Birthing a baby

[Goddess_girl]

I was just reading JinjeeÂ’s birthing journal (good read).
She has 2 paragraphs called “The Myth of "Pushing"“
I understand that the body automatically knows what to do and there is No need to “PUSH, PUSH,PUSH”.

Do you feel our primal instincts have been pushed aside by the medical field.
Has anyone had a “natural” child birth? If so can you share?

Is "back to basic's" a good move for women in childbirth?

[Punky]

I was just reading JinjeeÂ’s birthing journal (good read).
She has 2 paragraphs called “The Myth of "Pushing"“
I understand that the body automatically knows what to do and there is No need to “PUSH, PUSH,PUSH”.

Do you feel our primal instincts have been pushed aside by the medical field.
Has anyone had a “natural” child birth? If so can you share?

Is "back to basic's" a good move for women in childbirth?

I haven't read Jinjee's birthing journal -but will now after you mentioned it.
I have had 2 vaginal births with my sons:
1st one- typical epidural birth; complications from the Pitocin given
to me to hurry it up because the doctor on call was wanting to go home.
I was very ignorant about birthing then. an awful experience.

2nd birth, was an all natural waterbirth at a birthcenter. Beautiful experience; not easy though--the labor and all.
Your body will automatically start pushing after it finishes dilating...
it was the weirdest thing..i was laboring over a toilet for a while
(it's a good labor position); i went from a 6-10 '' dilating in about 20 min.
My legs automatically started making these movements without me
doing it....kinda hard to describe...they just took over...my midwife rushed me to the tub because I wanted a waterbirth. Now at that point I did have to conscously push as well. I was in a squating position...when the baby starts to crown, etc.. I had to push....now my babies both have kinda gotten stuck..my hubby thinks I have some kind of lip or something on my cervix or somewhere and they get kinda stuck coming out...so I was pushing with all my might.
I'm not sure if that's answering your questions or not; so Yes the body knows
what it is doing and it is instinctual but there is pushing involved.
I will go read Jinjee's journal if it is free axcess and see what she is referring to...
So to sum it up, I am really into natural births and if I have another will go that route. Birthing on one's back is very un-natural. No one I know (very rare anyways) chooses to birth on there back laying down thru a natural birth..
I instinctively went into a squatting position without any guidance from anyone. My friend I met at the birth center birthed her baby standing up/squatting holding onto the poster bed pole. Medical docs like you on your back in hospitals to make it easier for them....
sorry for rambling...
i'll stop now.....

but I would be curious to see how different my labor is eating a raw vegan
diet thru pregnancy compared to my last labor...
I have a difficult time with labor pain...not a happy camper!

[VeggieGirl]

I am one of nine kids, and the only one that was born at home. My 4 older sisters got to witness my birth (they were 10, 8, 6, and 2 at the time) and it was a transformational, life-altering experience for all of them - hence they have all given birth either at home or at a birthing center (except those who actually had medical issues requiring intervention, such as Fetal Surgery for the Repair of Spina Bifida!!).

Not being able to speak from my own experience YET, I will say that my sisters and mom have taught me that birth is a natural experience that women have been doing for THOUSANDS of years without any medical intervention. Squat in the field, give birth, wrap up your baby and put it on your back and keep on workin'... you know?? ;)

So under the best/most informed circumstances, birthing on one's back is the worst position ever and I have heard that the lithotomy position (on your back with feet in stirrups) came from a French king who wanted to see his son being born. Men were banned from births back then and he arranged to have his wife in this position so he could see the birth from a hiding place in the balcony. Now whether that's true or not I don't know... but anyway...

My sisters have labored on those big yoga balls (giant bouncy balls), squatting on a kidney-shaped stool, in a birthing tub, and also lying on your side with someone holding/supporting your top leg. Almost always it's squatting, which makes a whole lot of sense to me. Your body knows instinctively when to push. Your body knows instinctively just about everything!!

VeggieGirl

[Autumn]

I have read an enormous amount of literature on natural child birth, water birth, unassisted birth, home birth, etc. I have also read Jinjee's birthing journal and thought it was wonderful.

I was then and am still now convinced that every procedure in a hospital setting birth is for the convenience of the doctor and nurses ONLY. It is not necessarily for your best interest, the health of you or your baby, you or your baby's comfort, peace of mind, etc.

