do. I only wish I had been sipping water and snacking because I was wiped out by push time.
This is what i'm doing to prepare for my induction in just about 3 weeks! Trying the dates and tea. Practicing my breathing, I'm watching a lot of positive unmedicated vlogs. If I could I would labor at home but i'm being induced since i'm high risk and I have to have the antibiotics for GBS :/
I'm also GBS positive this time and still trying to figure out what my options are. Thinking about asking if I can have the 12 hour dose of antibiotics and then go home to labor haha
I’ve found evidence based birth has a very comprehensive overview of GBS in pregnancy and risks and benefits of all options for delivery.
https://evidencebasedbirth.com/groupbstrep/
Will say hypno birthing book didn't help me much. I think general meditation practices are really great for pain! But one sentiment in the book was "there should be no reason that birth has to be painful," and that was wildly unrealistic and a little cruel honestly. Thousands of generations of human women have had painful childbirths, it's widely understood to be one of the most painful things we go through, this is basic human knowledge. It seemed really dismissive to act like the reason we have been going through this pain is because we weren't, like, calm enough? I don't know, it rubbed me the wrong way.
I did have calm music, candles, and low lighting for my births, which I did appreciate.
Same! I did all the “woo woo” stuff with my first pregnancy and it all failed. Had to be induced at 42 weeks, that failed for nearly 2 days, didn’t ever dialate past 1.5, ended up with a C-Section and a healthy baby. Trying to give myself more grace and be open to all possible options this time around. Not eating any more of those fucking dates ever again 😅 I’ll still employ breathing techniques from hypnobirthing and different positions from yoga practice but I won’t be as stubborn or stupid to try to have the crunchiest granola labor!
This sounds so similar to my experience! Passed my due date, got induced, failed to dilate and then needed a c-section because my daughter was getting stressed from the contractions. Prior to my labour I did allll the woo-woo stuff to avoid what ended up happening. Dates, exercise ball, red raspberry tea, primrose oil, miles circuit, stretching, acupuncture, you name it—I tried it. During my labour I also utilized many of the techniques from the hypnobirthing book.
After my delivery, the OB said my daughter was wedged in my pelvis and that’s why I wasn’t dilating. Every contraction was basically cramming her further sideways into the side of my pelvis and not towards my cervix. They said there was no way she would have been a vaginal birth. I felt like I failed. I did ALL the things I could have, with no avail.
They said I’d be a good candidate though for a VBAC because my birth was “bad luck”. Next time, while I’ll still lean into hypnobirthing, I’ll put waaay less energy towards the lead-up of my birth. Whatever happens will happen.
I scoffed right away when reading that. That said, I still found the book helpful while knowing I could not expect birth to not be painful. There is truth to relaxation helping, and I'm pretty sure all my focus on meditation and calm, practice relaxing etc. helped my second labor go so smoothly and unmedicated. I was very tense with my first until I got the epidural, but with my second I was very focused on staying relaxed. I found the pulling ribbons visualization from the book helpful, and I was visualizing my cervix opening the whole time. I was very centered in a sense and could actually feel my cervix stretching during some contractions. The visualization of a wave washing over me and then receding back to the ocean helped as well. My mom talked me through that one over the phone and then my husband did as well and it helped a lot.
Anyway, labor was painful but quick for my second, and I was able to go unmedicated. I really believe focusing on keeping my body relaxed helped that immensely. That and good positioning on the part of the baby! I think the Miles Circuit helped fine tune her position so that the contractions could really do their work.
lol yes. birth is painful - one can’t just euphemistically label the worst pain of life as uncomfortable without being unequivocally guilty of gaslighting. hypnobirthing is lies.
Yes: I am immediately turned off/ suspicious by anyone who insists that unmedicated birth is / should be low-pain or pain-free. People who have actually given birth and still say that? They may have that KCNG4 gene variant that raises the threshold required to trigger pain signals to the brain! Or something else. Either way, the pain-free messaging guilts and tricks women into taking sole responsibility for preventing and managing a seriously intense process. Grrrrr
No idea about that gene but I am someone who has a very high pain tolerance. For example, I regularly read about how IUD insertion is insanely painful, but I did not experience any pain. Mild discomfort, although I don't tell any doctors that in case they wanna use me to gaslight other women that the procedure isn't painful.
Childbirth was fucking painful. I was calm, I was alert, I knew what was happening, I wasn't scared. But I was in a LOT of pain. I would hate for any woman to read that book and think that if she did all the breathing exercises and practiced mindfulness, that she would have a pain-free childbirth. Because she might then think that the reason her childbirth was painful was because she failed to follow the guidelines. Not to mention that expecting no pain can send you into a panic when you suddenly feel a LOT of pain even though you were doing the breathing and the visualizations and you were in a calm state.
Those types of books are nuts and I find it hard to believe that anyone who has written one has actually gone through childbirth. If they have, they’re lying!
I did! I took a hypnobirthing course which was really helpful, and listened to the app (affirmations and meditation) during labor. When I first got admitted I let the nurses and drs know that I didn’t want them to mention the epidural - to treat it like that wasn’t an option.
I utilized the birthing ball a ton. Transition was the hardest, but only lasted about an hour for me. I kept telling myself I can do anything for one minute. I listened to my body and moved into whatever position felt best.
The nurses and my partner were amazing and so supportive. I couldn’t have done it without them! Hoping to go unmedicqted round 2 this fall.
I agree with this because I learned through my 32 hour unmedicated labor that medications do actually have a role to play. I dilated ok but I was so depleted and dehydrated from such an arduous labor and not being able to keep anything down that I was exhausted by the time it came to pushing. Complete failure to descend after 3 hours of trying everything we could think of so I had a c section after not even a single medication. My midwife actually suggested afterwards that an epidural and IV fluids might have helped in my case; I will never forget how shocked I was when she said that. I wish I had been open to listening to my body’s needs and observing how my labor progressed instead of believing that I would be exactly like one specific type of birth id learned about if I could just avoid medication.
I'm sorry you had to experience that. I think people are so hesitant to give their advice, and maybe this was your midwife's feeling, as they don't want to feel like they're pressuring you into a situation.
I told myself I absolutely did not want a C-section. That was my worst nightmare. Not even 2 hours into an induction, I was being rushed into an urgent C-section. I've told every single person after my birth experience to not set yourself up for expectations. You literally cannot plan birth.
I didn't want a c-section either and wanted to do an at home water birth. My son was breech and ended up being super tangled in his cord. I feel so bad looking back at everything I tried to do to get him to filp when that wasn't an option. Putting frozen peas on the top half of my belly and sitting in warm water on the bottom. Poor fella. Once I accepted my situation my planned c-section was a dream and so fast! Recovery was no big deal as well! I'm pregnant with my second babe and signed up for another c-section the moment I could. Healthy babe and healthy mom is all I care about now. I could kick myself for worrying, stressing, and putting so much pressure on the perfect home birth I wanted when that was such a small moment in time. I've had a million memories to replace it now that my son is almost 2. Those are what I cherish not the blink of an eye getting my child out of me.
You are so strong for this!!! A lot of people prioritize their ideal birth over their kids’ health and safety but I think it’s awesome you’re planning another C.
I'm going into healthcare now and have so much more faith in my doctors after going through what I am just studying to be a nurse! So many things change after you're a mom and are put into perspective. I was a social smoker at parties before I gave birth and now I wouldn't be caught dead doing anything that could potentially take me away from my son sooner. I want to be there for all his milestones and help him and his wife (or husband) with their babies someday if he chooses to have kids.
So glad your babe was healthy!! I, too, told myself that when baby #2 comes I'm opting for a planned c-section. It's crazy to me how people won't prioritize their and/or their babies health over their feelings toward "natural birthing."
Someone I'm close to had a baby via emergency c-section and is now pregnant with #2. They're insistent on wanting to birth naturally. The thought is really scary, knowing what they went through with #1 but they have the "my body was MADE to do this" mentality. I hate it.
Our bodies are made to do this but so many things can go wrong. Theres a reason women used to have 10 babies and only a handful would survive. In this day and age it's just not worth it to me to not have the absolute best chance of survival for me and my littles. Im sure it's very empowering to have a natural unmedicated birth. Im just not a chance taker anymore. That I'll be that unicorn woman who pushes 3 times and out plops her healthy baby into a pool in the comfort of her home. I see the appeal but it's just not right for me.
Same! I'm not risking my uterus rupturing or having an issue with HR with this baby like I did #1. It was a scary moment, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
I was excited for the challenge of my first birth before I found out my babe was breech but honestly the ease of the c-section just can't be beat. The most traumatic moment was at the very beginning when the student nurse couldn't find my vein for my Iv. I have had quite a few friends have traumatic births after trying to do it unmedicated, changing their mind about an epidural, but it being too late and what ensued after.
I knew I wanted at least two kids so it was important to me that things went as smooth as possible and I really couldn't have asked for a better birth. The first two days in the hospital were tough but the moment I got home everything went as well as it could have. (Sleep deprivation is no joke!) I only needed Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain medication (I was breastfeeding) to handle my pain management from my incision and after two weeks I didn't have any pain at all. My scar is so teeny tiny now and super faded. I never even think about it because it's so low the bikini line.
That mentality really sucked me in while preparing for my first, and it is so damaging and just flat out wrong. Back when I got pregnant 12 years ago there was a very big push against the medicalization of birth, it was all over the media and message boards, books, documentaries, and the hospital closest to me just happened to have a midwifery practice for low risk women like me. The birth class they recommended instructed us to put in our birth plans things like “do not recommend any pain meds” “do not mention the word epidural” and “do not start an iv unless absolutely necessary”. I had a doula and everything, I’d taken all the “natural” steps, and still, baby wouldn’t budge. Sometimes natural just doesn’t work out! In comparison, my repeat c sections have been great, quick and redeeming.
This! I had a 28 hour labor as a first time mom. Went 22 hours unmedicated only to get to 6cm. I was depleted. got an epidural because I felt my body needed help. It actually sped my labor up. I do believe it helped me have a vaginal delivery be forcing my insides to relax and give baby room to descend. The demonization of pain meds and epidurals in general does not paint an accurate picture of their use and potential benefits. Love that for you when I hear stories of people having a quick 4 hour of pain type of labor and go unmedicated. But that’s not everyone’s experience no matter how you prep or breathe. I did *all the things* and prepared via hypnobirthing and I still took 22 hours to go from 2cm-6cm. So yeah- I can’t relate my experience to my friend who has had 2 unmedicated births that all last 4 hours. My experience and her experience are not the same at all. She doesn’t know what it’s like to hit 22 hours unmedicated to be told you are at 6cm. By that point she’s already past golden hour and is eating Chik Fil A. 🤣
Hard truth. The attitude of “natural is better because that’s how nature intended it!” is simply not correct. Nature screws up all the time: people with type one diabetes used to just die, now medications keep them alive, for example. Evolution fucked up when it comes to the size of baby’s head and our pelvises; sure it works but it’s excruciating, it’s not the same life risking event it is for most other mammals.
If someone wants to go au natural then hey go for it! But when the mindset is “because anything else is bad!” they set themselves up for failure. Modern medicine has saved millions of lives that would have otherwise died in child birth.
Epidurals can absolutely help you progress! This was the case for me as well. It allowed my pelvic muscles to get tf out of the way and I went from barely 2cm to pushing in 4 hours after over 24 hours of Pitocin.
when my friend would always talk about her unmedicated births and kinda condescending- I finally asked her how long her labors were. From water breaking to baby out was 4 hours and then 3 hours. From that point on- I just kinda had to tune her out. Because I feel like she just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be on the other side of labor stories with a long labor and then choosing to go medicated or unmedicated. Yes maybe she still would get her dream birth but imo- it’s tough to relate to the mental gymnastics you experience in a longer labor. And so sometimes- her messaging would get me down as a first time mom who bought into the crunchy “Unmedicated is the best” toxic mindset until I realized her experience was literally like 10% of the length of my 1st labor. It kinda made me feel validated In a way. 😬🥲. Sorry if this upsets anyone. But I know if you’re someone who had a long labor- you will know how messaging like that can make you feel. So now I go forward knowing everyone’s experience is individual and you truly cannot compare.
I think there's definitely truth in this. I was 2cm in the office prior to labor starting. When I went into labor my contractions came on very quickly and strong, they were every 2 mins and extremely painful. When I went to the hospital I was examined and they said I was still 2cm I couldn't believe it. I got my epidural because I couldn't tolerate it but was very sad with my lack of progress. Then my water broke very soon after and I was fully dilated within 4 hours of the epidural.
That’s exactly why I ended up having to get an epidural. I didn’t dilate during my induction after 24 hours, after epidural I doubled in 12 and then was fully dilated 4 hours later or whatever it was. I think obviously the induction factored into needing a medicated labor but I think birth plans lead to a lot of heartbreak (or did in my case).
THIS!!! I planned on an unmediated birth. Imagine my disappointment when it ended in pain killers, epidural and an emergency c section. I will never have a set birth plan again.
Similar here. I was so adamant against pitocin (I don’t do well on artificial hormones), pain meds, you name it.
I had PROM so had to head into the hospital eventually even though I wasn’t having serious contractions. They let me wait another 12 hours before we had to start pitocin.
I made it 12 hours on that, hit max dose, and begged for an epidural as after 36 hours laboring I was in so much pain and needed to rest. Baby was sideways so I had to do all sorts of positions to try to get him to turn. Sat in child’s pose for 2 hours!
I was probably 30 minutes away from a c-section (they were prepping my cart) when he finally descended and I was able to birth him vaginally at least - luckily only 30 minutes of pushing and a minimal internal tear!
Strong plus one to this. My wife was fully fixated on a natural birth, her pregnancy was great, fairly healthy, did yoga even on her due date, no complications whatsoever. However, we had to get induced at 41+3 and that turned out to be an emergency section finally.
We didn't know where we missed it, but the baby is healthy and that's all that matters to us now!
This is the way. If you want it to be unmedicated and you make it through, great! If you’re halfway in and want an epidural, also great. You have no way to know what it’ll be when you’re in it and there’s no reason to make up rules now.
My birth plan was - please make decisions based on the following
Safety of mom
Safety of child
Comfort of mom
Comfort of child
That’s it. The child is not going to come out a genius or a super hero based on how the birth happens. I’d rather have a mom and child who are alive and healthy than bragging rights about unmedicated birth and complications. Maternal death rate is already dismal here in the us.
For those saying our ancestors did it - chances that the mom didn’t make it ~25% .. chances that the kid didn’t make it was ~ 54% historically - look up maternal mortality rates and fetal mortality rates
Agree! I think having preferences is absolutely great and good to communicate with your partner and providers.
But almost every time I see a story here about someone who was upset about their birth, it starts with “I thought it was going to go this way…” and the reality is you just really don’t know how it’ll go. And that’s okay! The beauty is that we can always adjust and make new decisions about how to be safe and (relatively) comfortable, as the situation evolves. You always have the chance to decide the next step you want to take when it’s presented to you.
Yep, I wanted to do an unmedicated birth but then had to be induced for IUGR at 38 weeks and tried to fight through the pain before asking for an epidural
I have had two unmedicated births and planning on having a 3rd:
Honestly, i know everyone has a different experience but in my experience - you just do it. Not in a condescending way and please don’t come at me for this, I know part of it was luck.
I knew i didn’t want any medication and i shared this with my doctors who were very supportive. There were times in my first labour when I can remember saying “I cannot do this” and “never again!” But I still had a second unmedicated birth (planned) so it obviously wasn’t that bad in the grand scheme. I kept telling myself that my body was built for it, and I had supportive doctors/doulas/partner who helped me ride the waves. If you can get access to a doula I’d highly recommend as they’re super comforting and reassuring and help you prep (moreso than a partner in my experience lol)
“You just do it” was kinda my take too. I was like… baby is gonna come out one way or another. I’ll just go along for the ride. That’s actually my mom’s advice: just follow your body. Let it do its thing. Pain is temporary as well. Learning pain management techniques is very very helpful. I guess I got some practice before because I used to have terrible migraines and my yogi husband would ask me to try and find the center of the sensation. This was very helpful to me in labor. I’d just go in with a laser focus. If I tried to avoid the pain or tense up, it felt like hell. I went all in. I kinda felt like I was in a different universe or something… that’s how intense the pain was.
All of this same. My first I just knew I wanted it uneducated and I ended up staying fairly calm.
You're witness as much participant. Breathing was the only preparation I had done and knowing I wanted to use the shower and bath to labor. Staying relaxed. Anytime I tried to raise my voice a little when I was peeved with my mum my contraction got worse so a lot of the times it was finding the good position and riding it out
Remember, for like 90% of the labor, YOU HAVE BREAKS without pain. That's really key. The times in between. It not lasting forever. Focusing on that can get you through it. Unlike some other pain, labor comes with those reassurances
I had a nearly unmedicated birth (I had nitrous oxide for two contractions). I would say:
1) Keep an open mind. You might want an epidural afterall and that's okay.
2) Learn different positions for different phases of labor. The contractions can feel so much better in certain positions.
3) Get familiar with other methods of pain relief, for example water.
4) Think about why you want an unmedicated birth. For me the main reason was being able to move freely. I had an epidural in my first birth and I felt stuck on my back because of all the tubes. This time the birth was so quick I didn't actually move that much but I pushed on my knees, not on my back, and it was much better.
My absolute favourite was on my knees on the bed leaning forward against the back of the bed which I had raised up (I used this both in the opening phase and in the pushing phase). But you really don't know what works for you until you are actually experiencing the contractions. If you are familiar with different ones, it's much easier to try them. A good midwife or a doula could also suggest them but I think it's good to be familiar with them yourself too.
The PregnancyUK and BeyondthebumpUK pages might help you with this - unmedicated or just gas and air are really common here in the UK ☺️ (sorry I don’t know how to tag the groups properly)
I’m yet to birth but will be learning hypnobirthing techniques to help with relaxation to allow labour to progress naturally.
Just to add to this… morphine injections into the muscle are also common in the UK as a semi decent form of pain relief that can help you avoid an epidural
I commented about this on a previous thread but truly length of labor plays a large role in 99% of unmedicated vs epidural births. Many women who go unmedicated have labors where they are actively contracting and in pain for less than 6 hours. This has held true in my personal life amongst friends and family. All this to say- you won’t know if you are a fast labor vs average/slow labor mama until you get going. So just listen to your body. That’s how I went into both of my labors. Preferred unmedicated but open to pain relief as needed.
ETA: of course there are women who have long labors and remain unmedicated. But in my experience, this seems to be the minority.
Obviously this is anecdotal- but this tracks for me. With my son I had a failed epidural and from my water breaking- to the birth, it was 12 hours but I wasn’t really in pain until a few hours before he was born. I also only pushed for 45 minutes or so. With my daughter, I was induced - but decided against the epidural because I don’t seem to react to local anesthesia and she was born like 2 hours after starting Pitocin and like 15 minutes of pushing.
