‘Why would a woman choose to give birth without medication to help with the pain?’ First of all labor and birth don’t always have to be painful. Many women experience birth in a variety of different ways.
Some women who choose to have medication free birth, are actually choosing this because they’re more concerned about the consequences of the cascade of interventions that may come in choosing pain management or pain medication during labor.
Some women want to connect with the full experience and to be fully present for the labor and birth of their baby and choose to have natural birth.
A lot of people ask me, ‘How long does natural birth take?’ For a first time mom, natural birth can take anywhere from an hour, which is pretty rare, to a full twenty-four hours. Remember during this time of giving birth, it’s not one intense painful situation. The pain comes and goes and as Ida May Gaskin; a famous midwife in the US says, “Pain is clean, it’s something you experience and then it’s gone.”
What I usually tell my students is that, ‘You can handle anything for ninety seconds.' Once that contraction is gone, you never have to see that contraction again.
Another question that I get asked all the time about natural birth is, ‘Am I going to poop while giving birth?’ If you poop, it’s totally okay.
Birth is all about fluids and noises and all these kinds of things that we’re not used to seeing or expressing in front of people on everyday basis, but the reality is, if you’re pooping while you’re pushing, you’re probably doing it right. So, don’t be concerned about pooping, focus more on the perfect beautiful birth that you would like to have.
About video: Learn everything you need to know about natural childbirth labor and delivery from childbirth expert Elizabeth Mangum-Sarach in this Howcast video.
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