Giving Birth
In response to a reader’s comment on my last piece – I certainly didn’t mean that women who don’t have 100% natural births are worth less!! This was a reflection of my personal view on my births. Like many first-time mothers, I was so scared of giving birth that I let my doctor convince me I have to have an epidural. Whilst the pain from the oxytocin was awful, and the epidural magically swept it away, I ended up having a very easy and fast labour regardless, which made me keen to try an unmedicated birth the second time.
Following my two experiences I like to let women know (especially those giving birth first time around) that the epidural is a fantastic option if you feel you need it. However, I am quite against convincing women to choose before they are in labour. I am also against denying a woman an epidural if she feels she needs one, as I have heard some Polish hospitals like to do.
In my second pregnancy I attended the same antenatal yoga course as I had with Karolinka. The course was led by a hippy who now has around 5 kids (all natural births) and someone who didn’t like me, and filled in when the hippy was on maternity leave. She had a very bad experience in hospital with her first birth (the baby was fine but she was treated awfully and the conditions were very primitive – those of you who know public Polish hospitals will understand). Her second birth was a home water birth. All throughout the yoga course she kept trying to convince the pregnant girls (mostly first-time mothers) that the second option was the better one. Whilst I understand why she might think so (political correctness aside, my natural birth was one of the best experiences in my life), I thought it was wrong of her to present a potentially dangerous birth to first-time mothers. So I stepped in with my birth story, which is an example of a safe, positive, medicated hospital birth. “Oh, so you were satisfied with that medicated experience, were you?” She asked in a derogatory manner. But I felt I did my bit in letting others know it’s ok, especially knowing how apprehensive many of them were about giving birth “live”.
I have read a lot of material about natural homebirth vs. hospital birth, and the good and bad effects of a c-section. We know that c-sections save many lives, they can also lead to serious complications more often than vaginal births. If we want on-demand c-sections to be available, I think mothers should be presented with all the positive and negative sides so that they can make an informed decision.
No matter what our birth experience is, the most important thing is for our babies to arrive safe and healthy, we can all agree on that!
Following my two experiences I like to let women know (especially those giving birth first time around) that the epidural is a fantastic option if you feel you need it. However, I am quite against convincing women to choose before they are in labour. I am also against denying a woman an epidural if she feels she needs one, as I have heard some Polish hospitals like to do.
In my second pregnancy I attended the same antenatal yoga course as I had with Karolinka. The course was led by a hippy who now has around 5 kids (all natural births) and someone who didn’t like me, and filled in when the hippy was on maternity leave. She had a very bad experience in hospital with her first birth (the baby was fine but she was treated awfully and the conditions were very primitive – those of you who know public Polish hospitals will understand). Her second birth was a home water birth. All throughout the yoga course she kept trying to convince the pregnant girls (mostly first-time mothers) that the second option was the better one. Whilst I understand why she might think so (political correctness aside, my natural birth was one of the best experiences in my life), I thought it was wrong of her to present a potentially dangerous birth to first-time mothers. So I stepped in with my birth story, which is an example of a safe, positive, medicated hospital birth. “Oh, so you were satisfied with that medicated experience, were you?” She asked in a derogatory manner. But I felt I did my bit in letting others know it’s ok, especially knowing how apprehensive many of them were about giving birth “live”.
I have read a lot of material about natural homebirth vs. hospital birth, and the good and bad effects of a c-section. We know that c-sections save many lives, they can also lead to serious complications more often than vaginal births. If we want on-demand c-sections to be available, I think mothers should be presented with all the positive and negative sides so that they can make an informed decision.
No matter what our birth experience is, the most important thing is for our babies to arrive safe and healthy, we can all agree on that!
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