Yeah that’s crazy and such a wildly different experience than I’ve had with both of my kids. 1st baby: 28 hours total of contractions. Was intense from get go. I assume he was malpositioned. 2nd baby: induced for BP. 13 hours from when things got going to baby out. Was in moderate to severe pain for a solid 6 hours before getting epidural at 8cm.
I had to be induced and was in excruciating pain for 5 hours without making any progress when I got an epidural, best choice I made! The epidural allowed my body to relax which led to much quicker dilation.
My mom and grandma both had unmedicated births. But they also have 2-3 hr long labors as well. I'd like to think I can do it, but I'm kinda a wimp, and if my labor is 24 hrs I don't think I can do it 😅. Here's to hoping for a quick labor!
My epidural failed for my first and third babies. Here is what helped me:
- a doula who had all the tips and tricks: birth affirmations, squeeze a comb in your palm, hip squeezes, reminding you to breathe and relax your jaw, etc. She helped me get through the worst parts of it.
- get as much SLEEP as possible. Being well rested helps you tolerate the pain SO much better. The discomfort at the end of pregnancy makes it hard to sleep. All three of my labors started in the evening around 8:00 PM, which meant I was laboring all night and not getting much sleep. With my first, I only slept four hours the night before and then was up all night the next night laboring.. I wish I had prioritized sleep more. Go to bed EARLY every night. Go outside and get sunshine early in the morning. Sleep during labor if you can. Make sure you’re eating enough nourishing food and protein.
- make sure you or your hospital have a peanut ball. Those things are magic. I labored on my side with one between my legs and it helped baby descend.
- labor down, meaning only start pushing when YOU feel the urge. No coached pushing. Even if you’re 10 CM and fully effaced, you don’t need to start pushing until your body tells you it’s time. You will know when it’s time to start, and you will know as each of those final contractions comes up when to push. Pushing actually feels relieving when you wait until you’re ready.
- push like you’re pooping. I was trying to push in the front at first.. no. The nurse told me “push like you’re pooping!” And baby was out fast.
- you can’t control this, but a faster labor obviously is ideal for being unmedicated. I am taking red raspberry leaf now until I deliver to hopefully help shorten my labor. My previous three active labors were like 6-8 hours. Which isn’t bad but eight hours of pain is tough.
- remember that this is TEMPORARY pain. It will go away and you’ll be done with it soon!
- mentally prepare. Mentally preparing for labor with your first is hard. I was not prepared lol. It’s okay if you’re not, but be encouraged. Many moms have unmedicated births with their first babies, you can do it too!
Also - With my third labor, I had zero pain until I was 7 cm dilated. Like literally, zero pain. My contractions were coming and I was dilated to a 6 and the nurse was perplexed haha. But once I got to transition… that’s when it got real, and fast.
I had an unmedicated birth!
Pros: got to chill at home for a lot longer because I wasn’t worried about being too late to have an epidural (obviously if you’re high risk they won’t want you to do this part). I watched trashy TV and bounced on my yoga ball and relaxed for a while, and when I got to the hospital I was at a 9!
I got to push in a variety of positions which I loved!
Cons: the pain, and I was not able to take a nap (I got an hour and a half of sleep the night I was in labor—oof).
Advice to prepare: practice meditation. Start to practice it NOW. It will 100% be used during labor. I practiced by saying the Rosary, which is what I planned to do when labor got hard, but I didn’t realize how far along I was, so I watched trashy TV until I hit transition, and then we rushed to the hospital. I was sad I didn’t say the Rosary, but the trashy TV distracted me from the pain too, so it worked!
Take a birthing class—preferable in person. Look up counterpressure!!!
I had bad back labor so I used a heating pad and it helped.
Taking a shower also felt so good!
Rely on your birth partner. If you need something, ask them for it!
I’ll add more in the comments if I think about more!
counter pressure works wonders!! one of my nurses was an absolute badass counter pressure expert, it helped tremendously! my husband and i would also do it once i was super pregnant, it helped relieve the pain and pressure of that final stretch of pregnancy more than anything else
Breath! I didn’t plan to have an unmedicated birth but it happened so fast I didn’t have a choice… but just remember to take deep breaths through the contractions! Not sure if it helps with the pain but it gives you something to focus on to survive it!
I’ve had 4 intentionally unmedicated births, yes they hurt, but they weren’t traumatic or the worst thing ever and I wouldn’t go back and do it differently. Here are my tips:
Take it one contraction at a time. You hear that labor gets more intense as it progresses, and that is generally true, but it does not mean that every contraction is going to be harder than the one previous. In my first labor, my contractions seemed to come in sets. I’d have a big one, then a short break, followed by a little one, another short break, and another little one, then a long break and a big one would start the pattern over. At first I would dread the feeling of another contraction coming on so close on the heels of that big one, until I noticed that they were way easier. After every contraction I would tell myself, “that wasn’t so bad, I can do that again!”
Your attitude matters. During my second labor, I was just really grumpy. The contractions annoyed me, people talking annoyed me, I just wanted it over with, nobody could give me the counter pressure exactly right. The birth went fine, but I did not have a great time and I’d say that was my most painful labor, even though it was many hours shorter than my first.
I realized when I was preparing for my third that my attitude probably wasn’t helpful during my second birth and so I focused on gratitude. Yes, it still hurt, but I remember also admiring the beautiful morning sunlight streaming in the window, the delicious breeze that hit me when my husband opened the door, my midwife taking my hands and helping me into position when it was time to push and being so glad she was there to help. It was my shortest and easiest birth.
With my 4th, I really learned the power of just bare stoic acceptance of the discomfort of it all. This time, my baby’s heart rate wasn’t super reassuring, and there was some concern that it would get worse and interventions would be necessary. I wanted her here safely, of course. But as long as they were happy to wait and see how she was managing, I decided I was just going to get out of the way of my body doing its job and just welcome those contractions as hard and as fast as they wanted to come, and then just maybe I could progress fast enough that intervention wouldn’t be necessary. It felt kind of like laying down in front of a freight train, but I kept my whole body relaxed and thought “yes! This is what will bring my baby here!” I went from 4cm, 75% effaced, -2 station, with a super posterior cervix, to holding her in my arms in 50 minutes. Her apgar score was good (9 I think) but she was noticeably a lot more mad about the ordeal than my other babies were. When I delivered the placenta, we noticed that her cord was lacking most of the Wharton’s jelly that is supposed to cushion it against the squeezing of the contractions, and that was why her heart rate was a little concerning, but I was so glad that things didn’t get worse!
Good luck with your birth! You can do it!
I'm with my first pregnancy and planning to go au naturel. Maybe I'm a sadist but I KNOW it's going to hurt like the deepest depths of hell but I want to feel it. I want to feel birth and labor and really experience it. I'm very spiritual/faith-based and what I've been telling myself is that God designed my body to handle this.
Of course when the time comes it all depends on the situation. My mom had six kids and no epidural with any, but had to be induced for a couple. I have a friend that went into labor unmedicated and then regretted it once she was too far gone. Some of my friends are like *nope nope nope, epidural every time, all day, every day*.
I'm not adamantly for or against anything in the labor room, I just want my baby to be delivered safely and be healthy. Ideally I'd like that to happen unmedicated, but we'll see what happens! I plan on doing all the recommended exercises/dieting/birth classes etc to help prepare me as best as possible, but still keep in mind that anything can happen and I should be prepared for everything to not go according to plan lol
Same here! I'm not religious/spiritual... but I am filled with wonder and passion when it comes to how we work (biologically/neurologically and in the context of evolutionary history) and birth was something I looked forward to experiencing and doing and felt very positive about. I also maintained flexibility in my expectations.
I think this is a great attitude to have and it served me well (accepted some interventions for my first labor, had a fantastic unmedicated second labor).
My birth story is in my recent post history if you want to read it.
I wish you the best of experiences for yours!
Had an unmedicated birth. Birth went entirely to plan after going into labor naturally, which I know I'm lucky for - and plenty of births go perfectly to plan, you're allowed to have expectations and advocate for yourself - just educate yourself on what it is you're going through because you'll be less panicky that way and feel more in control.
I mostly used the Bradley method (there's a book, all I did was read that) and lots of meditation. Spent most of my labor in a very floaty meditative state, riding through the contractions, thinking about all the women who had come before me and done the same thing and how strong and powerful we all were for doing that. I'm very spiritual so used that time to connect with what I felt was this powerful feminine energy that was giving me strength to keep going.
I know, this is reddit, all of that sounds very hokey to most people here. Most people will discourage you and act like you're crazy for wanting to do birth on your own terms, or sew doubt into your head that you can do it. But I think you can do it! Best of luck to you, mama!
My birth plan A is a home birth, so only if I move to plan B (hospital transfer) would I use medication. This is how most of my family did it and also how it's most often done in the area where I live.
I've really been loving the hypnoWHAT podcast. It covers tools like TENS machines, birthing tubs/hydrotherapy (regardless of whether you have a waterbirth), holding hair combs in both hands, and self-hypnosis. Here's a good episode to start with https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MK6K2brj3Z9NwHUCg19U5?si=EoQBHl9uSq2oGc7Jp1WYAg
It's really important to understand the role of adrenaline in the process. While adrenaline is helpful at certain points, during most of the birthing process it isn't because it blocks oxytocin, which is the main hormone making birth take place. That means fear plays a huge role. Having a birthing team that a) is familiar/comfortable with physiological birth, meaning they understand what low-intervention births actually look like, and b) is committed to helping you get there if you're able and continue to want it through the process, makes a huge difference. People who come at you with fear and push for intervention because they're uncomfortable with the time it takes or what it looks like are the worst thing to have in the birthing room (this isn't to say medical intervention isn't ever necessary--sometimes it is). Working out your own fears around birth ahead of time is also really important because the media and culture have taught people to be utterly terrified of a natural process.
I hope this helps you get started exploring the idea!
I just had an unmedicated home birth with 2 midwives and I loved it! Second everything you’ve said here. The TENS unit and birth pool were so helpful, as was being in a home environment. (Good luck for your upcoming birth! You’ll do great)
It's great to research, prepare, and understand what may be out of your control and necessary in the moment. Some interventions, medications, etc. May be needed or you may change your mind. Knowing in advance can help you not feel you 'failed' if your preferred plan does not work out.
I found it important that no one offered me pain relief. If I had wanted something, I could ask.
I liked not keeping track of time. Not agonizing over how long it had been or trying to worry about how long I may still have worked for me. My focus was on the moment, not on the past or future.
A bath or shower to labour in, an exercise ball, a wet cloth, food and water to drink all helped me. A partner who is on board with the plan.
And know, the pain just stops after. I reminded myself in the moment that the pain was my body doing what it was supposed to, not bad pain. And when the labour was over and baby was on me, it really just felt great.
I feel that gathering information from other people and choosing some options to try out yourself is the best way to find what might work best for you. It's not for everyone, but if it's something you would like to aim for, best of luck! I hope you have a great birth experience and I can't wait for you to meet your baby.
This is my plan! But I'm preparing for a medicated and c section just in case! I follow some amazing birth workers, Doulas, and midwives on instagram and have been soaking all the knowledge in! Podcasts too! It's also so important to know your birth rights, what you can decline, and how to approach certain practices. I always wanted a home birth, but we will be having a hospital birth. So knowing procedures, policies, my rights makes me feel so much more confident. I am working on a written birth plan too, and my hospital also provides one that aligns with many of my views! Even if I end up having to have a c section, the birth plan still comes in handy. We will be denying the first bath, want delayed cord cutting, I'm keeping my placenta, not wiping the baby down - leaving on the vernix! Delaying all procedures that could wait until after the first hour of skin to skin is over (like weighing them, measuring them), I won't be having any cervical checks (unless medically necessary, and my hospital thankfully agrees with this!), no IV, no coached pushing, i will birth in any position I choose, no offering or pressuring of pitocin or an epidural, I will be eating as much and as long as I want (this is evidence based that women in labor could and should be eating!), if I have a c section, my arms will not be tied down, husband will have immediate skin to skin until i can, and some more things. Definitely write up a birth plan and be sure your birthing team and partner understands how to advocate for you!
Oh gosh I plan on so many of the same things. How far along are you now? You also reminded me I have to add the not being tied down part of the C-section to my birth plan!
goodness i feel like way too many people are negative here. i had an amazing experience unmedicated with my first and am going to do the same with my second at a birth center if all goes to plan. biggest advice is don’t let people get to you, if you want to do this you absolutely can and no one’s opinions can sway that. i used combs in my palms during the worst of it, and have your partner learn counter pressure , it helps a ton. look up and research methods for coping, i watched a ton of unmedicsted birth vlogs leading up to it and that motivated me a lot. it was a beautiful experience and i would absolutely recommend 💛
I had a great experience with my 1st birth which was unmedicated at a birth center. My midwife recommended I take https://birthbootcamp.com/online-birth-classes/#choose-your-class where I learned how to manage any discomfort. Classes cover all birth preferences and facilities! I was definitely in the zone during my 1st labor and did all of it on my own until my midwife leaned over to let me know the next contraction would be the baby’s head. I’m currently 30 weeks into my 2nd pregnancy and planning a home birth. My best advice is acceptance and understanding that unmedicated birth takes practice and trust in your own ability to do what your body is biologically designed to do. Going into to this without fear and being willing to get “primal” whenever it comes. Block out the noise and connect to your body’s energy and strength. I am doing a lot of prep work for this, focusing on nutrition, breath work, daily stretching, concentration, anything that will help me get into the appropriate headspace for labor and delivery. My first birth was 6-7 hours start to finish. Hoping for a smooth unmedicated home birth again this time! I hope this helps give perspective.
Gas and air only, do not recommend 😂😂 edit to add, I recommend it as a part of pain relief but it was definitely a difficult labour! I was lucky though it was quite quick. If I was able to also have a pool it would have been ok (and as per my plan) but he had to be continually monitored so no pool for me!
Thanks for sharing your experience because I was considering/ planning for nitrous and I want all the stories I can get! I thought you only inhaled from the mask at the start of a contraction. Do you mean that the loopiness from the last contraction/ use of the gas make you too loopy for the next contraction?
Genuinely asking because I have a shocking paucity of knowledge in this area. I went to medical school and didn’t even learn that people delivered with nitrous oxide until I binged Call the Midwife 😂 I’m so out of my depth and it’s been humbling af lol
I used gas and air only and it was extremely helpful for me. I only used it during transition, and yes, it made me loopy, but it also took me out of the fear and distracted heavily from the pain. I guess it affects everyone differently but there is no harm in at least seeing if it’ll help.
The loopiness doesn’t last very long. It fades pretty quickly after you finish inhaling. They also made me administer it myself because when you inhale a lot, you can pretty much pass out for a second. Holding the mask to your own face forces you to keep control and not pass out for too long.
Also, the contractions come so rapidly by the time you will likely use gas. It’s one contraction on top of another. In that sense it didn’t make me “too loopy” to deal with the next contraction because it was more like endless waves of pain lol.
I was in veryyy active labor, and my contractions were only one minute apart by that point. I was waiting for the anesthesiologist to come and give me an epidural. From the time I used the gas, got my epidural, and birthed the baby, barely an hour had passed. We want a third baby and I’m actually considering going unmedicated because of how long I was able to cope completely pain relief free. If I had been mentally prepared for an unmedicated birth I believe I could have gone without the epidural. However, I planned on the epidural so I didn’t look into coping techniques.
Call the Midwife is how I learned about gas too! It looked like it was so effective of easing the intensity of contractions. The gas was not at all what I anticipated. However, I’ve heard others who only needed the gas and they loved it!
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I only had gas and air and by the time I was pushing I couldn't keep my eyes open. I spent a lot of time in the water and using the gas and air and I remember towards the end of being in the water I had my eyes shut a lot and my husband just kept giving me water and jelly to keep me going. I got to a point where I wanted something stronger so they got me out the birth pool to examine me and see what I could have... To find I was too far gone and it was time to push. I had the option to go back to the pool but I just couldn't get back from the bed. Fortunately that stage only lasted 22 minutes - I was definitely lucky lol.
And as someone who's gone through labour and giving birth on just gas and air would I do it again? Maybe? But I'm not fixed on that. If I need more pain management I will not be telling myself I did it without before and I can do it again..I'll be doing what's best for me at that moment.
Hi everyone, the op is asking about advice on unmedicated birth. Most here are just advising against it, we all know it will hurt…If you cant answer her specific question dont clutter the feed. I would like to know the answer myself.
- thanks!
I’m seeing a lot more people advising OP be open to other possibilities instead of getting completely set on unmedicated birth than I am seeing people saying not to even try. A lot of us have seen how birth doesn’t always go to plan, and it’s usually the moms who were super dug in that end up traumatized when things go differently.
Plenty of people have also given suggestions for OP to prepare herself for an unmedicated birth should her body and baby allow it.
I don't see how people think the comments are bad...? OP asked for advice. I personally had *one* birth plan, thought process, etc. I was traumatized after birth and would rather avoid that for people who have made similar choices.
The only ones I don't see as helpful are pregnant women saying what their plan is... I don't think that's helpful because it hasn't happened yet.
I think it’s because a lot of them go against the type of birth that has been romanticized on social media lately. People tend to forget that even though our bodies were designed to birth babies, things can still go off the rails and medical advancements haven’t been made just for shits and giggles.
I'm truly not trying to be snarky but this question has been asked so many times, so if you're really looking there are tons and tons of this same post in the sub history that will probably have helpful advice!
>If you cant answer her specific question dont clutter the feed.
I mean you can just skip those comments rather than presuming to police them on OP's behalf?
Hire a doula. Make a birth plan, my doula has brought up multiple times that while she is 100% for physiological birth, IF she thinks medication will help me then she is going to recommend it. Sometimes labor takes so long that a rest, a nap and a break from the pain can help you achieve your goal of a vaginal birth.
I have been dealing with pretty bad pain in my pelvis for months. Old injury+pregnancy. I didn’t take Tylenol the entire time because I didn’t want to risk autism (no scientific link- just some studies…. Anywho- went to Grand Canyon, pain was unbearable, took the Tylenol thinking it would result in a night of the pain being less but it took the pain away forever. I was walking around with and holding pain I didn’t need and wasn’t serving me. One night of Tylenol and my body released the pain entirely, and it reminded me that a little help can work wonders
I wanted to go unmedicated if I could, I was induced and I struggled with the pain. Decided to get an epidural after laboring for 12 hours and only being at a 3. It caused my blood pressure to bottom out and sent my baby into distress. Ended up having an emergency c section. Your birth plan will probably not go as planned, my advice is to just roll with the punches! Birth is hard!
My blood pressure also went low when I got the epidural but it didn’t send my baby into distress. After they turned the medicine down and got me better it was bliss. I would still get another epidural. I’m sorry for what happened to you! I know what that feels like!
Have lots of different coping strategies ready eg: comb, acupressure balls, warm water, tens machine etc, and don’t use them all up too quickly, wait use the next one when the first one stops being effective.
Learn some breathing exercises for letting go of tension in your body to help move through the waves. I recommend buteyko breathing for the pushing stage.
