THE PROS AND CONS OF NATURAL CHILDBIRTH

PROS:

"The pain and stress of normal labor have value for both you and your baby. For you, nerves in the cervix, and later the pelvic floor muscles and vagina, transmit stretching sensations as well as pain. These stretch receptors signal the pituitary gland within the brain to secrete more OXYTOCIN. Secreting more OXYTOCIN intensifies the labor, causing further cervical dilation. Once the cervix is completely open and the head stretches the pelvic floor and vagina, surges of OXYTOCIN create the urge to push.

💥Because they numb the nerves, epidurals wipe out the positive feedback mechanism.

😊Pain guides you. Usually, the positions and activities you find most comfortable are also those that promote good labor progress or help shift the baby into the best position for birth.

Your body responds to labor pain by secreting adrenalines and endorphins.

💪💪Adrenalines give you stamina. They are responsible, for example, the “runner’s high”🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️.

By the time of the birth, ENDORPHINS are found at levels THIRTY TIMES HIGHER than in non-pregnant women, and levels can be twenty times higher in women with prolonged or difficult labors than in women with uncomplicated labors.

🧠🧠The natural OXYTOCIN secreted within the brain has mood-elevating and amnesiac properties, too. (IV oxytocin aka Pitocin does not because it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.

👏👏The normal pain and stress of labor also BENEFIT YOUR UNBORN BABY.

The stress hormones produced in response to labor trigger the final preparation of your baby’s lungs to breathe air, mobilize glucose for energy, and, by shunting your baby’s blood away from the limbs and the brain and heart (exactly opposite of the effect in adults), protect your baby against lack of oxygen (hypoxia) during labor.

😣😖Extreme anxiety or fear may, indeed, compromise the baby’s oxygen supply, a point used in arguments for epidurals. However, according to one study, epidurals do not relieve emotional stress.

👏Nondrug pain management strategies also have advantages.

🤍They tend to promote labor progress rather than inhibit it, and unlike drugs, any adverse effects can instantly be reversed by discontinuing the technique.

🤍Natural childbirth strategies facilitate labor both physiologically and psychologically.

🤍They raise endorphin levels, whereas epidurals reduce them and narcotics substitute for them.

🤍You gain knowledge, skills, and self-confidence from learning and using nondrug techniques.

Studies show that a key to a positive labor experience is mastery—a sense of control over events. With epidurals in particular, control is completely given over to medical staff.

CONS:

Labor will hurt.

But whether this is negative is another matter.

Pain and suffering differ, as anyone who engages in activities demanding strength and endurance can tell you.

A laboring woman can be in a great deal of pain yet feel loved and supported and exhilarated by the power of the creative forces flowing through her body and her ability to meet labor’s challenges. Conversely, a woman with an epidural may experience no pain, yet feel intensely distressed because she feels ignored or helpless. A

Of course, pain and suffering may coincide, as many women who have labored would hasten to tell you. Still, the key seems to be who controls the pain medication decision.

Pain becomes a drawback only when pain medication is being withheld or a woman is not getting the support and help she needs to master it. "

-The Thinking Women's Guide to Birth to a Better Birth