Natural childbirth is certainly a hotly debated topic. There are those who wonder why with the advent of epidural anesthesia a woman would "martyr" herself by not having pain relieving medications in labor. There are others who aren't sure what they want and go in and try to have an unmedicated birth. And then there are women who know exactly what they don't want - pain relief in labor. Here are just a handful of the reasons a woman might choose to avoid pain medications in labor:
- No Risks to Baby
Many mothers who have chosen to have an unmedicated birth do so because they do not want to assume the risks of medications in labor. They worry over the potential problems that can occur when there is medication involved. So they opt to skip pain medication for their childbirth experience.
- Unimpeded Labor
Susan was a mom who I worked with for four of her births. She said that she hired a doula to help her avoid pain medication. I asked her why she did not want pain medication. Her response was that she wanted to avoid an unnecessary c-section. She felt that having an unmedicated birth removed some of that risk by lowering the chance that she would need pain medication and other medications, allowing labor to progress normally.
- Natural Mindset
There are many families who believe in doing everything with a natural mindset. This can include healthy eating, avoiding unnecessary medications and generally living a healthy lifestyle. When it comes time to give birth a mother who has followed this philosophy may believe that this is a natural extension of her current lifestyle.
- Unable to Have Medications
There are also some women who cannot have pain medications for a variety of reasons. They may be unable to have an epidural because of previous spinal injury or other reasons. Perhaps IV pain medications are out because of allergies or even previous addiction issues. These women have no real choice but to find a way to labor without medication.
- Previous Birth Experience
Positive or negative, some women choose to give birth without pain medication because of a previous birth experience. Perhaps they had an epidural previously and were not impressed with the results. Or perhaps they had an unmedicated birth previously and had a great experience and wish to repeat that experience for this birth.