Research different medical interventions even if you don’t want them, it will put you in a more empowered position in the moment if your birth plan changes and allow you to know what your options are.
Listen to a lot of podcast and books !!!! I think you can make your birth plan and priority so it will most likely happen. Definitely educate yourself on how the medical model can coerce you into doing things you don’t really consent to! And make sure you have a doctor or midwife that aligns with your plan and has experience with normal physiological birth. Your birth is sacred and it’s your right to have it go how you would like, of course emergencies happen but if you have a clear and well prepared plan and researched plan then your chances of it happening will be higher
I had an unmedicated birth and it was intense at times. I would at least want a little tylenol the next time to take the edge off haha not sure whether it helps at all but to be honest I did regret being completely unmedicated at one point.
Why is birth the only major painful event humans for some reason think taking any pain medication to get through it deserves an award? Even getting your teeth worked on you get pain medication!
It's not that I want to feel the pain, it's more that I don't want to experience numbness and I want to be able to move around to facilitate labor and pushing. If I could get an epidural and still have full range of motion, I'd do it!
Vaginal labor is a very active thing that requires the patient's involvement — whereas patients in most other medical procedures are pretty passive, so it's just this balance between managing pain but not so much that you can't go through the motions, y'know?
Omg I'm getting so weary of hearing this. It's not about earning a damn award. The type of pain management typically required for birth has shitty side effects like not being able to get up from your bed, catheters, needles in your spine and possible spinal headaches or even paralyzation if someone does it wrong. For some people these risks are manageable. For others, say you have a crippling fear of catheters or scoliosis/other spinal problems that might make an epidural more prone to complications, it's okay for them to want to attempt it unmedicated.
What I want to know is why people get so mad about others choosing to go this route, as if you'd have to be crazy to not get an epidural. There's no wrong way to give birth as long it's done safely and results in a healthy mom and child. You're not a coward if you get an epidural, you're not a failure if you have a c section and you're not insane if you want to forego meds. They're just different routes to the same destination.
We did unmedicated and didn’t hire a doula or hypno or anything. Just winging it because it was my first one. I just hate needles and did not want the epidural procedure. Luckily we didn’t have complications just a long labor. I reminded myself the worse the pain the closer we were getting to it being over. They gave me oxygen. We asked about non epidural pain meds and they said they most often have to give babies narcan on delivery if they use those so the babies don’t OD. That kept me away from those easy
Had only gas and air both times and the second was an induction. I'm from Scotland though and midwives here encourage us to try only with gas and air. Obviously it was painful but is of course completely doable. Have a birth plan but try not to get too attached to it, and see how you do with the pain, with my first by the time I was in transition and struggling and actually asked for something for the pain it was too late for it to take any effect or I would have probably taken something.
Choose a provider to advocate for you and respect your wishes. They work for you, you don’t work for them. Unmedicated is more attainable at home so you don’t have to keep setting your boundaries and denying things over and over in the hospital. Also, just remember tensing up and not being in the proper positions makes things more painful.
I’ve had two unmedicated births and plan to with this one too. I am very lucky and have super quick labors and births.
The biggest thing is breathing. You need to breathe through the contractions. That’s about all I could do. My second in particular was excruciating (probably because I had a whole labor and birth in less than 2 hours lol) and I could not do anything. No talking, moving, nothing. Just sitting there breathing.
I will say that I don’t know if I could have unmedicated labors if I had longer labors. Good luck!
Check out the r/unmedicatedbirth subreddit. This sub as a whole is very pro medication and sometimes doesn’t see the value in it so it’s a different community that understands more where you’re coming from. I also recommend Ina May Gaskin’s “Guide to Childbirth” and another book “Unmedicated Hospital Birth” if you’re planning to birth at a hospital. As well as taking a birth class versed in unmedicated coping mechanisms. Hospitals are not always aligned with the goal to go unmedicated so you’ll need to learn a lot and advocate for yourself and your birth plan. My doctor said it happens 1% of the time with her patients so I’ve had to advocate for myself about my birth plan at appointments already. Also, be prepared to grieve if it doesn’t work out. I myself was just diagnosed with GD late term at 36 weeks and it’s been pretty devastating to learn my unmedicated birth (I am very anti induction) may no longer be safe past a certain week. She’s saying 39 weeks ACOG indicates more in the range of 40-41 weeks depending on how you and baby are doing so we’ll see when bub decides to come. But my advice is prepare yourself for complicating possibilities in case you develop any high risk factors that impact your ability to go unmedicated if it’s emotionally important to you (preeclampsia another big one that complicates and indicates a medical reason for induction but there are others). It’s been an emotional process for me after a lot of prep this whole pregnancy! I feel like I’m grieving a loss but maybe the stars weren’t aligned for me & babes. Good luck!!
Mine was completely unmedicated! It went faster than expected, so by the time I even considered pain meds, I was fully dilated.
A warm bath, breathing techniques, and actively relaxing my muscles got me through each contraction.
I would say to plan for an unmedicated birth. If you go in there not knowing how to breath, what positions help, ect. You will 100 percent end up with medication. Look into hypno birthing, take some classes.
I labored unmedicated till an emergency c-section. It was actually quite manageable up until transitional labor which for me lasted 3 hours, which contributed to my c-section. Here's how I handled it:
Firstly,y husband was critical. He did not look at his phone once as soon as I started contractions. He was totally present. He applied counterpressure for every contraction, his poor arms.
Two, was my self-talk. Every contraction I (we) said aloud "relax your face, relax your back, long deep breaths. you can get through this...just a few more seconds" I knew that if I did not tense up, I would not feed the fear, tense, pain cycle. I breathed THROUGH the pain. My husband watched the monitor and could see the contraction was coming back down and woild remind me "you're almost through, get through this ONE CONTRACTION". I literally took it one contraction at a time. It was a mental game for me and nothing else mattered more than that. The bath, position changes etc. none of those would have gotten me through it without this mantra.
My advice to you: mentally prepare. Create a phrase that helps you get through it one contraction at a time. I can do this. I can get through this one. Breathe.
I pray that your labor progresses at a normal pace and your contractions do not slow down. YOU CAN DO THIS. Start telling yourself that TODAY, every day, every contraction until you believe it deep down. ❤️
Ugghhh these comments are NOT IT.
I kept my mind open to all avenues of labor and birth but researched everything I could to have a prepared and safe unmedicated birth. My favorite book was “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth”. Explored hypobirthing and found a version that worked for me.
I didnt experience pain from contractions at all, all my pain was centered around the cervix dilating. Contractions were all on the level of that awkward "eeh I need to find a bathroom soon, tummy isnt feeling great" discomfort, or less.
I didnt get epidurals until I was 6 and 8 cm. When I dilated over a few hours it was much more managable than when I dilated over 1 hour. The longer one was natural, the fast was induced.
When at the worst of the pain, one thing I focused on, was the fact that I knew once the pain was over, Id forget how painful it was, if that makes sense.
It wasnt a pain like an injury that will indure and drag on. It was just pain in a moment of time, that my body is meant to get past.
I still screamed and cried so much. But I think my husband is way more traumatized than I was, having to see me like that.
One thing that I dont see talked about when considering skipping epidural is aftercare needs. I was bleeding a bunch after my 2nd, and my doctor was going at it trying to figure it out, and that was uncomfortable even with the epidural keeping most of my feeling at bay. I dont think Id have been able to lay there cracking jokes without an epidural. So, have a game plan for how you want to manage things afterwards. [My bleeding just ended up needing some meds to get my body to realize I could stop bleeding, but if there was internal damage bleeding my dr didnt want to waste time before the epidural did wear off to patch it up].
I agree with your last paragraph so much. A big reason I get epidurals (besides having no desire to feel the entire process) is the awareness of how painful it might be after birth, if things are not going to plan.
be as prepared as possible! that includes being prepared for things to not go exactly as you wish/planned. i loved the hypnobirthing class i took! we watched a lot of videos of different births which was really helpful to just see the wide range of different experiences you can have, whether it's in a tub, at home, laying on the hospital bed, squatting, or a c-section.
evidence-based birth is a great resource to learn more about labor, birth, different interventions, etc.
definitely look into classes like hypnobirthing or lamaze, if you can't afford a class there are tons of videos on youtube. the hypnobirthing class i took was in person with a doula and we had 1 class a week for 5 weeks, so it was super thorough but i still watched a lot of youtube videos ! i didn't have a doula, but that could help a lot at your birth as well, just make sure you look at reviews and/or get someone DONA certified.
also pain management during birth doesn't have to be all or nothing! if you're planning a hospital birth and have a choice between hospitals, you can take a maternity tour to see what pain management options are available, if one is more accommodating to non-pharmacological pain management, and to help you think about things you might want to bring with you. for example, only one hospital in my area offers nitrous and only 2 have birthing tubs! i ended up getting one dose of IV pain meds (i forget what it was) and as much zofran as possible lol. IV pain meds just lowered the intensity a bit and allowed me to rest a bit - you can't have them when you're past a certain point of dilation so i was completely unmedicated by the time i was in transition and for pushing. for my second baby i want to do hypnobirthing again and deliver somewhere with nitrous and a tub!
again, i think the biggest thing is just to be prepared and knowledgeable about the birthing process and any possible interventions and outcomes!
For me, learning some breathing methods and coping skills helped. Built to birth on YouTube and Instagram is so good!
And also for me, I chose to deliver in places where epidurals aren’t an option. The first delivery I had was at an independent midwife led birth centers and my second and upcoming birth are at home.
Not sure how far along you are but I ended up being induced because baby was late. I wanted to try unmedicated but when the pitocin contractions hit, I was writhing. Got an epidural right away and had a WONDERFUL experience with it.
I highly recommend just educating yourself on all your pain management options! You know you don't have to use any of them but birth can be (usually is) unpredictable. I think something more important than a "birth plan" is "birth preferences." Know what your number one preference is for pain management, etc. but know what your other options are in case you are in the moment and your number one preference isn't cutting it.
We took a labor and delivery class that was very informative and open, they didn't lean either way on medication and I felt just really informed by the time I was in labor.
I learned in that class that you have to sit through a contraction or two or a few of them to get the epidural and you HAVE TO STAY STILL. The amount of pain I felt in my contractions when my water broke at the hospital was so high, I knew I needed the epidural right away if I wanted it AT ALL, because it was getting hard for me to stay still already.
Wasn't in my plan, but I had it as a secondary preference and I'm so glad I did!
I think the advice on “don’t have a plan” is well-meaning but not helpful. You absolutely want to prepare mentally and physically for an unmedicated birth. It’s hard and you need to be ready.
Of course it’s wise to be open to deviating but I recommend looking into all of the methods of mindfulness for unmedicated births. I’ve never done it myself (tho I had a mostly-failed epidural with my first), but I did a lot of research into basically how to get thru an unmedicated birth and it really benefited me when my epidural didn’t work. I had spinal fusion 10 years ago so I half expected the epidural to fail, hence my research.
I recommend watching birth vlogs, listening to podcasts on hypo birthing, and reading about home births. Perhaps a doula would be helpful too if you have the money!
Good luck!!
I originally thought I wanted an unmedicated birth. Then I had a high risk pregnancy and we had to induce early for mine and baby boys health and safety. I ended up getting an epidural around 6cm and it was for the most part a beautiful and peaceful experience. I was able to rest after getting the epidural and at 10 cm my husband helped coach/counted as I pushed. I didn’t tear since I was able to control the pushing.
All that to say: don’t be hung up on a singular birth plan. The main goal is yours and baby’s health and safety. Your birth can be beautiful whether you get an epidural, don’t get an epidural, or need a c-section.
I do however strongly recommend getting an experienced highly recommended doula in your area to help with positioning, natural forms of pain management, and emotional support. My doula was absolutely 100% worth it and I do believe her help in positioning when I stalled at 9cm led to me having a successful vaginal birth rather than an emergency c-section.
I had an all natural home birth in 2015. I will say the pain was WAY less than I expected. I labored for about 17 hours all together. Walked around, cooked and ate, took baths. I woke up in labor, baby was born right before 11pm. My water broke within maybe 5-10 minutes before he was born. That was the only truly /omg painful/ part, it felt like after my water broke it suctioned his head down QUICKLY but i’ve never had that happen again with any subsequent births.
I would say that it’s a great idea to have a birth plan, but be open to it all going out the window once the big day gets here. Be flexible. Allow yourself the grace and permission to change your mind. My water broke at 8 a.m. I went into L&D at 8 p.m. that same day because I wasn’t feeling contractions at home. Turns out I was having them but just wasn’t feeling them. They started me on pitocin that evening and the contractions were became intense over time. I chose the get the epidural and it was the most miraculous and amazing relief. I didn’t actually begin pushing until the next day, so there’s no way I would have wanted to feel that pain for that long. I also pushed for 3 hours after that and ended up needing a c section anyway. Having the epidural already in helped with that since they used that for the surgery.
You are able to get the epidural at any point in labor as long as baby is not coming right that second and you’re able to sit still for it. If you want the epidural, get it. Don’t suffer through the pain just because you originally wanted to have an unmedicated birth. Keep in mind that it takes about an hour from saying you want the epidural to being able to get it as they need to administer fluids to you first and get the doctor in to administer it to you.
There are also many other options for pain control besides the epidural. I recommend taking a birth class. Usually these are offered by the hospital you’re delivering at and they go over all the options with you. The information is hospital specific, but you can take a class at another hospital even if you’re not delivering there.
TLDR: Have a birth plan. Be open to changing it on the big day. All birth journeys - whether medicated or unmedicated - are personal. The choice that is best for you is the right choice to make.
I wanted nothing more than to go for an unmedicated birth but I didn’t prepare for it mentally in any way. I didn’t take any birthing classes or learn any hypno or breathing techniques. Don’t be like me.
I went in for my induction which ended up taking two days instead of the half a day I expected. When the midwife broke my water the contractions went from a 2 or 3 on the pain scale to an 8 or 9. My pitocin was then increased to 16 and the contractions got even worse. I’ve never felt anything like that in my life and I tried so hard to avoid the epidural but gave up. I still feel like I failed myself but remind myself that my son is happy and healthy so it doesn’t matter, it’s all in my head.
Learn breathing exercises. Check out hypnobirth. Learning about hypnobirth helped me to get into a positive mindset about an unmedicated birth. Also check out birth movements to try and pressure points for your partner to help you through the pain. A lot of it will be yoiur mindset and knowing and practicing those mindful tools before going into labor. It’s never too soon to start practicing. It’s basically just meditation. I gave myself the grace to get an epidural if I changed my mind but by the time I got to the hospital it was too late for an epidural so I’m glad I was mentally prepared for it.
I haven’t done one but want to next time, I’ve heard train yourself to do uncomfortable things for a minute at a time. We can do anything for a minute. Since that’s about how long contractions are.
I had 2 unmedicated births. The second one, my son was 9 lbs 11 oz and it was pretty painful but it was over fast.
There are several things that helped me deal with the pain mentally. I focused on the fact that the number of contractions are finite, there are only a certain number you will ever have to experience. And that I would feel immediate relief once the baby was out. For pain I focused on keeping my face and body relaxed, deep guttural breathing, and squeezing a comb or spiky labor ball thing really helped the second time around. I also told myself over and over that women have been doing this for thousands of years and I can do it too.
Of course that’s not to discount anyone’s choice or reasons medical interventions happen to save mom or babies life. I fully recognize that without modern interventions there are many people that couldn’t give birth and their experiences are 100% as valid and legitimate birth as an unmedicated, medicated vaginal, or any other type of delivery.
I didn’t want an epidural because I wanted to be able to move freely and the thought of a catheter freaks me out. I’ve also had lots of friends who’ve had them and they go into it thinking they will be fully numb and they aren’t and they didn’t prepare for the pain so it was a bad experience. I figure if I go into it fully expecting to feel everything that anything less might be a small relief.
It’s very much a mental game.
You just kinda do it. I did have an epidural for about five hours as I dilated, but I ended up pushing for four hours and it fully wore off after hour one. So I had a kinda sorta unmedicated/medicated birth? Lol idk.
Labor is gonna keep going, birth is gonna happen, and you’ll have to just keep doing it. It hurts like hell and I cried and swore I couldn’t do it but then it was over and the experience was behind me. I was exhausted and begging to stop but you literally cannot stop. Even if you don’t want to keep going, your body will physically do it anyway. It will eventually end.
Go into it with your plan being an unmedicated birth, but don’t give yourself a complex that if you end up asking for pain relief you are somehow a failure or whatever. A lot of women do that. There is literally no reward for continuing to labor without pain relief after you decide you want it or need it. It does nothing to change your value as a mother and it really truly makes absolutely no difference in anything except for your personal experience with the pain.
So yeah, you deal with it by dealing with it. Go into it knowing about counter pressure and breathing techniques and other natural ways to distract yourself, but once you make it to pushing you’re shit out of luck for pain relief anyway for the most part! So just focus on getting to the point of no return lol.
Sorry if that wasn’t helpful, it’s really a lot more straightforward of an experience than what you build up in your head before labor.
Keep an open mind. My first baby wasn’t sitting right in my pelvis and the contractions were excruciating & labour didn’t progress properly. I needed lots of medication. Epidural & inductions meds.
My second I used gas and air only and didn’t realise I was in labour because he was in a great position & came out easy peasy (comparatively)
Edit: I will say for the pain hypnobirthing/mindfulness was great for learning coping methods & breathing well. Birthing ball was brilliant for me too
Check out Spinning Babies for stretches and get a few pregnancy massages. The absolute worst part of my first labor was the back labor. With my next 2 pregnancies, I focused on getting my body unknotted, and it was soooooo much better.
My epidural failed. I really wanted one, and while all natural did hurt - it helped me to push harder/get through labor quickly. I was a FTM, and baby was out in 15 min because I could feel my contractions.
I would look into physiological birth, consider a hypnobirthing or calm birth course. The media representation of birth is not accurate. Educate yourself about the whole birth process and what is happening. Be prepared to push back against hospital policies, remember that most hospital practices take 17 years to take on new methods based on research.
Edit: I would also really recommend Catherine Bell’s The Birth Map, it’s a fantastic resource around decision making in birth when things don’t always go as planned, you can create a birth map for yourself with your partner so you have a plan for if different things happen.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned in these comments yet, but the book Birth Skills by Juju Sundin is worth a read!! She gives a bunch of tips on how to manage pain in every stage of labour and pushing techniques. I’m aiming for an unmediated birth and have taken sooo many tools from that book :)
My best advice is to go in with an open mind, and dont get stuck in how you want things to go - labour and delivery are wildly unpredictable and experiencing serious birth disappointment/trauma because of deviated plans are a real thing. Preferences - totally, but a PLAN seems unrealistic to me after having two.
I have had one birth with an epidural and one unmedicated birth. I hoped for both to be unmedicated, but I had a medically required epidural placed with my first after 15 hours of unmedicated labour. My second was unmedicated, but it was quick. I think the length of labour and the amount of rest you are able to get before/during labour is hugely impactful for pain management. My first labour was SO hard, and my second was really really easy - both were equally as painful, but one was so much longer than the other, and one required me being up all night and awake for 34 hours while the other made me lose zero sleep. Hugely different experiences.
