This is Part 3 of our birth story! Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 here!
My husband will emphatically tell you that we will NEVER, EVER do that again! He is all for the “let’s just plan for an epidural” route next time – if there is a next time.
I half don’t blame him. After I received the epidural it was actually kind of fun. After we napped, with the lights off mind you, we just sat around and talked and even laughed between contractions.
For the first time I understood why women don’t go the natural route.
My eyes were opened.
My best friend told me that the best thing about a first baby is that you don’t know what’s coming. You don’t know the pain.
I believed her, but in the back of my mind I thought, “How hard could it be?” And then I thought, “What about the women in Africa, where I went last year on a mission trip? They don’t have inductions and epidurals and c-sections. They just do it the old-fashioned way, right there in their hut”.
Yes, yes, they do. But many of their babies die, too. And many of the women die also.
During the nine months I planned and prepared, I thought I was acting in God’s strength, but I wasn’t. I was trying to act in my own, with my own set of beliefs and convictions and opinions.
I wanted to be a good steward. I have been blessed with excellent health. I am in good physical shape. I didn’t want to waste money on healthcare costs that were unnecessary.
For me there was no need to have interventions for something that is not a medical condition but a natural process that God equipped me to do. And I wanted to honor that.
However, behind the mask of “trying to be a good steward”, pride began to seep into my veins, and with first contraction it began to come out in humility.
Childbirth was the hardest thing have physically ever done in my entire life.
I never knew it would be that hard.
Since Baby Girl’s birth people have asked me how I view natural births now. Here are my thoughts:
Do I still think natural births are best? Yes, I think they’re best. I had a wonderful experience with an epidural, but I have heard otherwise. I can see how epidurals drag out labor and make c-sections more likely. Another drawback that I did experience is that all the medication I received made breastfeeding (another thing that is supposed to come naturally!) more difficult because the fluid makes your body swell. Anyone will tell you that breastfeeding is a learned art by both you and your baby. However, I’m also very grateful for the medical technology we have to help when needed.
Do I still think that doctors tend to jump to medical intervention too soon when childbirth is not a medical condition but a natural one? Yes, I think they do, and I think that this is a part of the healthcare expense crisis we are in. I also do not think it is best to schedule births based on parents’ or doctors’ convenience. Babies are in there, and sometimes stay in there longer than expected, for a reason. But again, we are fortunate to have medicine when it is needed.
Would I try a natural birth again? Right after the birth I would have said absolutely not! But that’s another way God works mysteriously. He makes you forget the pain so that you’ll have more babies! Now I think I would want to try it again. Mainly because I would be fearful of a prolonged labor and a c-section. Coming from a person who had never been in the hospital herself before giving birth, I want to avoid surgery if at all possible! And if something happened, or I couldn’t do it like the first time, then I would go to plan B. I know that if I had not at least tried to give birth naturally I would have always wondered if I could have done it.
Have you ever had thoughts, feelings, or convictions about something, maybe even seen it as a “black and white issue”, and then your opinion changed after experiencing it yourself?
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