I have not had a natural birth, but I planned for a water birth. At the end it didn't happen. My husband and I were hit by a drunk driver at 6:00 a.m. while we were on our way to work. I was 32 weeks pregnant and went into labor and the "experts" took over. I have no idea if taking things naturally would have change the outcome, but as it happened, my daughter died. I have had several miscarriages before and after that pregnancy and each time planned for a natural childbirth (changing my mind back and forth between a home birth and the water birth). Because I am considered high risk, none of the doctors I was seeing at the time supported my decision. But I was adamant that if I ever got another chance to give birth, it would definitely be a natural birth.

So to answer your question, "Is "back to basic's" a good move for women in childbirth?"

Absolutely. Definitely. What totally AMAZES me is how far we've gotten away from all that is natural!

[Goddess_girl]

Autumn,
I am so sorry that has happened.
I am trying for a baby, but need to lose some weight to balance my hormones.
I am sure we will ~both~ have a chance to experience child birth!
;)

[Naturallynice]

I had two natural births. My first one was at hospital with no medical intervention just a bit of gas and air for pain relief. I was slim and very fit at that time, and vegetarian. My body didn't take over. I felt like pushing for a while then it stopped and I had to push when my midwife said so. (By the way, births in england are attended only by midwives, the doctor comes only if there is a complication).

For my second birth I wanted a homebirth but because the baby was breech (coming with the bottom first instead of head first), we went to the hospital. I had a marvelous "radical" midwife, had no pain relief whatsoever and gave birth to a baby boy on my side with the midwife supporting my leg. My body just took over and I was pushing and grunting and couldn't stop it or control it at all. It was almost an out of body experience, it was just my body, not me there. My two children were 14 and a half months apart.

I am 30 weeks pregnant now, high raw but not 100%. I have planned a homebirth. I wil tell you how it will go.

I have a good friend who had her children approximately the same time with me. Her first, she had to push when told. The second, the body took over. The third, 3 months ago, was a hard one and she had to do what the midwife was telling her. They say the second baby is easier than the first, but the third birth can be complicated.

They also say that if not much time elapses between the births (how much is much?) the body remembers what to do.

I don't know. Each birth is different, each baby is different and each woman is different. I would be hesitant to put it down to good diet alone.

My two pennies worth

Esther

[lane]

I wanted to give birth to my daughter last year at home. My husband was really uneasy with this, so we compromised by having a natural birth at the hospital. Luckily, I was working with a doctor who understood my views regarding allopathic medicine, etc.. and backed me up when the nurses insisted on certain monitoring procedures- and suggested certain medications. Labor was 6 hours- no anesthetics of any kind- and although I (honestly) reconsidered that decision at several points throughout the labor- I resisted- and, of course, it turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life! My body knew exactly what to do and when....every other animal on this Earth births alone, and although the support is appreciated when your going through it, I think we would do just fine flying solo as well.
-lane

[greeninlosangeles]

I Had a natural birth at the hospital with midwife and doula. Yep, your body knows the best, you can not not to push if you need to, believe me! I told my husband in advance, that if he will tell me to push, I will kick him out of the room. Not just pushing - don't waste your money and time for breathing classes - you will know the best way to breathe. That is, if your birth is natural, if nobody tells you to what position to be in, if you can drink(I drank probably a gallon of water during pushing stage of 2.5 hours).
The birth was great, but I hated hospital stay, because the whole day they would not let me sleep through all the tests(I birthed at night), so next time, if I birth in thre hospital, I am going home right away.
My dream though is to have unassisted home or even outside birth. But will see - we did not decide yet to have a second baby.

[Ariella]

we have had 2 babies at home. the first one with a midwife, the 2nd one was supposed to be with a midwife but baby came so fast she didn't get there in time so it was unassisted. the first time I was really nervous about the whole thing so I didn't listen to my body as much as I did the 2nd time. The 2nd time, I was able to really listen to what my body wanted and what was going to birth teh baby the best. She ended up being birthed over the toilet, but she pushed herself out! It was really amazing. She just came out. There was definitely no pushing on my part. Also I was amazed at how intuitively I seemed to know which positions I wanted to be in this last time. It was truly an awesome experience. I do think your body can do it, but I think you have to be willing/able to listen though too.

Both labors were relative short though. First one 6 hours with a couple hours of hard pushing. Had i not been on my back maybe this would have gone quicker? who knows. but my baby was so big 9 pounds 4 oz. that he would have ripped me a lot had he not come slowly like he did. My 2nd baby - there was also like 5 hours of labor but it was so light, only like under 5 minutes of active labor. really it was amazing.