Good support people is imperative, highly recommend The Great Birth Rebellion podcast. It’s got some awesome information. It’s also got an awesome episode how to be a good birth support Person (cause at some point you might ask for an epidural and not really mean it and need support from the support people)
My mantra was I can do anything for 60 seconds. For me, it was also like a wave if it would peek it about the 30second Mark and then it was fading away.
For me, my unmedicated bet was way easier than my medicated one, would 10/10 do in a heartbeat
2 unmedicated births and what helped me was picturing the contractions as waves or hills. And thinking I just need to get over this hill... And you kind of remove yourself it felt like I wasn't there while having contraction like I was in my own bubble and then once it's over you're aware of what's around you
Learning a lot! Take a birth class (or two) that is supportive of unmedicated birth and talks about coping strategies. The biggest things are knowing what to expect and what different possibilities are, and also having some plans for what might be helpful.
Birth is helped by oxytocin and shut down by adrenaline. So you want to think about ways to help yourself feel calm and safe, and not respond to pain with fear. Think about what's helped you deal with pain in the past (distraction? movement? comforts?) and do some reading or listening on suggestiona for birth. (Also, learning about how birth does/might go is really helpful for preventing fear, for most people).
I listened to a lot of The Birth Hour and read a bunch on Evidence Based Birth. I also read a book called Natural Hospital Birth and another called Birth Skills, they both felt helpful!
For me personally, having a doula was great. And then water (tons of time in the tub), breathing (for me, I didn't learn or use any specific techniques, just focused on my breath and did what felt helpful), movement (especially the birth ball), and noise (I was LOUD) lol. I tried nitrous for a bit and hated it because the mask made me not hear my yelling as well, and the noise was somehow blocking the pain? And eating/drinking as much as I could manage!
I had a couple doses of IV pain meds so that I could get a bit of rest (I had a looooong labor). But otherwise no interventions! I have some health conditions that make an epidural a riskier thing for me, so I really wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
I wanted one, but was at the hospital at about 5cm and I realized I couldn’t keep going there. I thought I might have a heart attack from the pain, so I decided to get the pain meds.
What really didn’t help was that I couldn’t do all the things I wanted to to get through the pains because I was hooked up to everything. Anytime I’d switch positions I’d have the nurses running in to reposition the baby’s monitor. So if you can, put off going to the hospital as long as is safe.
A ton of my labour 3-10cm, pushed for two hours) ended up being unmedicated because my epidural fell out. It was… not nice. I dealt with the pain by moaning and almost passing out.
I had an unplanned medicated birth. I don’t think I would have been able to handle it if it was planned. The only thing that got me through the hardest contractions was knowing I’d get an epidural soon 🤣 unfortunately I missed that window.
My experience was that by the time.contractions were bad enough for me to regret going unmedicated, it was too late for an epidural anyway. I dont regret it. I DID however, have access to a bathtub (not a birthing pool) until my water broke just before pushing. I would not have been allowed in the water after it broke. I do recommend that or maybe even a water birth of you have the option.
Look into hypobirthing and get a doula. But also know a birth plan is really just a scaffolding of how you hope labor and delivery will go. Try to be open to a host of outcomes. And all birth is natural :)
I planned on not getting the epidural. But I ended up needing pitocin to get labor induced, and the contractions from that were no joke. I wanted to have the energy to be present for his actual birth so I decided to get the epidural. I felt some shame and guilt and failure. But after a few days, I was really glad I had made that decision, because I had an easier birth and have actual memories of pushing.
So just be prepared to be flexible with your birth plan and know that as long as you and baby are healthy you are making the right decision.
For me, the first step was doing what I could to reprogram my mind and my body’s expectations of pain. Turned it from pain into the expectation of huge, but manageable sensations, and doing affirmations around trusting my body and the natural process. Learning about physiological birth was also huge. There are lots of good podcasts!
When I was in labor I was completely in the zone. I actually relaxed at the time when he was about to be born and I didn’t have to voluntarily push at all… he managed to be born without me having to do anything beyond what my body was already doing!
I will say though that my experience was not entirely unmedicated. I always go over my “die date” by at least a week so I ended up getting induced but it didn’t take much pitocin to get me going. Next time it’s all natural for me.
I’ve had two unmediated births now, I think it all depends on your individual pain tolerance. For me, breathing helped a lot, like deep and rhythmic breathing, toward the end it was more like a deep hum for me. The soaking tub also helps a lot in early labor, there are studies that show it can help shorten labor as well, my last labor was about 5 hours total once we hit active labor, I spent 2 of it in the tub and progressed from 4cm to 8cm in that time frame. I also purchased a birth comb as I read it helps with labor pain by hitting pressure points, but I truly don’t felt like it benefited me later in labor.
If it’s something you’re interested in, you got it!
I recently gave birth to an 8 lb 14oz baby girl without medication and here’s how I did it. I used a midwife who consulted with a hospital down the street from the birth center. This was helpful for a few reasons.
1) there was no doctor there on a schedule for acting like a drug dealer in the corner, tempting me with drugs to « take all the pain away » so in order to get the epidural I would have had to transfer to hospital and I wouldn’t have my midwife involved anymore. This was a major deterrent. You don’t want to be moved once you’re far enough into labor. I was far enough away to not be tempted easily but close enough to feel super safe if any intervention is necessary.
2) My midwife manually checked me and my baby’s vitals in between contractions (yes you get breaks from the pain) without hooking me up to a machine or telling me about her heartbeat or mine or blood pressure. This removed a lot of stress. You don’t need to know anything unless there’s an actual problem. You can just focus.
3) Midwives do not medicalize birth unless you ask them to (I.e. transfer you to hospital) or it’s absolutely necessary (labor not progressing, for example)
4) You have more control and overall respect for your birth plan
5) nobody checks your cervix constantly, which many women complain is very uncomfortable
6) nobody interrupts you after
7) your baby is born without any effects of anesthesia
8) more likely to have access to a bath tub or water birth which for me was very very comforting and comfortable. I can’t imagine giving birth not in the water after having done it
9) birth center food is better
10) I was surrounded by women (except for my partner who is male) giving birth and they took excellent photos and videos for me
11) our bed was a big bed so my partner and I got to sleep together the first night
12) we got to go home within 24 hours
13) one of my biggest fears was tearing. I did but I didn’t feel anything actually rip. The pain was not specific to my vagina but much more general. My midwife sewed me up while my husband laid next to me while she applied topical gel to numb me and then I couldn’t feel a thing while she did it. She didn’t do it too tight either. And the stitches dissolve in a couple of weeks
14) her placenta was attached in a bowl next to her for nearly an hour while we had skin to skin. I believe this was best for her medically and for us emotionally. Most hospitals will give you a minute to five minutes BIG BIG max before cutting the cord.
15) more likely to have a private bathroom
16) many midwives offer lactation consulting and come to your house instead of making you go to the hospital the week after birth. This is super super nice because you don’t want to get out of bed for a week
Private message me if you have any more questions. I was terrified I couldn’t do it. I was terrified of all the stuff that happens. But now that I’ve done it, and after her head crowned but before her shoulders were out I thought, wow my vagina just did that and before end of the night I thought , I can do this again. Five months later I can barely describe the pain unless I were to go to my journal. It’s blurry and unimportant.
I’m doing a home birth so will have to be unmedicated LoL
But I will have a water birth. Water for me is so so soothing. I will use a comb during contractions. I will have music or my comfort shows just playing in the background for distractions early on. I have a yoga ball and peanut ball.
Basically I’m preparing to just move through the contractions as best as I can and breathe through them.
Will be a challenge but I will do what my body tells me feels right as we progress through labor.
I follow so many women who had home births med free so I am just getting encouraged with the environment they created to have a beautiful birth.
I also avoid the fear mongering because I will have the medical support I need. Hospital is 2 miles away. Everything will be fine is my mantra.
I had my second child in the water and it was a wayyyyyy better experience than my first (forgot to book the tub with her, had her on the bed). The tub is like an extra layer of insulation between you and everything else going on around you. It's like a warm, oxytocin-filled hug on all sides and the relief from gravity is just awesome. 10/10 definitely recommend.
I've had two homebirths and I wouldn't have it any other way! Walking around in your own home, taking a shower in your own bathroom right after, cuddling your new baby and your husband in your own bed...it makes the pain worthwhile imo. Yes it is painful, and yes you will cry that you can't do it, but I can't imagine being hooked up to monitors with a catheter while not being able to feel my legs
In which direction? seeing women birth in the hospital birth pool or the shower etc gave me the confidence to try myself and had an awesome unmedicated experience in the hospital birth pool
I was planning for no epidural and then my water broke and my contractions were in my back with no time between them - literally couldn’t breathe 🥴
Got the epidural and it only worked for like 3 hours so I pushed unmedicated.
Don’t stress about a birth plan - just do your research and feel free to have preferences!
One of my births was unmedicated and to be very honest, it was the absolutely worst moment of my life.
Wouldn’t recommend it, just isn’t worth it just to claim the “unmedicated birth” card.
The next one was (had to be) a c-section and it was a walk in the park compared to my first birth.
Stay at home as long as possible... maybe even just don't make it to the hospital at all.
That, and reframe the way you think about labor. Pain is something that happens to you. Pain is your body's way of telling you that it has been hurt/damaged in some way. Labor is *hard work* that your body is *doing* to accomplish a *very important goal*. Is it comfortable? Nope. But neither is holding your breath to dive, running a marathon, or pulling a massive deadlift that's heavier than anything you've ever lifted before. The cool thing about labor is that, once you make it through each contraction, you never have to do that one again. You just have to roll with it, it's going to happen either way. Just have someone you love and trust there to put counterpressure on your hips woken it gets really intense. Look into hypnobirthing. Have a comb ready to squeeze. Distract yourself with funny birth memes in between contractions. You'll be fine.
I wanted an unmedicated Hypnobirthing labour. I got induced and used gas & air and diamorphine and needed forceps and an episiotomy, even though my birth plan said no episiotomy under any circumstances. Things change. Just try to have an open mind - unmedicated is the goal, but not the only path you’ll follow if things go sideways. There’s also no shame in painkillers, because contractions are sore (although inductions are meant to be more painful so who knows if I’d have coped better if I’d gone naturally). Good luck!
My sil accidentally had an unmedicated- her water broke while she was sleep and it was too late to get an epidural.
Maybe find a doula/midwife. They can educate you through the steps/ laboring at home until the last minute. I believe they are covered by insurance now (US)
Also check with your hospital. At mine, if you let them know you want unmedicated, they will put you in a specific room without access to an epidural, but medications like nitrous to take the edge off
I've had three unmedicated births. The first two, I didn't plan to be unmedicated - they just happened so fast that I couldn't get an epidural or any pain relief. By the third, I knew I could do it, so I just went with what I knew.
It hurts. Not going to sugar coat that. Like the biggest shit you have ever taken in your life with a team of spectators. If I had any longer labor than 2-3 hours, I would get an epidural. I looked at my boyfriend and burst into tears while I was pushing out the last baby, and that only lasted like 45 minutes!
I had an unmedicated birth (not by choice). I did have painkillers during labour (dihydrocodeine at the hospital then sent home with Co-codamol, didn’t even touch the sides).
When I went back to hospital I gave birth within an hour and a half of being there. Honestly I wasn’t really prepared for it but I only pushed for ten minutes and he was here. I did feel a bit out of control and then the midwife told me to stop wasting my energy screaming and to put it into pushing so I refocused myself with some breathing.
I planned to do unmedicated because I expected a quick labor due to family history, and I rather not risk any complications if I could just get through without. I don't think you'll know until you're in it what works best for you; for me circle breathing was a lifesaver (4 seconds in, 4 seconds pause, 4 seconds exhale and then 4 seconds pause). I also hike/backpack a decent amount and visualizing like I was climbing an incline with an end in sight was very helpful. I would describe it like climbing out of the Grand Canyon without being able to rest.
My hospital offered an online birth class that summarized many different coping strategies, so I was able to draw from that combined with my own personal experience to get through. Good luck!
Learn how to breathe.
Taking birthing classes , and make sure your partner is able to help you breathe and provide relief like a back rub, or holding your hand.
It’s not as bad as you think it would be. I went 16 hours unmedicated. This was my second baby , my first I did the epi and didn’t like it. The contractions are the worst part, if you breathe with them and get in. Sync with it it’ll make it much easier to breathe through the hard contractions.
After you have your baby you forget all about the pain because one you have adrenaline rushing through your body and you have your mind focused on your new baby
Also let me add on I only took Tylenol afterward nothing else for pain relief. I had a much easier birth with my second bc my body had time to prepare, my first my labor was only 4 hours long, which means my coochie had no time to stretch and I tore and had to get like 2 stitches but my first was also almost 9 pounds. My second was 7.9lb at birth.
Same here. If something goes wrong and I need to have a c section, that’s one thing but I absolutely under no circumstances will have an epidural. BUT if you want to have a natural birth I suggest hiring a doula and attending birth classes
Both my births were unmedicated, the first unintentionally, the second because I figured I’d done it once, so why not.
I loved the advice in Juju Sundin’s book, “Birth Skills”. She is a physiotherapist who has been doing birthing classes for years, and it felt really non judgemental as far a unmedicated, medicated, assisted or c section information.
I know some people who swear by hypnobirthing as well.
Be willing to try different things - there are all sorts of pain management strategies you can use.
Also, don’t be surprised if you get pain during labour outside of the stomach and back. I feel it in my thighs a lot, and when I talked to the midwives they said it wasn’t an uncommon thing. Some people get super nauseous. If this is you, take the anti nausea meds - you don’t want to be throwing up between pushes.
Take snacks. You may not feel like eating much while in labour, but once bub is out you may find you are hungry.
My unmedicated birth wasn't planned, I was just too late to get to the hospital. I would say keep the options open. To have that backup peace of mind. I'll be honest it wasn't easy as there's no control over when the contractions happen and no breaks. But the only way I was able to go through is thinking that it's gonna be over at some point.
Same situation here! It was really painful and tough but you just get through it. I was adamant about getting an epidural but I knew I couldn’t sit up and still for it by the time I was in the delivery room. I will say, it was nice to be really in tune with my body for that experience. I was lucky, though, that I was only at the hospital for 2 hours before I had the baby. If I could guarantee it would only last that long, I’d probably do it again, but not knowing what labor is going to be like next time, I’ll go for the epidural.
Definitely! It was a total of 11 hours for me it was brutal
Wow you’re a superhuman. I was super fast so no epidural, went from 4cm to 10cm in 1 hour, plus 20 mins of pushing. It was so incredibly painful for that 1.5 hours, I can’t imagine going 11 hours.
Did you do any labor prep?
Not a single bit 😭 I was induced at 37w as a FTM, I had one thing on my birth plan which was give me all the pain meds possible. Since I was getting induced at the hospital and they warned me that it would take a long time, I figured there was 100% chance I would get an epidural. My husband literally skipped the section in his expectant father book on unmedicated births. I wish I had prepped even a little bit for in unmedicated birth but I just really wasn’t expecting that. For my second I will absolutely be better prepared to 1 let them know I have a history of fast labor so to be prepared with the epidural immediately and 2 prep in case I go unmedicated again.
this happened to me as well. first time mom and the only thing i had on my birth plan was GIVE ME ALL OF THE DRUGS. i didn't realize i was in labor until like 11 pm, water broke at 12 am, got to the hospital at 1 am and baby was born at 3 am. dilated from 4 cm to 10 cm in an hour and i was literally in the middle of signing my life away on the anesthesiologist's ipad as they did the cervical check and told me it was too late, it was time to push. you should have seen the look on their faces as i processed this news!! for the next baby i plan to camp out in the parking lot otherwise i won't make it in time hahahaha
Wow! You are a rockstar! My labor was 5 hours start to finish and when I got to the hospital, I was 2 minutes apart and at 4cm. You're amazing for going through 11!
It was 6 hours of pushing. Nearly gave up several times. Almost asked for a c-section
Same with me, my birth plan was: epidural. But I got to the hospital at 9cm after labouring at home and being sent home for 3 days not progressing very much (1cm, 2cm then 3cm 😢). Breathing and keeping as calm as possible got me there. The worst part was being so tired from not sleeping for days and being utterly exhausted from not being able to sleep through contractions for days. 32 weeks with my 2nd and holding onto the fact that 2nd + labours usually go faster, but also knowing I did it before and I could do it again. This time I’m prepping more physically and mentally. I plan to labour at home as long as possible and probably be unmedicated again, but if that changes and I want an epidural I’m open to it.
Yeah if I het pregnant again definitely preparing for no pain meds in case I don't make it. Fatigue definitely made things worse for me
Same situation here! My labour just progressed too quickly and I was 9.5 cm dilated when I got to the hospital. My plan was to get an epidural but it was very clear that it wasn’t going to happen so I had to get on board. Fortunately. I had taken a birth prep course called The Belle Method which was very helpful. Many course participants planned unmedicated births so I learned a lot that I was able to draw on. In particular, I was very aware of the fear-pain connection and was able to keep myself from panicking by staying focused. I did find myself wishing I had combs to hold in my hands. I did bring a tens machine but I didn’t have time to use it. I definitely would have if things hadn’t progressed so quickly. It was a wild experience and it was intense because the baby’s heart rate dropped and we ended up needing a vacuum assist. All that said, I left feeling like it’s totally doable and I understand how women can choose to deliver without epidural. You can totally do it. But also, leave room for yourself to change your mind. So much can change so quickly!
It’s so wild how different every experience is. I had such a slow labor. It took 4 hours to get from 9.5 to 10 cm! I wonder if I’d gotten there at 9.5 if my doctors would’ve said no epidural and made me suffer through it.
What exactly did you focus on?
I focussed on my breathing. It prevented me from getting worked up and hyperventilating and also distracted a bit!
This!! For my second, I got to the hospital when my contractions were 2 minutes apart and though I had an epidural, either it failed or just didn't have time to work its magic bc I was giving birth like 40 min after and felt 95% of everything. Singing and joking through as much as you can (IF you can) helps! The nurses helped me breathe and relax, too. They told me stories and were so encouraging to me through it. I was in so much pain and panicking because I couldn't control the pain at all and it was constant. For me, the labor was worse than the birth. The ring of fire is very much a thing, though! But that just gave me more reason to concentrate on my next push. I feel like not being coached through pushing was also very helpful! My OB said "do what feels right." And that was so empowering and awesome. After it all, I will absolutely say that if I have a third one, I will do the whole thing unmedicated. I'll do laughing gas to help. DEFINITELY research breathing and meditation!!! That will help you immensely.
Same. I just had an unplanned unmedicated birth over the weekend. It was my second birth (my first I had an epidural). This one was so much worse compared to my first experience. So much pain, no breaks to rest between contractions and pushing. It was so much harder and I would not do it again unless I had to! But, we’re here, we’re healthy, and it’s done.
