Anticipation....
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It's been nine long months of waiting, watching your belly grow, and anticipating labor. The last few weeks can be the hardest part of the pregnancy. You feel awkward and heavy, the baby is lower and sitting on your bladder and you're ready to hold this kid in your arms already! This is part of the marvelous plan of pregnancy... you're supposed to feel this way to prepare you for labor. You're ready to let go and birth this baby.| At the same time, it may be something you are afraid of. What will labor be like? You hear so many horror stories of women who spent days laboring, or something went horribly wrong... how can you possibly face it? But in reality, giving birth isn't that bad. It is a lot of work. I can honestly say I've never worked so hard in my life as I have while I've been in labor. But I survived. Eight times. Surely you can survive once or twice... I certainly don't think everyone is as obsessed with pregnancy and birth as I am. You may get to the point where it can be very tempting to try to urge your body to get started already. Especially if you have friends and family urging you to "go get induced!" Some women have doctors and midwives who also urge them to schedule their induction... the earlier, the better! But this is the path to interventions and ultimately in too many cases, a surgical birth. We don't fully understand all the intricate signals that pass between mother and baby that triggers labor. Inducing messes all this up. Many inductions end up producing premature babies as well. If you go this route, you probably do have something to fear. During natural labor and birth, we are flooded with hormones. As Dr. Michel Odent says, we are given a hormonal cocktail that prepares both mother and baby for those exquisite moments right after birth. Oxytocin, adrenaline, noradrenaline, beta-endorphins and prolactin all combine to help us deal with contractions and fall in love with our newborn. The best way to get this full hormonal cocktail is to have an undisturbed birth. It is next to impossible to have an undisturbed birth in the hospital. You are surrounded there by people you've never met before, who come in repeatedly to check your blood pressure, to adjust the electronic fetal monitor and to do vaginal exams. |
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In an undisturbed birth, you follow what your body tells you. If you need to stand up and sway, that's what you do. If you need to lean against the wall, you do it. If you need to squat or sit on a birth ball or labor on your hands and knees... do it.
The beta-endorphins help you deal with any pain from the contractions. Oxytocin floods your system, helping the contractions to be efficient and preparing you to meet your baby. Adrenaline and noradrenaline help you have the energy to push your baby out. Prolactin not only releases milk, but it helps you bond with your baby.
Childbirth is intense. It is a challenge. It is doable. It is nothing to fear. I urge you to experience it. Drugs take away pain, yes. They also take away that hormonal cocktail. Sure, you can still love and bond with your baby... but your baby feels those drugs in his or her little system too. It may hinder breastfeeding and bonding. It may give them respiratory challenges they may not have had. The point is, that blissful moment isn't the same.
I've had disturbed births and I've had undisturbed birth. I've had medication during childbirth and I've gone without. The difference is amazing. The euphoria that envelops you as soon as your child slips into this world in an unmedicated birth is beyond description.
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