Ariella

JUICE PLUS+
www.juiceplus.com/+dj73561

[RawTruth]

I gave birth to my son at home 19 yrs. ago using the Bradley method (which uses how animals birth as a model for us -- none of that huffing and puffing, in fact it's very internal and, from the outside during much of it, just looks like quiet meditating). It was a long birth, and I did have a doctor there (for insurance purposes) but he spent most of the night sleeping on the couch while my coach and I handled the labor. When the dr. did get involved, he wrecked havoc -- he preferred me on my back and slipped in an episiotomy against my adamantly-expressed wishes despite perineal massaging having worked wonders. Aaackk!! If I had it to do over again, there'd be no doctor.

I definitely advocate home births -- the medical establishment continues to view pregnancy and childbirth as an illness to be managed. And they manage it for their convenience -- despite tons of studies that show fetal monitoring slows labor, oftentimes leading to inducing using pitocin which then causes unnatural harsh and unmanageable contractions which lead to giving drugs and even cesearians (sp). It's totally insane.

Good luck and best wishes in taking control of your own body and your own experience. Be prepared and strong to handle the winds of dissent and horror that many people will blow at you when they hear of you doing such a "radical" thing!!!

By the way, natural and homebirthed babies are visibly so different -- calm yet alert.

[Jamie]

HI,
Definitely your body know what to do. I have had 6 children and 7 is due in Sept. I have had 2 homebirths and the last was my first water birth. It was AMAZING!! I would be scared if I could not have that tub again. I have never had any drugs during labor/delivery, but I"m sure being in water is much like having something. It took so much of the pain away and really helped me relax. I HIGHLY recommend it!!
Now, I have not been raw with any of my pregnancies but am trying hard now to stay at least 90% raw to stay healthy.

Best of luck to you!!
Jamie :)

[Punky]

I gave birth to my son at home 19 yrs. ago using the Bradley method (which uses how animals birth as a model for us -- none of that huffing and puffing, in fact it's very internal and, from the outside during much of it, just looks like quiet meditating). It was a long birth, and I did have a doctor there (for insurance purposes) but he spent most of the night sleeping on the couch while my coach and I handled the labor. When the dr. did get involved, he wrecked havoc -- he preferred me on my back and slipped in an episiotomy against my adamantly-expressed wishes despite perineal massaging having worked wonders. Aaackk!! If I had it to do over again, there'd be no doctor.

I definitely advocate home births -- the medical establishment continues to view pregnancy and childbirth as an illness to be managed. And they manage it for their convenience -- despite tons of studies that show fetal monitoring slows labor, oftentimes leading to inducing using pitocin which then causes unnatural harsh and unmanageable contractions which lead to giving drugs and even cesearians (sp). It's totally insane.

Good luck and best wishes in taking control of your own body and your own experience. Be prepared and strong to handle the winds of dissent and horror that many people will blow at you when they hear of you doing such a "radical" thing!!!

By the way, natural and homebirthed babies are visibly so different -- calm yet alert.

Hey Rawtruth ,
we used the Bradley Method for our second child too;
except I do not know how "calm" I was...my midwife kept on saying
that I was NOT accepting the pain! My husband was my crutch.
She made him walk me till I broke and finally accepted the pain....
not sure if I ever did...just too worn out to vocalize it, hee hee, so for a while
there it was meditative...
Turns out, I go thru active labor (both babies) with little
progression on the cervix...somehow my babies heads do not put
enough pressure on my cervix. Finally after many hours of labor
(10+--2nd baby) my midwife was like, what's up with you? 2nd babies
are suppose to come quicker...she had to readjust my cervix so the babies head put more pressure on it, than
low and behold I went from a 6 to a 10 in 20 min.
But yes, all in all loved the Bradley Method, and my hubby employed
a lot from it to help me thru labor. We highly recommend it.

Sorry to hear about the episiotomy; had that with my 1st hospital birth,
but not even a tear with my 2nd. It made a difference with my recovering quicker. And the pitocen they gave me with my 1st birth, put my son
under stress and almost had a c-section. Never again; live and learn.

Love the birth stories everyone; keep them coming!

[yamsy]

You've probably seen these two websites -

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/uc/catch.html

http://www.birthjunkie.com/uc_stories.html

I'm past birthing but reading these stories really made me wish I wasn't!

[Sheryl]

Thanks for the links - what great stories. I liked the one best Banana Bread Baby of the baby being born while making banana bread! Too funny!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Lauradee]

i think
the woman should do what's best for her.



take care :)

laura