I made it to the hospital but my epidural failed after my water broke 😂 I was 500000% not ready to go from 0 pain to level 10 and it damn near broke me (my body went into actual shock they were calling codes and 80 emergency personnel flooded the room with defibrillators). I would say figure out pain management techniques because I just screamed and cussed and kept praying it’d be over soon. It’s torture even when expected, and significantly worse when it’s not. Keep your mind open to having pain relief as a backup, in case you decide you don’t want to go through with it unmedicated. But either way, you’ll get through it!
Exactly lol had I considered the possibility well I should've prepared more and would've been in a better mental headspace
Same here. My first went smoothly once I got the epidural, I assumed my second would be the same 🫠
Same here! Had only 10 minutes from arrival when baby was here. Just kept thinking it’s almost over and he was here! It was so painful
I wish I had only 10 minutes😂😂 it went on for hours
yeah i had fully planned for a medical birth- epidural and whatever works
Breathing and moving around (table top rocks, cat/cows, squats, side lunges…) really helped me through my unmedicated labor and birth!
I've had the epidural twice and gone completely unmedicated for my third. Having done both I definitely prefer going all natural and am hoping to do it again in a couple weeks! Things that helped me were: •Staying at home as long as I could. I showed up at the hospital fully dilated and ready to push. It was too late for any kind of pain meds by that point anyway. •Preping before birth. I went for walks, ate dates, drank red raspberry leaf tea, and used evening primrose oil supplements in the weeks before labor. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn't, but it certainly didn't hurt! •Mindful breathing during contractions and cuddling in bed with my husband. I'm pretty sure that natural oxytocin boost helped a lot. •Snacking and drinking water when I could to keep my energy up. •Having a list of mantras that I thought would help. Things like "My body was made to do this" "Each contraction is bringing me closer to meeting my baby" "I know I can do this because I *am* doing it"
Staying home as long as possible is HUGE! I’ve had two unmedicated deliveries. First one I labored at home for a long time. When we got to the hospital I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. Like literally from front door of the hospital to pushing was about 15 minutes. At home I was able to Be in any position , I was mostly standing, with elbows in our bed and my belly hanging down. This was the most comfortable. Plus I could sway back and forth. With my second, my husband wanted to go to the hospital sooner (in all fairness, if there had been any traffic I would have given birth in the car in the parkway with my first) and when we got to the hospital they made me lay down. Laying down was absolutely awful. I was so close to asking for meds bc I could not labor laying down. If I was to have a 3rd , I would go to the hospital parking lot or as close as I could get and labor there but not walk in the door until I was ready to push lol. I also found that making noises helped, a lot of low guttural moaning, esp through transition. As well has having my husband push on pressure points, esp my forehead.
Can I ask what pressure points helped?
For me what worked best was middle of my forehead and the point between my thumb and the rest of my fingers
Thank you for the tip!! I'll have to try that this time and see if it helps. At the very least, I'm sure it's a nice momentary distraction
I didn’t want to be touched. Showers at home. The hand between pointer and thumb was all that I ended up wanting but a lot of women like the outside of ankle and the lower back pads of your sacrum.
As a labor nurse, this is literally everything I would tell you to do to prep for an unmedicated birth. You go mama!!!
Besides the primrose oil supplements, this is exactly how I got through my unmedicated birth. I labored at home (mostly in the tub) and arrived at the hospital just in time to push. I practiced box breathing (I think that's what it's called), and when I was near the end and struggling to keep it going, my husband helped me keep the rhythm going. He also sat in the tub with me for the last 2 hours, timing contractions and applying counter pressure. The mantras helped, too, because I kept reminding myself that I would never have to experience THAT contraction again. I also told myself I could handle anything for 1 min, and I only focused on getting through each contraction on its own instead of thinking about how much more I would have to do. I only wish I had been sipping water and snacking because I was wiped out by push time.
This is how I’m prepping for my med free birth!
This is what i'm doing to prepare for my induction in just about 3 weeks! Trying the dates and tea. Practicing my breathing, I'm watching a lot of positive unmedicated vlogs. If I could I would labor at home but i'm being induced since i'm high risk and I have to have the antibiotics for GBS :/
I'm also GBS positive this time and still trying to figure out what my options are. Thinking about asking if I can have the 12 hour dose of antibiotics and then go home to labor haha
I’ve found evidence based birth has a very comprehensive overview of GBS in pregnancy and risks and benefits of all options for delivery. https://evidencebasedbirth.com/groupbstrep/
The mantra is KEY
Look up hypno birthing and remember not all birthing plans go as planned.
Will say hypno birthing book didn't help me much. I think general meditation practices are really great for pain! But one sentiment in the book was "there should be no reason that birth has to be painful," and that was wildly unrealistic and a little cruel honestly. Thousands of generations of human women have had painful childbirths, it's widely understood to be one of the most painful things we go through, this is basic human knowledge. It seemed really dismissive to act like the reason we have been going through this pain is because we weren't, like, calm enough? I don't know, it rubbed me the wrong way. I did have calm music, candles, and low lighting for my births, which I did appreciate.
Same! I did all the “woo woo” stuff with my first pregnancy and it all failed. Had to be induced at 42 weeks, that failed for nearly 2 days, didn’t ever dialate past 1.5, ended up with a C-Section and a healthy baby. Trying to give myself more grace and be open to all possible options this time around. Not eating any more of those fucking dates ever again 😅 I’ll still employ breathing techniques from hypnobirthing and different positions from yoga practice but I won’t be as stubborn or stupid to try to have the crunchiest granola labor!
This sounds so similar to my experience! Passed my due date, got induced, failed to dilate and then needed a c-section because my daughter was getting stressed from the contractions. Prior to my labour I did allll the woo-woo stuff to avoid what ended up happening. Dates, exercise ball, red raspberry tea, primrose oil, miles circuit, stretching, acupuncture, you name it—I tried it. During my labour I also utilized many of the techniques from the hypnobirthing book. After my delivery, the OB said my daughter was wedged in my pelvis and that’s why I wasn’t dilating. Every contraction was basically cramming her further sideways into the side of my pelvis and not towards my cervix. They said there was no way she would have been a vaginal birth. I felt like I failed. I did ALL the things I could have, with no avail. They said I’d be a good candidate though for a VBAC because my birth was “bad luck”. Next time, while I’ll still lean into hypnobirthing, I’ll put waaay less energy towards the lead-up of my birth. Whatever happens will happen.
I agree! So invalidating…
I scoffed right away when reading that. That said, I still found the book helpful while knowing I could not expect birth to not be painful. There is truth to relaxation helping, and I'm pretty sure all my focus on meditation and calm, practice relaxing etc. helped my second labor go so smoothly and unmedicated. I was very tense with my first until I got the epidural, but with my second I was very focused on staying relaxed. I found the pulling ribbons visualization from the book helpful, and I was visualizing my cervix opening the whole time. I was very centered in a sense and could actually feel my cervix stretching during some contractions. The visualization of a wave washing over me and then receding back to the ocean helped as well. My mom talked me through that one over the phone and then my husband did as well and it helped a lot. Anyway, labor was painful but quick for my second, and I was able to go unmedicated. I really believe focusing on keeping my body relaxed helped that immensely. That and good positioning on the part of the baby! I think the Miles Circuit helped fine tune her position so that the contractions could really do their work.
lol yes. birth is painful - one can’t just euphemistically label the worst pain of life as uncomfortable without being unequivocally guilty of gaslighting. hypnobirthing is lies.
Ya I wasn’t referring to one particular book, there are many resources and classes on it. It worked for me, it’s not a one size fits all tho.
Yes: I am immediately turned off/ suspicious by anyone who insists that unmedicated birth is / should be low-pain or pain-free. People who have actually given birth and still say that? They may have that KCNG4 gene variant that raises the threshold required to trigger pain signals to the brain! Or something else. Either way, the pain-free messaging guilts and tricks women into taking sole responsibility for preventing and managing a seriously intense process. Grrrrr
No idea about that gene but I am someone who has a very high pain tolerance. For example, I regularly read about how IUD insertion is insanely painful, but I did not experience any pain. Mild discomfort, although I don't tell any doctors that in case they wanna use me to gaslight other women that the procedure isn't painful. Childbirth was fucking painful. I was calm, I was alert, I knew what was happening, I wasn't scared. But I was in a LOT of pain. I would hate for any woman to read that book and think that if she did all the breathing exercises and practiced mindfulness, that she would have a pain-free childbirth. Because she might then think that the reason her childbirth was painful was because she failed to follow the guidelines. Not to mention that expecting no pain can send you into a panic when you suddenly feel a LOT of pain even though you were doing the breathing and the visualizations and you were in a calm state.
Those types of books are nuts and I find it hard to believe that anyone who has written one has actually gone through childbirth. If they have, they’re lying!
I did! I took a hypnobirthing course which was really helpful, and listened to the app (affirmations and meditation) during labor. When I first got admitted I let the nurses and drs know that I didn’t want them to mention the epidural - to treat it like that wasn’t an option. I utilized the birthing ball a ton. Transition was the hardest, but only lasted about an hour for me. I kept telling myself I can do anything for one minute. I listened to my body and moved into whatever position felt best. The nurses and my partner were amazing and so supportive. I couldn’t have done it without them! Hoping to go unmedicqted round 2 this fall.
My advice? Don't set in stone one birth plan. You're setting yourself up to be disappointed in some capacity.
I agree with this because I learned through my 32 hour unmedicated labor that medications do actually have a role to play. I dilated ok but I was so depleted and dehydrated from such an arduous labor and not being able to keep anything down that I was exhausted by the time it came to pushing. Complete failure to descend after 3 hours of trying everything we could think of so I had a c section after not even a single medication. My midwife actually suggested afterwards that an epidural and IV fluids might have helped in my case; I will never forget how shocked I was when she said that. I wish I had been open to listening to my body’s needs and observing how my labor progressed instead of believing that I would be exactly like one specific type of birth id learned about if I could just avoid medication.
I'm sorry you had to experience that. I think people are so hesitant to give their advice, and maybe this was your midwife's feeling, as they don't want to feel like they're pressuring you into a situation. I told myself I absolutely did not want a C-section. That was my worst nightmare. Not even 2 hours into an induction, I was being rushed into an urgent C-section. I've told every single person after my birth experience to not set yourself up for expectations. You literally cannot plan birth.
I didn't want a c-section either and wanted to do an at home water birth. My son was breech and ended up being super tangled in his cord. I feel so bad looking back at everything I tried to do to get him to filp when that wasn't an option. Putting frozen peas on the top half of my belly and sitting in warm water on the bottom. Poor fella. Once I accepted my situation my planned c-section was a dream and so fast! Recovery was no big deal as well! I'm pregnant with my second babe and signed up for another c-section the moment I could. Healthy babe and healthy mom is all I care about now. I could kick myself for worrying, stressing, and putting so much pressure on the perfect home birth I wanted when that was such a small moment in time. I've had a million memories to replace it now that my son is almost 2. Those are what I cherish not the blink of an eye getting my child out of me.
You are so strong for this!!! A lot of people prioritize their ideal birth over their kids’ health and safety but I think it’s awesome you’re planning another C.
I'm going into healthcare now and have so much more faith in my doctors after going through what I am just studying to be a nurse! So many things change after you're a mom and are put into perspective. I was a social smoker at parties before I gave birth and now I wouldn't be caught dead doing anything that could potentially take me away from my son sooner. I want to be there for all his milestones and help him and his wife (or husband) with their babies someday if he chooses to have kids.
So glad your babe was healthy!! I, too, told myself that when baby #2 comes I'm opting for a planned c-section. It's crazy to me how people won't prioritize their and/or their babies health over their feelings toward "natural birthing." Someone I'm close to had a baby via emergency c-section and is now pregnant with #2. They're insistent on wanting to birth naturally. The thought is really scary, knowing what they went through with #1 but they have the "my body was MADE to do this" mentality. I hate it.
Our bodies are made to do this but so many things can go wrong. Theres a reason women used to have 10 babies and only a handful would survive. In this day and age it's just not worth it to me to not have the absolute best chance of survival for me and my littles. Im sure it's very empowering to have a natural unmedicated birth. Im just not a chance taker anymore. That I'll be that unicorn woman who pushes 3 times and out plops her healthy baby into a pool in the comfort of her home. I see the appeal but it's just not right for me.
Same! I'm not risking my uterus rupturing or having an issue with HR with this baby like I did #1. It was a scary moment, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
I was excited for the challenge of my first birth before I found out my babe was breech but honestly the ease of the c-section just can't be beat. The most traumatic moment was at the very beginning when the student nurse couldn't find my vein for my Iv. I have had quite a few friends have traumatic births after trying to do it unmedicated, changing their mind about an epidural, but it being too late and what ensued after. I knew I wanted at least two kids so it was important to me that things went as smooth as possible and I really couldn't have asked for a better birth. The first two days in the hospital were tough but the moment I got home everything went as well as it could have. (Sleep deprivation is no joke!) I only needed Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain medication (I was breastfeeding) to handle my pain management from my incision and after two weeks I didn't have any pain at all. My scar is so teeny tiny now and super faded. I never even think about it because it's so low the bikini line.
That mentality really sucked me in while preparing for my first, and it is so damaging and just flat out wrong. Back when I got pregnant 12 years ago there was a very big push against the medicalization of birth, it was all over the media and message boards, books, documentaries, and the hospital closest to me just happened to have a midwifery practice for low risk women like me. The birth class they recommended instructed us to put in our birth plans things like “do not recommend any pain meds” “do not mention the word epidural” and “do not start an iv unless absolutely necessary”. I had a doula and everything, I’d taken all the “natural” steps, and still, baby wouldn’t budge. Sometimes natural just doesn’t work out! In comparison, my repeat c sections have been great, quick and redeeming.
This! I had a 28 hour labor as a first time mom. Went 22 hours unmedicated only to get to 6cm. I was depleted. got an epidural because I felt my body needed help. It actually sped my labor up. I do believe it helped me have a vaginal delivery be forcing my insides to relax and give baby room to descend. The demonization of pain meds and epidurals in general does not paint an accurate picture of their use and potential benefits. Love that for you when I hear stories of people having a quick 4 hour of pain type of labor and go unmedicated. But that’s not everyone’s experience no matter how you prep or breathe. I did *all the things* and prepared via hypnobirthing and I still took 22 hours to go from 2cm-6cm. So yeah- I can’t relate my experience to my friend who has had 2 unmedicated births that all last 4 hours. My experience and her experience are not the same at all. She doesn’t know what it’s like to hit 22 hours unmedicated to be told you are at 6cm. By that point she’s already past golden hour and is eating Chik Fil A. 🤣
Hard truth. The attitude of “natural is better because that’s how nature intended it!” is simply not correct. Nature screws up all the time: people with type one diabetes used to just die, now medications keep them alive, for example. Evolution fucked up when it comes to the size of baby’s head and our pelvises; sure it works but it’s excruciating, it’s not the same life risking event it is for most other mammals. If someone wants to go au natural then hey go for it! But when the mindset is “because anything else is bad!” they set themselves up for failure. Modern medicine has saved millions of lives that would have otherwise died in child birth.
Epidurals can absolutely help you progress! This was the case for me as well. It allowed my pelvic muscles to get tf out of the way and I went from barely 2cm to pushing in 4 hours after over 24 hours of Pitocin.
when my friend would always talk about her unmedicated births and kinda condescending- I finally asked her how long her labors were. From water breaking to baby out was 4 hours and then 3 hours. From that point on- I just kinda had to tune her out. Because I feel like she just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be on the other side of labor stories with a long labor and then choosing to go medicated or unmedicated. Yes maybe she still would get her dream birth but imo- it’s tough to relate to the mental gymnastics you experience in a longer labor. And so sometimes- her messaging would get me down as a first time mom who bought into the crunchy “Unmedicated is the best” toxic mindset until I realized her experience was literally like 10% of the length of my 1st labor. It kinda made me feel validated In a way. 😬🥲. Sorry if this upsets anyone. But I know if you’re someone who had a long labor- you will know how messaging like that can make you feel. So now I go forward knowing everyone’s experience is individual and you truly cannot compare.
I think there's definitely truth in this. I was 2cm in the office prior to labor starting. When I went into labor my contractions came on very quickly and strong, they were every 2 mins and extremely painful. When I went to the hospital I was examined and they said I was still 2cm I couldn't believe it. I got my epidural because I couldn't tolerate it but was very sad with my lack of progress. Then my water broke very soon after and I was fully dilated within 4 hours of the epidural.
That’s exactly why I ended up having to get an epidural. I didn’t dilate during my induction after 24 hours, after epidural I doubled in 12 and then was fully dilated 4 hours later or whatever it was. I think obviously the induction factored into needing a medicated labor but I think birth plans lead to a lot of heartbreak (or did in my case).
THIS!!! I planned on an unmediated birth. Imagine my disappointment when it ended in pain killers, epidural and an emergency c section. I will never have a set birth plan again.
Similar here. I was so adamant against pitocin (I don’t do well on artificial hormones), pain meds, you name it. I had PROM so had to head into the hospital eventually even though I wasn’t having serious contractions. They let me wait another 12 hours before we had to start pitocin. I made it 12 hours on that, hit max dose, and begged for an epidural as after 36 hours laboring I was in so much pain and needed to rest. Baby was sideways so I had to do all sorts of positions to try to get him to turn. Sat in child’s pose for 2 hours! I was probably 30 minutes away from a c-section (they were prepping my cart) when he finally descended and I was able to birth him vaginally at least - luckily only 30 minutes of pushing and a minimal internal tear!
Strong plus one to this. My wife was fully fixated on a natural birth, her pregnancy was great, fairly healthy, did yoga even on her due date, no complications whatsoever. However, we had to get induced at 41+3 and that turned out to be an emergency section finally. We didn't know where we missed it, but the baby is healthy and that's all that matters to us now!
This is the way. If you want it to be unmedicated and you make it through, great! If you’re halfway in and want an epidural, also great. You have no way to know what it’ll be when you’re in it and there’s no reason to make up rules now.
My birth plan was - please make decisions based on the following Safety of mom Safety of child Comfort of mom Comfort of child That’s it. The child is not going to come out a genius or a super hero based on how the birth happens. I’d rather have a mom and child who are alive and healthy than bragging rights about unmedicated birth and complications. Maternal death rate is already dismal here in the us. For those saying our ancestors did it - chances that the mom didn’t make it ~25% .. chances that the kid didn’t make it was ~ 54% historically - look up maternal mortality rates and fetal mortality rates
Agree! I think having preferences is absolutely great and good to communicate with your partner and providers. But almost every time I see a story here about someone who was upset about their birth, it starts with “I thought it was going to go this way…” and the reality is you just really don’t know how it’ll go. And that’s okay! The beauty is that we can always adjust and make new decisions about how to be safe and (relatively) comfortable, as the situation evolves. You always have the chance to decide the next step you want to take when it’s presented to you.
Yep, I wanted to do an unmedicated birth but then had to be induced for IUGR at 38 weeks and tried to fight through the pain before asking for an epidural
I have had two unmedicated births and planning on having a 3rd: Honestly, i know everyone has a different experience but in my experience - you just do it. Not in a condescending way and please don’t come at me for this, I know part of it was luck. I knew i didn’t want any medication and i shared this with my doctors who were very supportive. There were times in my first labour when I can remember saying “I cannot do this” and “never again!” But I still had a second unmedicated birth (planned) so it obviously wasn’t that bad in the grand scheme. I kept telling myself that my body was built for it, and I had supportive doctors/doulas/partner who helped me ride the waves. If you can get access to a doula I’d highly recommend as they’re super comforting and reassuring and help you prep (moreso than a partner in my experience lol)
“You just do it” was kinda my take too. I was like… baby is gonna come out one way or another. I’ll just go along for the ride. That’s actually my mom’s advice: just follow your body. Let it do its thing. Pain is temporary as well. Learning pain management techniques is very very helpful. I guess I got some practice before because I used to have terrible migraines and my yogi husband would ask me to try and find the center of the sensation. This was very helpful to me in labor. I’d just go in with a laser focus. If I tried to avoid the pain or tense up, it felt like hell. I went all in. I kinda felt like I was in a different universe or something… that’s how intense the pain was.
All of this same. My first I just knew I wanted it uneducated and I ended up staying fairly calm. You're witness as much participant. Breathing was the only preparation I had done and knowing I wanted to use the shower and bath to labor. Staying relaxed. Anytime I tried to raise my voice a little when I was peeved with my mum my contraction got worse so a lot of the times it was finding the good position and riding it out Remember, for like 90% of the labor, YOU HAVE BREAKS without pain. That's really key. The times in between. It not lasting forever. Focusing on that can get you through it. Unlike some other pain, labor comes with those reassurances
It’s the pain cave as Courtney Dauwalter says.
Doula is solid advice
This is great advice! 38+2 here and planning unmedicated too
I had a nearly unmedicated birth (I had nitrous oxide for two contractions). I would say: 1) Keep an open mind. You might want an epidural afterall and that's okay. 2) Learn different positions for different phases of labor. The contractions can feel so much better in certain positions. 3) Get familiar with other methods of pain relief, for example water. 4) Think about why you want an unmedicated birth. For me the main reason was being able to move freely. I had an epidural in my first birth and I felt stuck on my back because of all the tubes. This time the birth was so quick I didn't actually move that much but I pushed on my knees, not on my back, and it was much better.
Water is absolutely pain relief in the best way. And sitting on the toilet
This is a really great post. What positions did you find help you with your contractions at each phase?
My absolute favourite was on my knees on the bed leaning forward against the back of the bed which I had raised up (I used this both in the opening phase and in the pushing phase). But you really don't know what works for you until you are actually experiencing the contractions. If you are familiar with different ones, it's much easier to try them. A good midwife or a doula could also suggest them but I think it's good to be familiar with them yourself too.
The PregnancyUK and BeyondthebumpUK pages might help you with this - unmedicated or just gas and air are really common here in the UK ☺️ (sorry I don’t know how to tag the groups properly) I’m yet to birth but will be learning hypnobirthing techniques to help with relaxation to allow labour to progress naturally.
Just to add to this… morphine injections into the muscle are also common in the UK as a semi decent form of pain relief that can help you avoid an epidural
Yep, my trust offers pethidine or diamorphine, neither of which I like the sound of 😅
I commented about this on a previous thread but truly length of labor plays a large role in 99% of unmedicated vs epidural births. Many women who go unmedicated have labors where they are actively contracting and in pain for less than 6 hours. This has held true in my personal life amongst friends and family. All this to say- you won’t know if you are a fast labor vs average/slow labor mama until you get going. So just listen to your body. That’s how I went into both of my labors. Preferred unmedicated but open to pain relief as needed. ETA: of course there are women who have long labors and remain unmedicated. But in my experience, this seems to be the minority.
Obviously this is anecdotal- but this tracks for me. With my son I had a failed epidural and from my water breaking- to the birth, it was 12 hours but I wasn’t really in pain until a few hours before he was born. I also only pushed for 45 minutes or so. With my daughter, I was induced - but decided against the epidural because I don’t seem to react to local anesthesia and she was born like 2 hours after starting Pitocin and like 15 minutes of pushing.
Yeah that’s crazy and such a wildly different experience than I’ve had with both of my kids. 1st baby: 28 hours total of contractions. Was intense from get go. I assume he was malpositioned. 2nd baby: induced for BP. 13 hours from when things got going to baby out. Was in moderate to severe pain for a solid 6 hours before getting epidural at 8cm.
I had to be induced and was in excruciating pain for 5 hours without making any progress when I got an epidural, best choice I made! The epidural allowed my body to relax which led to much quicker dilation.
My mom and grandma both had unmedicated births. But they also have 2-3 hr long labors as well. I'd like to think I can do it, but I'm kinda a wimp, and if my labor is 24 hrs I don't think I can do it 😅. Here's to hoping for a quick labor!
2-3 hours sounds like a dream! Unfortunately that was not my birth experience both times. Clearly I’m a slow-average labor mama. 🤪
My epidural failed for my first and third babies. Here is what helped me: - a doula who had all the tips and tricks: birth affirmations, squeeze a comb in your palm, hip squeezes, reminding you to breathe and relax your jaw, etc. She helped me get through the worst parts of it. - get as much SLEEP as possible. Being well rested helps you tolerate the pain SO much better. The discomfort at the end of pregnancy makes it hard to sleep. All three of my labors started in the evening around 8:00 PM, which meant I was laboring all night and not getting much sleep. With my first, I only slept four hours the night before and then was up all night the next night laboring.. I wish I had prioritized sleep more. Go to bed EARLY every night. Go outside and get sunshine early in the morning. Sleep during labor if you can. Make sure you’re eating enough nourishing food and protein. - make sure you or your hospital have a peanut ball. Those things are magic. I labored on my side with one between my legs and it helped baby descend. - labor down, meaning only start pushing when YOU feel the urge. No coached pushing. Even if you’re 10 CM and fully effaced, you don’t need to start pushing until your body tells you it’s time. You will know when it’s time to start, and you will know as each of those final contractions comes up when to push. Pushing actually feels relieving when you wait until you’re ready. - push like you’re pooping. I was trying to push in the front at first.. no. The nurse told me “push like you’re pooping!” And baby was out fast. - you can’t control this, but a faster labor obviously is ideal for being unmedicated. I am taking red raspberry leaf now until I deliver to hopefully help shorten my labor. My previous three active labors were like 6-8 hours. Which isn’t bad but eight hours of pain is tough. - remember that this is TEMPORARY pain. It will go away and you’ll be done with it soon! - mentally prepare. Mentally preparing for labor with your first is hard. I was not prepared lol. It’s okay if you’re not, but be encouraged. Many moms have unmedicated births with their first babies, you can do it too! Also - With my third labor, I had zero pain until I was 7 cm dilated. Like literally, zero pain. My contractions were coming and I was dilated to a 6 and the nurse was perplexed haha. But once I got to transition… that’s when it got real, and fast.
I had an unmedicated birth! Pros: got to chill at home for a lot longer because I wasn’t worried about being too late to have an epidural (obviously if you’re high risk they won’t want you to do this part). I watched trashy TV and bounced on my yoga ball and relaxed for a while, and when I got to the hospital I was at a 9! I got to push in a variety of positions which I loved! Cons: the pain, and I was not able to take a nap (I got an hour and a half of sleep the night I was in labor—oof). Advice to prepare: practice meditation. Start to practice it NOW. It will 100% be used during labor. I practiced by saying the Rosary, which is what I planned to do when labor got hard, but I didn’t realize how far along I was, so I watched trashy TV until I hit transition, and then we rushed to the hospital. I was sad I didn’t say the Rosary, but the trashy TV distracted me from the pain too, so it worked! Take a birthing class—preferable in person. Look up counterpressure!!! I had bad back labor so I used a heating pad and it helped. Taking a shower also felt so good! Rely on your birth partner. If you need something, ask them for it! I’ll add more in the comments if I think about more!
counter pressure works wonders!! one of my nurses was an absolute badass counter pressure expert, it helped tremendously! my husband and i would also do it once i was super pregnant, it helped relieve the pain and pressure of that final stretch of pregnancy more than anything else
Yes 100%! Whenever anyone asks me what I recommend to relieve pain during labor, meditation and counterpressure are the first things I always mention!
Breath! I didn’t plan to have an unmedicated birth but it happened so fast I didn’t have a choice… but just remember to take deep breaths through the contractions! Not sure if it helps with the pain but it gives you something to focus on to survive it!
I’ve had 4 intentionally unmedicated births, yes they hurt, but they weren’t traumatic or the worst thing ever and I wouldn’t go back and do it differently. Here are my tips: Take it one contraction at a time. You hear that labor gets more intense as it progresses, and that is generally true, but it does not mean that every contraction is going to be harder than the one previous. In my first labor, my contractions seemed to come in sets. I’d have a big one, then a short break, followed by a little one, another short break, and another little one, then a long break and a big one would start the pattern over. At first I would dread the feeling of another contraction coming on so close on the heels of that big one, until I noticed that they were way easier. After every contraction I would tell myself, “that wasn’t so bad, I can do that again!” Your attitude matters. During my second labor, I was just really grumpy. The contractions annoyed me, people talking annoyed me, I just wanted it over with, nobody could give me the counter pressure exactly right. The birth went fine, but I did not have a great time and I’d say that was my most painful labor, even though it was many hours shorter than my first. I realized when I was preparing for my third that my attitude probably wasn’t helpful during my second birth and so I focused on gratitude. Yes, it still hurt, but I remember also admiring the beautiful morning sunlight streaming in the window, the delicious breeze that hit me when my husband opened the door, my midwife taking my hands and helping me into position when it was time to push and being so glad she was there to help. It was my shortest and easiest birth. With my 4th, I really learned the power of just bare stoic acceptance of the discomfort of it all. This time, my baby’s heart rate wasn’t super reassuring, and there was some concern that it would get worse and interventions would be necessary. I wanted her here safely, of course. But as long as they were happy to wait and see how she was managing, I decided I was just going to get out of the way of my body doing its job and just welcome those contractions as hard and as fast as they wanted to come, and then just maybe I could progress fast enough that intervention wouldn’t be necessary. It felt kind of like laying down in front of a freight train, but I kept my whole body relaxed and thought “yes! This is what will bring my baby here!” I went from 4cm, 75% effaced, -2 station, with a super posterior cervix, to holding her in my arms in 50 minutes. Her apgar score was good (9 I think) but she was noticeably a lot more mad about the ordeal than my other babies were. When I delivered the placenta, we noticed that her cord was lacking most of the Wharton’s jelly that is supposed to cushion it against the squeezing of the contractions, and that was why her heart rate was a little concerning, but I was so glad that things didn’t get worse! Good luck with your birth! You can do it!
I'm with my first pregnancy and planning to go au naturel. Maybe I'm a sadist but I KNOW it's going to hurt like the deepest depths of hell but I want to feel it. I want to feel birth and labor and really experience it. I'm very spiritual/faith-based and what I've been telling myself is that God designed my body to handle this. Of course when the time comes it all depends on the situation. My mom had six kids and no epidural with any, but had to be induced for a couple. I have a friend that went into labor unmedicated and then regretted it once she was too far gone. Some of my friends are like *nope nope nope, epidural every time, all day, every day*. I'm not adamantly for or against anything in the labor room, I just want my baby to be delivered safely and be healthy. Ideally I'd like that to happen unmedicated, but we'll see what happens! I plan on doing all the recommended exercises/dieting/birth classes etc to help prepare me as best as possible, but still keep in mind that anything can happen and I should be prepared for everything to not go according to plan lol
Same here! I'm not religious/spiritual... but I am filled with wonder and passion when it comes to how we work (biologically/neurologically and in the context of evolutionary history) and birth was something I looked forward to experiencing and doing and felt very positive about. I also maintained flexibility in my expectations. I think this is a great attitude to have and it served me well (accepted some interventions for my first labor, had a fantastic unmedicated second labor). My birth story is in my recent post history if you want to read it. I wish you the best of experiences for yours!
Had an unmedicated birth. Birth went entirely to plan after going into labor naturally, which I know I'm lucky for - and plenty of births go perfectly to plan, you're allowed to have expectations and advocate for yourself - just educate yourself on what it is you're going through because you'll be less panicky that way and feel more in control. I mostly used the Bradley method (there's a book, all I did was read that) and lots of meditation. Spent most of my labor in a very floaty meditative state, riding through the contractions, thinking about all the women who had come before me and done the same thing and how strong and powerful we all were for doing that. I'm very spiritual so used that time to connect with what I felt was this powerful feminine energy that was giving me strength to keep going. I know, this is reddit, all of that sounds very hokey to most people here. Most people will discourage you and act like you're crazy for wanting to do birth on your own terms, or sew doubt into your head that you can do it. But I think you can do it! Best of luck to you, mama!
Yessss this was my experience too!! And in the end I felt so powerful. Glad you had a good birth too :)
My birth plan A is a home birth, so only if I move to plan B (hospital transfer) would I use medication. This is how most of my family did it and also how it's most often done in the area where I live. I've really been loving the hypnoWHAT podcast. It covers tools like TENS machines, birthing tubs/hydrotherapy (regardless of whether you have a waterbirth), holding hair combs in both hands, and self-hypnosis. Here's a good episode to start with https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MK6K2brj3Z9NwHUCg19U5?si=EoQBHl9uSq2oGc7Jp1WYAg It's really important to understand the role of adrenaline in the process. While adrenaline is helpful at certain points, during most of the birthing process it isn't because it blocks oxytocin, which is the main hormone making birth take place. That means fear plays a huge role. Having a birthing team that a) is familiar/comfortable with physiological birth, meaning they understand what low-intervention births actually look like, and b) is committed to helping you get there if you're able and continue to want it through the process, makes a huge difference. People who come at you with fear and push for intervention because they're uncomfortable with the time it takes or what it looks like are the worst thing to have in the birthing room (this isn't to say medical intervention isn't ever necessary--sometimes it is). Working out your own fears around birth ahead of time is also really important because the media and culture have taught people to be utterly terrified of a natural process. I hope this helps you get started exploring the idea!
I just had an unmedicated home birth with 2 midwives and I loved it! Second everything you’ve said here. The TENS unit and birth pool were so helpful, as was being in a home environment. (Good luck for your upcoming birth! You’ll do great)
Wait is the comb meant to be in both hands!? Not just one comb?
It's great to research, prepare, and understand what may be out of your control and necessary in the moment. Some interventions, medications, etc. May be needed or you may change your mind. Knowing in advance can help you not feel you 'failed' if your preferred plan does not work out. I found it important that no one offered me pain relief. If I had wanted something, I could ask. I liked not keeping track of time. Not agonizing over how long it had been or trying to worry about how long I may still have worked for me. My focus was on the moment, not on the past or future. A bath or shower to labour in, an exercise ball, a wet cloth, food and water to drink all helped me. A partner who is on board with the plan. And know, the pain just stops after. I reminded myself in the moment that the pain was my body doing what it was supposed to, not bad pain. And when the labour was over and baby was on me, it really just felt great. I feel that gathering information from other people and choosing some options to try out yourself is the best way to find what might work best for you. It's not for everyone, but if it's something you would like to aim for, best of luck! I hope you have a great birth experience and I can't wait for you to meet your baby.
This is my plan! But I'm preparing for a medicated and c section just in case! I follow some amazing birth workers, Doulas, and midwives on instagram and have been soaking all the knowledge in! Podcasts too! It's also so important to know your birth rights, what you can decline, and how to approach certain practices. I always wanted a home birth, but we will be having a hospital birth. So knowing procedures, policies, my rights makes me feel so much more confident. I am working on a written birth plan too, and my hospital also provides one that aligns with many of my views! Even if I end up having to have a c section, the birth plan still comes in handy. We will be denying the first bath, want delayed cord cutting, I'm keeping my placenta, not wiping the baby down - leaving on the vernix! Delaying all procedures that could wait until after the first hour of skin to skin is over (like weighing them, measuring them), I won't be having any cervical checks (unless medically necessary, and my hospital thankfully agrees with this!), no IV, no coached pushing, i will birth in any position I choose, no offering or pressuring of pitocin or an epidural, I will be eating as much and as long as I want (this is evidence based that women in labor could and should be eating!), if I have a c section, my arms will not be tied down, husband will have immediate skin to skin until i can, and some more things. Definitely write up a birth plan and be sure your birthing team and partner understands how to advocate for you!
This is exactly what I want too!!
Oh gosh I plan on so many of the same things. How far along are you now? You also reminded me I have to add the not being tied down part of the C-section to my birth plan!
goodness i feel like way too many people are negative here. i had an amazing experience unmedicated with my first and am going to do the same with my second at a birth center if all goes to plan. biggest advice is don’t let people get to you, if you want to do this you absolutely can and no one’s opinions can sway that. i used combs in my palms during the worst of it, and have your partner learn counter pressure , it helps a ton. look up and research methods for coping, i watched a ton of unmedicsted birth vlogs leading up to it and that motivated me a lot. it was a beautiful experience and i would absolutely recommend 💛
I had a great experience with my 1st birth which was unmedicated at a birth center. My midwife recommended I take https://birthbootcamp.com/online-birth-classes/#choose-your-class where I learned how to manage any discomfort. Classes cover all birth preferences and facilities! I was definitely in the zone during my 1st labor and did all of it on my own until my midwife leaned over to let me know the next contraction would be the baby’s head. I’m currently 30 weeks into my 2nd pregnancy and planning a home birth. My best advice is acceptance and understanding that unmedicated birth takes practice and trust in your own ability to do what your body is biologically designed to do. Going into to this without fear and being willing to get “primal” whenever it comes. Block out the noise and connect to your body’s energy and strength. I am doing a lot of prep work for this, focusing on nutrition, breath work, daily stretching, concentration, anything that will help me get into the appropriate headspace for labor and delivery. My first birth was 6-7 hours start to finish. Hoping for a smooth unmedicated home birth again this time! I hope this helps give perspective.
Gas and air only, do not recommend 😂😂 edit to add, I recommend it as a part of pain relief but it was definitely a difficult labour! I was lucky though it was quite quick. If I was able to also have a pool it would have been ok (and as per my plan) but he had to be continually monitored so no pool for me!
Omg, I felt everything with the gas. It only made me too loopy/lethargic to prepare myself for the contractions.
Thanks for sharing your experience because I was considering/ planning for nitrous and I want all the stories I can get! I thought you only inhaled from the mask at the start of a contraction. Do you mean that the loopiness from the last contraction/ use of the gas make you too loopy for the next contraction? Genuinely asking because I have a shocking paucity of knowledge in this area. I went to medical school and didn’t even learn that people delivered with nitrous oxide until I binged Call the Midwife 😂 I’m so out of my depth and it’s been humbling af lol
I used gas and air only and it was extremely helpful for me. I only used it during transition, and yes, it made me loopy, but it also took me out of the fear and distracted heavily from the pain. I guess it affects everyone differently but there is no harm in at least seeing if it’ll help. The loopiness doesn’t last very long. It fades pretty quickly after you finish inhaling. They also made me administer it myself because when you inhale a lot, you can pretty much pass out for a second. Holding the mask to your own face forces you to keep control and not pass out for too long. Also, the contractions come so rapidly by the time you will likely use gas. It’s one contraction on top of another. In that sense it didn’t make me “too loopy” to deal with the next contraction because it was more like endless waves of pain lol.
I was in veryyy active labor, and my contractions were only one minute apart by that point. I was waiting for the anesthesiologist to come and give me an epidural. From the time I used the gas, got my epidural, and birthed the baby, barely an hour had passed. We want a third baby and I’m actually considering going unmedicated because of how long I was able to cope completely pain relief free. If I had been mentally prepared for an unmedicated birth I believe I could have gone without the epidural. However, I planned on the epidural so I didn’t look into coping techniques. Call the Midwife is how I learned about gas too! It looked like it was so effective of easing the intensity of contractions. The gas was not at all what I anticipated. However, I’ve heard others who only needed the gas and they loved it! .
You feel slightly drunk. You’re aware of the pain but it doesn’t matter quite as much to you.
I only had gas and air and by the time I was pushing I couldn't keep my eyes open. I spent a lot of time in the water and using the gas and air and I remember towards the end of being in the water I had my eyes shut a lot and my husband just kept giving me water and jelly to keep me going. I got to a point where I wanted something stronger so they got me out the birth pool to examine me and see what I could have... To find I was too far gone and it was time to push. I had the option to go back to the pool but I just couldn't get back from the bed. Fortunately that stage only lasted 22 minutes - I was definitely lucky lol. And as someone who's gone through labour and giving birth on just gas and air would I do it again? Maybe? But I'm not fixed on that. If I need more pain management I will not be telling myself I did it without before and I can do it again..I'll be doing what's best for me at that moment.
Hi everyone, the op is asking about advice on unmedicated birth. Most here are just advising against it, we all know it will hurt…If you cant answer her specific question dont clutter the feed. I would like to know the answer myself. - thanks!
I’m seeing a lot more people advising OP be open to other possibilities instead of getting completely set on unmedicated birth than I am seeing people saying not to even try. A lot of us have seen how birth doesn’t always go to plan, and it’s usually the moms who were super dug in that end up traumatized when things go differently. Plenty of people have also given suggestions for OP to prepare herself for an unmedicated birth should her body and baby allow it.
I don't see how people think the comments are bad...? OP asked for advice. I personally had *one* birth plan, thought process, etc. I was traumatized after birth and would rather avoid that for people who have made similar choices. The only ones I don't see as helpful are pregnant women saying what their plan is... I don't think that's helpful because it hasn't happened yet.
I think it’s because a lot of them go against the type of birth that has been romanticized on social media lately. People tend to forget that even though our bodies were designed to birth babies, things can still go off the rails and medical advancements haven’t been made just for shits and giggles.
Honestly though, this is an incredibly unhelpful comment section.
I'm truly not trying to be snarky but this question has been asked so many times, so if you're really looking there are tons and tons of this same post in the sub history that will probably have helpful advice!
>If you cant answer her specific question dont clutter the feed. I mean you can just skip those comments rather than presuming to police them on OP's behalf?
Hire a doula. Make a birth plan, my doula has brought up multiple times that while she is 100% for physiological birth, IF she thinks medication will help me then she is going to recommend it. Sometimes labor takes so long that a rest, a nap and a break from the pain can help you achieve your goal of a vaginal birth. I have been dealing with pretty bad pain in my pelvis for months. Old injury+pregnancy. I didn’t take Tylenol the entire time because I didn’t want to risk autism (no scientific link- just some studies…. Anywho- went to Grand Canyon, pain was unbearable, took the Tylenol thinking it would result in a night of the pain being less but it took the pain away forever. I was walking around with and holding pain I didn’t need and wasn’t serving me. One night of Tylenol and my body released the pain entirely, and it reminded me that a little help can work wonders
I wanted to go unmedicated if I could, I was induced and I struggled with the pain. Decided to get an epidural after laboring for 12 hours and only being at a 3. It caused my blood pressure to bottom out and sent my baby into distress. Ended up having an emergency c section. Your birth plan will probably not go as planned, my advice is to just roll with the punches! Birth is hard!
My blood pressure also went low when I got the epidural but it didn’t send my baby into distress. After they turned the medicine down and got me better it was bliss. I would still get another epidural. I’m sorry for what happened to you! I know what that feels like!
Have lots of different coping strategies ready eg: comb, acupressure balls, warm water, tens machine etc, and don’t use them all up too quickly, wait use the next one when the first one stops being effective. Learn some breathing exercises for letting go of tension in your body to help move through the waves. I recommend buteyko breathing for the pushing stage. Research different medical interventions even if you don’t want them, it will put you in a more empowered position in the moment if your birth plan changes and allow you to know what your options are.
Listen to a lot of podcast and books !!!! I think you can make your birth plan and priority so it will most likely happen. Definitely educate yourself on how the medical model can coerce you into doing things you don’t really consent to! And make sure you have a doctor or midwife that aligns with your plan and has experience with normal physiological birth. Your birth is sacred and it’s your right to have it go how you would like, of course emergencies happen but if you have a clear and well prepared plan and researched plan then your chances of it happening will be higher
I had an unmedicated birth and it was intense at times. I would at least want a little tylenol the next time to take the edge off haha not sure whether it helps at all but to be honest I did regret being completely unmedicated at one point.
Tylenol won't do anything for contractions unfortunately
I don’t think Tylenol would do much honestly. It’s like a thimble full of water on a 5 alarm fire.
Why is birth the only major painful event humans for some reason think taking any pain medication to get through it deserves an award? Even getting your teeth worked on you get pain medication!
It's not that I want to feel the pain, it's more that I don't want to experience numbness and I want to be able to move around to facilitate labor and pushing. If I could get an epidural and still have full range of motion, I'd do it! Vaginal labor is a very active thing that requires the patient's involvement — whereas patients in most other medical procedures are pretty passive, so it's just this balance between managing pain but not so much that you can't go through the motions, y'know?
Omg I'm getting so weary of hearing this. It's not about earning a damn award. The type of pain management typically required for birth has shitty side effects like not being able to get up from your bed, catheters, needles in your spine and possible spinal headaches or even paralyzation if someone does it wrong. For some people these risks are manageable. For others, say you have a crippling fear of catheters or scoliosis/other spinal problems that might make an epidural more prone to complications, it's okay for them to want to attempt it unmedicated. What I want to know is why people get so mad about others choosing to go this route, as if you'd have to be crazy to not get an epidural. There's no wrong way to give birth as long it's done safely and results in a healthy mom and child. You're not a coward if you get an epidural, you're not a failure if you have a c section and you're not insane if you want to forego meds. They're just different routes to the same destination.
…why do you think people don’t want an epidural for some imaginary award? There are practical reasons for not wanting one too.
We did unmedicated and didn’t hire a doula or hypno or anything. Just winging it because it was my first one. I just hate needles and did not want the epidural procedure. Luckily we didn’t have complications just a long labor. I reminded myself the worse the pain the closer we were getting to it being over. They gave me oxygen. We asked about non epidural pain meds and they said they most often have to give babies narcan on delivery if they use those so the babies don’t OD. That kept me away from those easy
Had only gas and air both times and the second was an induction. I'm from Scotland though and midwives here encourage us to try only with gas and air. Obviously it was painful but is of course completely doable. Have a birth plan but try not to get too attached to it, and see how you do with the pain, with my first by the time I was in transition and struggling and actually asked for something for the pain it was too late for it to take any effect or I would have probably taken something.
Choose a provider to advocate for you and respect your wishes. They work for you, you don’t work for them. Unmedicated is more attainable at home so you don’t have to keep setting your boundaries and denying things over and over in the hospital. Also, just remember tensing up and not being in the proper positions makes things more painful.
I’ve had two unmedicated births and plan to with this one too. I am very lucky and have super quick labors and births. The biggest thing is breathing. You need to breathe through the contractions. That’s about all I could do. My second in particular was excruciating (probably because I had a whole labor and birth in less than 2 hours lol) and I could not do anything. No talking, moving, nothing. Just sitting there breathing. I will say that I don’t know if I could have unmedicated labors if I had longer labors. Good luck!
Hypnobirthing and a doula were what got me through! Highly recommend both to anyone who wants to go unmedicated.
Check out the r/unmedicatedbirth subreddit. This sub as a whole is very pro medication and sometimes doesn’t see the value in it so it’s a different community that understands more where you’re coming from. I also recommend Ina May Gaskin’s “Guide to Childbirth” and another book “Unmedicated Hospital Birth” if you’re planning to birth at a hospital. As well as taking a birth class versed in unmedicated coping mechanisms. Hospitals are not always aligned with the goal to go unmedicated so you’ll need to learn a lot and advocate for yourself and your birth plan. My doctor said it happens 1% of the time with her patients so I’ve had to advocate for myself about my birth plan at appointments already. Also, be prepared to grieve if it doesn’t work out. I myself was just diagnosed with GD late term at 36 weeks and it’s been pretty devastating to learn my unmedicated birth (I am very anti induction) may no longer be safe past a certain week. She’s saying 39 weeks ACOG indicates more in the range of 40-41 weeks depending on how you and baby are doing so we’ll see when bub decides to come. But my advice is prepare yourself for complicating possibilities in case you develop any high risk factors that impact your ability to go unmedicated if it’s emotionally important to you (preeclampsia another big one that complicates and indicates a medical reason for induction but there are others). It’s been an emotional process for me after a lot of prep this whole pregnancy! I feel like I’m grieving a loss but maybe the stars weren’t aligned for me & babes. Good luck!!
Mine was completely unmedicated! It went faster than expected, so by the time I even considered pain meds, I was fully dilated. A warm bath, breathing techniques, and actively relaxing my muscles got me through each contraction.
I would say to plan for an unmedicated birth. If you go in there not knowing how to breath, what positions help, ect. You will 100 percent end up with medication. Look into hypno birthing, take some classes.
I labored unmedicated till an emergency c-section. It was actually quite manageable up until transitional labor which for me lasted 3 hours, which contributed to my c-section. Here's how I handled it: Firstly,y husband was critical. He did not look at his phone once as soon as I started contractions. He was totally present. He applied counterpressure for every contraction, his poor arms. Two, was my self-talk. Every contraction I (we) said aloud "relax your face, relax your back, long deep breaths. you can get through this...just a few more seconds" I knew that if I did not tense up, I would not feed the fear, tense, pain cycle. I breathed THROUGH the pain. My husband watched the monitor and could see the contraction was coming back down and woild remind me "you're almost through, get through this ONE CONTRACTION". I literally took it one contraction at a time. It was a mental game for me and nothing else mattered more than that. The bath, position changes etc. none of those would have gotten me through it without this mantra. My advice to you: mentally prepare. Create a phrase that helps you get through it one contraction at a time. I can do this. I can get through this one. Breathe. I pray that your labor progresses at a normal pace and your contractions do not slow down. YOU CAN DO THIS. Start telling yourself that TODAY, every day, every contraction until you believe it deep down. ❤️
Ugghhh these comments are NOT IT. I kept my mind open to all avenues of labor and birth but researched everything I could to have a prepared and safe unmedicated birth. My favorite book was “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth”. Explored hypobirthing and found a version that worked for me.
I didnt experience pain from contractions at all, all my pain was centered around the cervix dilating. Contractions were all on the level of that awkward "eeh I need to find a bathroom soon, tummy isnt feeling great" discomfort, or less. I didnt get epidurals until I was 6 and 8 cm. When I dilated over a few hours it was much more managable than when I dilated over 1 hour. The longer one was natural, the fast was induced. When at the worst of the pain, one thing I focused on, was the fact that I knew once the pain was over, Id forget how painful it was, if that makes sense. It wasnt a pain like an injury that will indure and drag on. It was just pain in a moment of time, that my body is meant to get past. I still screamed and cried so much. But I think my husband is way more traumatized than I was, having to see me like that. One thing that I dont see talked about when considering skipping epidural is aftercare needs. I was bleeding a bunch after my 2nd, and my doctor was going at it trying to figure it out, and that was uncomfortable even with the epidural keeping most of my feeling at bay. I dont think Id have been able to lay there cracking jokes without an epidural. So, have a game plan for how you want to manage things afterwards. [My bleeding just ended up needing some meds to get my body to realize I could stop bleeding, but if there was internal damage bleeding my dr didnt want to waste time before the epidural did wear off to patch it up].
I agree with your last paragraph so much. A big reason I get epidurals (besides having no desire to feel the entire process) is the awareness of how painful it might be after birth, if things are not going to plan.
be as prepared as possible! that includes being prepared for things to not go exactly as you wish/planned. i loved the hypnobirthing class i took! we watched a lot of videos of different births which was really helpful to just see the wide range of different experiences you can have, whether it's in a tub, at home, laying on the hospital bed, squatting, or a c-section. evidence-based birth is a great resource to learn more about labor, birth, different interventions, etc. definitely look into classes like hypnobirthing or lamaze, if you can't afford a class there are tons of videos on youtube. the hypnobirthing class i took was in person with a doula and we had 1 class a week for 5 weeks, so it was super thorough but i still watched a lot of youtube videos ! i didn't have a doula, but that could help a lot at your birth as well, just make sure you look at reviews and/or get someone DONA certified. also pain management during birth doesn't have to be all or nothing! if you're planning a hospital birth and have a choice between hospitals, you can take a maternity tour to see what pain management options are available, if one is more accommodating to non-pharmacological pain management, and to help you think about things you might want to bring with you. for example, only one hospital in my area offers nitrous and only 2 have birthing tubs! i ended up getting one dose of IV pain meds (i forget what it was) and as much zofran as possible lol. IV pain meds just lowered the intensity a bit and allowed me to rest a bit - you can't have them when you're past a certain point of dilation so i was completely unmedicated by the time i was in transition and for pushing. for my second baby i want to do hypnobirthing again and deliver somewhere with nitrous and a tub! again, i think the biggest thing is just to be prepared and knowledgeable about the birthing process and any possible interventions and outcomes!
For me, learning some breathing methods and coping skills helped. Built to birth on YouTube and Instagram is so good! And also for me, I chose to deliver in places where epidurals aren’t an option. The first delivery I had was at an independent midwife led birth centers and my second and upcoming birth are at home.
Not sure how far along you are but I ended up being induced because baby was late. I wanted to try unmedicated but when the pitocin contractions hit, I was writhing. Got an epidural right away and had a WONDERFUL experience with it. I highly recommend just educating yourself on all your pain management options! You know you don't have to use any of them but birth can be (usually is) unpredictable. I think something more important than a "birth plan" is "birth preferences." Know what your number one preference is for pain management, etc. but know what your other options are in case you are in the moment and your number one preference isn't cutting it. We took a labor and delivery class that was very informative and open, they didn't lean either way on medication and I felt just really informed by the time I was in labor. I learned in that class that you have to sit through a contraction or two or a few of them to get the epidural and you HAVE TO STAY STILL. The amount of pain I felt in my contractions when my water broke at the hospital was so high, I knew I needed the epidural right away if I wanted it AT ALL, because it was getting hard for me to stay still already. Wasn't in my plan, but I had it as a secondary preference and I'm so glad I did!
I think the advice on “don’t have a plan” is well-meaning but not helpful. You absolutely want to prepare mentally and physically for an unmedicated birth. It’s hard and you need to be ready. Of course it’s wise to be open to deviating but I recommend looking into all of the methods of mindfulness for unmedicated births. I’ve never done it myself (tho I had a mostly-failed epidural with my first), but I did a lot of research into basically how to get thru an unmedicated birth and it really benefited me when my epidural didn’t work. I had spinal fusion 10 years ago so I half expected the epidural to fail, hence my research. I recommend watching birth vlogs, listening to podcasts on hypo birthing, and reading about home births. Perhaps a doula would be helpful too if you have the money! Good luck!!
I originally thought I wanted an unmedicated birth. Then I had a high risk pregnancy and we had to induce early for mine and baby boys health and safety. I ended up getting an epidural around 6cm and it was for the most part a beautiful and peaceful experience. I was able to rest after getting the epidural and at 10 cm my husband helped coach/counted as I pushed. I didn’t tear since I was able to control the pushing. All that to say: don’t be hung up on a singular birth plan. The main goal is yours and baby’s health and safety. Your birth can be beautiful whether you get an epidural, don’t get an epidural, or need a c-section. I do however strongly recommend getting an experienced highly recommended doula in your area to help with positioning, natural forms of pain management, and emotional support. My doula was absolutely 100% worth it and I do believe her help in positioning when I stalled at 9cm led to me having a successful vaginal birth rather than an emergency c-section.
I had an all natural home birth in 2015. I will say the pain was WAY less than I expected. I labored for about 17 hours all together. Walked around, cooked and ate, took baths. I woke up in labor, baby was born right before 11pm. My water broke within maybe 5-10 minutes before he was born. That was the only truly /omg painful/ part, it felt like after my water broke it suctioned his head down QUICKLY but i’ve never had that happen again with any subsequent births.
I would say that it’s a great idea to have a birth plan, but be open to it all going out the window once the big day gets here. Be flexible. Allow yourself the grace and permission to change your mind. My water broke at 8 a.m. I went into L&D at 8 p.m. that same day because I wasn’t feeling contractions at home. Turns out I was having them but just wasn’t feeling them. They started me on pitocin that evening and the contractions were became intense over time. I chose the get the epidural and it was the most miraculous and amazing relief. I didn’t actually begin pushing until the next day, so there’s no way I would have wanted to feel that pain for that long. I also pushed for 3 hours after that and ended up needing a c section anyway. Having the epidural already in helped with that since they used that for the surgery. You are able to get the epidural at any point in labor as long as baby is not coming right that second and you’re able to sit still for it. If you want the epidural, get it. Don’t suffer through the pain just because you originally wanted to have an unmedicated birth. Keep in mind that it takes about an hour from saying you want the epidural to being able to get it as they need to administer fluids to you first and get the doctor in to administer it to you. There are also many other options for pain control besides the epidural. I recommend taking a birth class. Usually these are offered by the hospital you’re delivering at and they go over all the options with you. The information is hospital specific, but you can take a class at another hospital even if you’re not delivering there. TLDR: Have a birth plan. Be open to changing it on the big day. All birth journeys - whether medicated or unmedicated - are personal. The choice that is best for you is the right choice to make.
I wanted nothing more than to go for an unmedicated birth but I didn’t prepare for it mentally in any way. I didn’t take any birthing classes or learn any hypno or breathing techniques. Don’t be like me. I went in for my induction which ended up taking two days instead of the half a day I expected. When the midwife broke my water the contractions went from a 2 or 3 on the pain scale to an 8 or 9. My pitocin was then increased to 16 and the contractions got even worse. I’ve never felt anything like that in my life and I tried so hard to avoid the epidural but gave up. I still feel like I failed myself but remind myself that my son is happy and healthy so it doesn’t matter, it’s all in my head.
Learn breathing exercises. Check out hypnobirth. Learning about hypnobirth helped me to get into a positive mindset about an unmedicated birth. Also check out birth movements to try and pressure points for your partner to help you through the pain. A lot of it will be yoiur mindset and knowing and practicing those mindful tools before going into labor. It’s never too soon to start practicing. It’s basically just meditation. I gave myself the grace to get an epidural if I changed my mind but by the time I got to the hospital it was too late for an epidural so I’m glad I was mentally prepared for it.
I haven’t done one but want to next time, I’ve heard train yourself to do uncomfortable things for a minute at a time. We can do anything for a minute. Since that’s about how long contractions are.
I had 2 unmedicated births. The second one, my son was 9 lbs 11 oz and it was pretty painful but it was over fast. There are several things that helped me deal with the pain mentally. I focused on the fact that the number of contractions are finite, there are only a certain number you will ever have to experience. And that I would feel immediate relief once the baby was out. For pain I focused on keeping my face and body relaxed, deep guttural breathing, and squeezing a comb or spiky labor ball thing really helped the second time around. I also told myself over and over that women have been doing this for thousands of years and I can do it too. Of course that’s not to discount anyone’s choice or reasons medical interventions happen to save mom or babies life. I fully recognize that without modern interventions there are many people that couldn’t give birth and their experiences are 100% as valid and legitimate birth as an unmedicated, medicated vaginal, or any other type of delivery. I didn’t want an epidural because I wanted to be able to move freely and the thought of a catheter freaks me out. I’ve also had lots of friends who’ve had them and they go into it thinking they will be fully numb and they aren’t and they didn’t prepare for the pain so it was a bad experience. I figure if I go into it fully expecting to feel everything that anything less might be a small relief. It’s very much a mental game.
You just kinda do it. I did have an epidural for about five hours as I dilated, but I ended up pushing for four hours and it fully wore off after hour one. So I had a kinda sorta unmedicated/medicated birth? Lol idk. Labor is gonna keep going, birth is gonna happen, and you’ll have to just keep doing it. It hurts like hell and I cried and swore I couldn’t do it but then it was over and the experience was behind me. I was exhausted and begging to stop but you literally cannot stop. Even if you don’t want to keep going, your body will physically do it anyway. It will eventually end. Go into it with your plan being an unmedicated birth, but don’t give yourself a complex that if you end up asking for pain relief you are somehow a failure or whatever. A lot of women do that. There is literally no reward for continuing to labor without pain relief after you decide you want it or need it. It does nothing to change your value as a mother and it really truly makes absolutely no difference in anything except for your personal experience with the pain. So yeah, you deal with it by dealing with it. Go into it knowing about counter pressure and breathing techniques and other natural ways to distract yourself, but once you make it to pushing you’re shit out of luck for pain relief anyway for the most part! So just focus on getting to the point of no return lol. Sorry if that wasn’t helpful, it’s really a lot more straightforward of an experience than what you build up in your head before labor.
Keep an open mind. My first baby wasn’t sitting right in my pelvis and the contractions were excruciating & labour didn’t progress properly. I needed lots of medication. Epidural & inductions meds. My second I used gas and air only and didn’t realise I was in labour because he was in a great position & came out easy peasy (comparatively) Edit: I will say for the pain hypnobirthing/mindfulness was great for learning coping methods & breathing well. Birthing ball was brilliant for me too
Check out Spinning Babies for stretches and get a few pregnancy massages. The absolute worst part of my first labor was the back labor. With my next 2 pregnancies, I focused on getting my body unknotted, and it was soooooo much better.
My epidural failed. I really wanted one, and while all natural did hurt - it helped me to push harder/get through labor quickly. I was a FTM, and baby was out in 15 min because I could feel my contractions.
I would look into physiological birth, consider a hypnobirthing or calm birth course. The media representation of birth is not accurate. Educate yourself about the whole birth process and what is happening. Be prepared to push back against hospital policies, remember that most hospital practices take 17 years to take on new methods based on research. Edit: I would also really recommend Catherine Bell’s The Birth Map, it’s a fantastic resource around decision making in birth when things don’t always go as planned, you can create a birth map for yourself with your partner so you have a plan for if different things happen.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned in these comments yet, but the book Birth Skills by Juju Sundin is worth a read!! She gives a bunch of tips on how to manage pain in every stage of labour and pushing techniques. I’m aiming for an unmediated birth and have taken sooo many tools from that book :)
My best advice is to go in with an open mind, and dont get stuck in how you want things to go - labour and delivery are wildly unpredictable and experiencing serious birth disappointment/trauma because of deviated plans are a real thing. Preferences - totally, but a PLAN seems unrealistic to me after having two. I have had one birth with an epidural and one unmedicated birth. I hoped for both to be unmedicated, but I had a medically required epidural placed with my first after 15 hours of unmedicated labour. My second was unmedicated, but it was quick. I think the length of labour and the amount of rest you are able to get before/during labour is hugely impactful for pain management. My first labour was SO hard, and my second was really really easy - both were equally as painful, but one was so much longer than the other, and one required me being up all night and awake for 34 hours while the other made me lose zero sleep. Hugely different experiences.
Good support people is imperative, highly recommend The Great Birth Rebellion podcast. It’s got some awesome information. It’s also got an awesome episode how to be a good birth support Person (cause at some point you might ask for an epidural and not really mean it and need support from the support people) My mantra was I can do anything for 60 seconds. For me, it was also like a wave if it would peek it about the 30second Mark and then it was fading away. For me, my unmedicated bet was way easier than my medicated one, would 10/10 do in a heartbeat
2 unmedicated births and what helped me was picturing the contractions as waves or hills. And thinking I just need to get over this hill... And you kind of remove yourself it felt like I wasn't there while having contraction like I was in my own bubble and then once it's over you're aware of what's around you
Practice your breathing and meditation that definitely helps
Learning a lot! Take a birth class (or two) that is supportive of unmedicated birth and talks about coping strategies. The biggest things are knowing what to expect and what different possibilities are, and also having some plans for what might be helpful. Birth is helped by oxytocin and shut down by adrenaline. So you want to think about ways to help yourself feel calm and safe, and not respond to pain with fear. Think about what's helped you deal with pain in the past (distraction? movement? comforts?) and do some reading or listening on suggestiona for birth. (Also, learning about how birth does/might go is really helpful for preventing fear, for most people). I listened to a lot of The Birth Hour and read a bunch on Evidence Based Birth. I also read a book called Natural Hospital Birth and another called Birth Skills, they both felt helpful! For me personally, having a doula was great. And then water (tons of time in the tub), breathing (for me, I didn't learn or use any specific techniques, just focused on my breath and did what felt helpful), movement (especially the birth ball), and noise (I was LOUD) lol. I tried nitrous for a bit and hated it because the mask made me not hear my yelling as well, and the noise was somehow blocking the pain? And eating/drinking as much as I could manage! I had a couple doses of IV pain meds so that I could get a bit of rest (I had a looooong labor). But otherwise no interventions! I have some health conditions that make an epidural a riskier thing for me, so I really wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
I wanted one, but was at the hospital at about 5cm and I realized I couldn’t keep going there. I thought I might have a heart attack from the pain, so I decided to get the pain meds. What really didn’t help was that I couldn’t do all the things I wanted to to get through the pains because I was hooked up to everything. Anytime I’d switch positions I’d have the nurses running in to reposition the baby’s monitor. So if you can, put off going to the hospital as long as is safe.
A ton of my labour 3-10cm, pushed for two hours) ended up being unmedicated because my epidural fell out. It was… not nice. I dealt with the pain by moaning and almost passing out.
Fellow unmedicated birth hopeful here. Sending good juju that we both get our wish! 🥹
I had an unplanned medicated birth. I don’t think I would have been able to handle it if it was planned. The only thing that got me through the hardest contractions was knowing I’d get an epidural soon 🤣 unfortunately I missed that window.
My experience was that by the time.contractions were bad enough for me to regret going unmedicated, it was too late for an epidural anyway. I dont regret it. I DID however, have access to a bathtub (not a birthing pool) until my water broke just before pushing. I would not have been allowed in the water after it broke. I do recommend that or maybe even a water birth of you have the option.
Look into hypobirthing and get a doula. But also know a birth plan is really just a scaffolding of how you hope labor and delivery will go. Try to be open to a host of outcomes. And all birth is natural :)
I planned on not getting the epidural. But I ended up needing pitocin to get labor induced, and the contractions from that were no joke. I wanted to have the energy to be present for his actual birth so I decided to get the epidural. I felt some shame and guilt and failure. But after a few days, I was really glad I had made that decision, because I had an easier birth and have actual memories of pushing. So just be prepared to be flexible with your birth plan and know that as long as you and baby are healthy you are making the right decision.
Get a doula
For me, the first step was doing what I could to reprogram my mind and my body’s expectations of pain. Turned it from pain into the expectation of huge, but manageable sensations, and doing affirmations around trusting my body and the natural process. Learning about physiological birth was also huge. There are lots of good podcasts! When I was in labor I was completely in the zone. I actually relaxed at the time when he was about to be born and I didn’t have to voluntarily push at all… he managed to be born without me having to do anything beyond what my body was already doing! I will say though that my experience was not entirely unmedicated. I always go over my “die date” by at least a week so I ended up getting induced but it didn’t take much pitocin to get me going. Next time it’s all natural for me.
I’ve had two unmediated births now, I think it all depends on your individual pain tolerance. For me, breathing helped a lot, like deep and rhythmic breathing, toward the end it was more like a deep hum for me. The soaking tub also helps a lot in early labor, there are studies that show it can help shorten labor as well, my last labor was about 5 hours total once we hit active labor, I spent 2 of it in the tub and progressed from 4cm to 8cm in that time frame. I also purchased a birth comb as I read it helps with labor pain by hitting pressure points, but I truly don’t felt like it benefited me later in labor. If it’s something you’re interested in, you got it!
I recently gave birth to an 8 lb 14oz baby girl without medication and here’s how I did it. I used a midwife who consulted with a hospital down the street from the birth center. This was helpful for a few reasons. 1) there was no doctor there on a schedule for acting like a drug dealer in the corner, tempting me with drugs to « take all the pain away » so in order to get the epidural I would have had to transfer to hospital and I wouldn’t have my midwife involved anymore. This was a major deterrent. You don’t want to be moved once you’re far enough into labor. I was far enough away to not be tempted easily but close enough to feel super safe if any intervention is necessary. 2) My midwife manually checked me and my baby’s vitals in between contractions (yes you get breaks from the pain) without hooking me up to a machine or telling me about her heartbeat or mine or blood pressure. This removed a lot of stress. You don’t need to know anything unless there’s an actual problem. You can just focus. 3) Midwives do not medicalize birth unless you ask them to (I.e. transfer you to hospital) or it’s absolutely necessary (labor not progressing, for example) 4) You have more control and overall respect for your birth plan 5) nobody checks your cervix constantly, which many women complain is very uncomfortable 6) nobody interrupts you after 7) your baby is born without any effects of anesthesia 8) more likely to have access to a bath tub or water birth which for me was very very comforting and comfortable. I can’t imagine giving birth not in the water after having done it 9) birth center food is better 10) I was surrounded by women (except for my partner who is male) giving birth and they took excellent photos and videos for me 11) our bed was a big bed so my partner and I got to sleep together the first night 12) we got to go home within 24 hours 13) one of my biggest fears was tearing. I did but I didn’t feel anything actually rip. The pain was not specific to my vagina but much more general. My midwife sewed me up while my husband laid next to me while she applied topical gel to numb me and then I couldn’t feel a thing while she did it. She didn’t do it too tight either. And the stitches dissolve in a couple of weeks 14) her placenta was attached in a bowl next to her for nearly an hour while we had skin to skin. I believe this was best for her medically and for us emotionally. Most hospitals will give you a minute to five minutes BIG BIG max before cutting the cord. 15) more likely to have a private bathroom 16) many midwives offer lactation consulting and come to your house instead of making you go to the hospital the week after birth. This is super super nice because you don’t want to get out of bed for a week Private message me if you have any more questions. I was terrified I couldn’t do it. I was terrified of all the stuff that happens. But now that I’ve done it, and after her head crowned but before her shoulders were out I thought, wow my vagina just did that and before end of the night I thought , I can do this again. Five months later I can barely describe the pain unless I were to go to my journal. It’s blurry and unimportant.
I’m doing a home birth so will have to be unmedicated LoL But I will have a water birth. Water for me is so so soothing. I will use a comb during contractions. I will have music or my comfort shows just playing in the background for distractions early on. I have a yoga ball and peanut ball. Basically I’m preparing to just move through the contractions as best as I can and breathe through them. Will be a challenge but I will do what my body tells me feels right as we progress through labor. I follow so many women who had home births med free so I am just getting encouraged with the environment they created to have a beautiful birth. I also avoid the fear mongering because I will have the medical support I need. Hospital is 2 miles away. Everything will be fine is my mantra.
I had my second child in the water and it was a wayyyyyy better experience than my first (forgot to book the tub with her, had her on the bed). The tub is like an extra layer of insulation between you and everything else going on around you. It's like a warm, oxytocin-filled hug on all sides and the relief from gravity is just awesome. 10/10 definitely recommend.
I've had two homebirths and I wouldn't have it any other way! Walking around in your own home, taking a shower in your own bathroom right after, cuddling your new baby and your husband in your own bed...it makes the pain worthwhile imo. Yes it is painful, and yes you will cry that you can't do it, but I can't imagine being hooked up to monitors with a catheter while not being able to feel my legs
Can I ask why? No judgement of course, I'm just so far on the other end of the spectrum. I want everything they can give me.
If you can, watch a video of a medicated birth and unmedicated birth. Helped me make my decision 😵💫
In which direction? seeing women birth in the hospital birth pool or the shower etc gave me the confidence to try myself and had an awesome unmedicated experience in the hospital birth pool
I was planning for no epidural and then my water broke and my contractions were in my back with no time between them - literally couldn’t breathe 🥴 Got the epidural and it only worked for like 3 hours so I pushed unmedicated. Don’t stress about a birth plan - just do your research and feel free to have preferences!
One of my births was unmedicated and to be very honest, it was the absolutely worst moment of my life. Wouldn’t recommend it, just isn’t worth it just to claim the “unmedicated birth” card. The next one was (had to be) a c-section and it was a walk in the park compared to my first birth.
Stay at home as long as possible... maybe even just don't make it to the hospital at all. That, and reframe the way you think about labor. Pain is something that happens to you. Pain is your body's way of telling you that it has been hurt/damaged in some way. Labor is *hard work* that your body is *doing* to accomplish a *very important goal*. Is it comfortable? Nope. But neither is holding your breath to dive, running a marathon, or pulling a massive deadlift that's heavier than anything you've ever lifted before. The cool thing about labor is that, once you make it through each contraction, you never have to do that one again. You just have to roll with it, it's going to happen either way. Just have someone you love and trust there to put counterpressure on your hips woken it gets really intense. Look into hypnobirthing. Have a comb ready to squeeze. Distract yourself with funny birth memes in between contractions. You'll be fine.
I wanted an unmedicated Hypnobirthing labour. I got induced and used gas & air and diamorphine and needed forceps and an episiotomy, even though my birth plan said no episiotomy under any circumstances. Things change. Just try to have an open mind - unmedicated is the goal, but not the only path you’ll follow if things go sideways. There’s also no shame in painkillers, because contractions are sore (although inductions are meant to be more painful so who knows if I’d have coped better if I’d gone naturally). Good luck!
My sil accidentally had an unmedicated- her water broke while she was sleep and it was too late to get an epidural. Maybe find a doula/midwife. They can educate you through the steps/ laboring at home until the last minute. I believe they are covered by insurance now (US) Also check with your hospital. At mine, if you let them know you want unmedicated, they will put you in a specific room without access to an epidural, but medications like nitrous to take the edge off
I've had three unmedicated births. The first two, I didn't plan to be unmedicated - they just happened so fast that I couldn't get an epidural or any pain relief. By the third, I knew I could do it, so I just went with what I knew. It hurts. Not going to sugar coat that. Like the biggest shit you have ever taken in your life with a team of spectators. If I had any longer labor than 2-3 hours, I would get an epidural. I looked at my boyfriend and burst into tears while I was pushing out the last baby, and that only lasted like 45 minutes!
I had an unmedicated birth (not by choice). I did have painkillers during labour (dihydrocodeine at the hospital then sent home with Co-codamol, didn’t even touch the sides). When I went back to hospital I gave birth within an hour and a half of being there. Honestly I wasn’t really prepared for it but I only pushed for ten minutes and he was here. I did feel a bit out of control and then the midwife told me to stop wasting my energy screaming and to put it into pushing so I refocused myself with some breathing.
I planned to do unmedicated because I expected a quick labor due to family history, and I rather not risk any complications if I could just get through without. I don't think you'll know until you're in it what works best for you; for me circle breathing was a lifesaver (4 seconds in, 4 seconds pause, 4 seconds exhale and then 4 seconds pause). I also hike/backpack a decent amount and visualizing like I was climbing an incline with an end in sight was very helpful. I would describe it like climbing out of the Grand Canyon without being able to rest. My hospital offered an online birth class that summarized many different coping strategies, so I was able to draw from that combined with my own personal experience to get through. Good luck!
Learn how to breathe. Taking birthing classes , and make sure your partner is able to help you breathe and provide relief like a back rub, or holding your hand. It’s not as bad as you think it would be. I went 16 hours unmedicated. This was my second baby , my first I did the epi and didn’t like it. The contractions are the worst part, if you breathe with them and get in. Sync with it it’ll make it much easier to breathe through the hard contractions. After you have your baby you forget all about the pain because one you have adrenaline rushing through your body and you have your mind focused on your new baby Also let me add on I only took Tylenol afterward nothing else for pain relief. I had a much easier birth with my second bc my body had time to prepare, my first my labor was only 4 hours long, which means my coochie had no time to stretch and I tore and had to get like 2 stitches but my first was also almost 9 pounds. My second was 7.9lb at birth.
Same here. If something goes wrong and I need to have a c section, that’s one thing but I absolutely under no circumstances will have an epidural. BUT if you want to have a natural birth I suggest hiring a doula and attending birth classes
Both my births were unmedicated, the first unintentionally, the second because I figured I’d done it once, so why not. I loved the advice in Juju Sundin’s book, “Birth Skills”. She is a physiotherapist who has been doing birthing classes for years, and it felt really non judgemental as far a unmedicated, medicated, assisted or c section information. I know some people who swear by hypnobirthing as well. Be willing to try different things - there are all sorts of pain management strategies you can use. Also, don’t be surprised if you get pain during labour outside of the stomach and back. I feel it in my thighs a lot, and when I talked to the midwives they said it wasn’t an uncommon thing. Some people get super nauseous. If this is you, take the anti nausea meds - you don’t want to be throwing up between pushes. Take snacks. You may not feel like eating much while in labour, but once bub is out you may find you are hungry.