People ask me "why would anyone go without pain medication for labor if they have a choice otherwise?"
I usually answer "Why do some people run 26 miles in a marathon despite the pain and effort? For the sense of exhilaration, accomplishment and the satisfaction that you have done the best for your body."
A study asked women with and without drugs a certain set of questions immediately after birth and the exact same questions months after birth. Immediately after birth the drug free women described labor as the hardest thing they had ever done, that it hurt and they didn't like it. The drugged women said things like it was easy, not too bad at all. But months later the two groups totally turned around....the drugged group said that labor was the worst thing they had ever done, that it was painful and terrible, while the undrugged group said things like it was wonderful, the most rewarding experience of their lives, easy. The study tried to explain why women changed, but I don't remember what their explanation was. Of course I have drawn my own conclusions. Women today just can't imagine that if they would allowed themselves to fully experience labor in all it's good and bad sensations, that they would be happier in their future. I think that labor is a woman- building endeavor, it's what makes us strong and able-bodied ( though I will probably catch hell from the NOW for saying that!!!). Feeling capable helps us to handle our every day lives better. I felt like I could handle anything after having my first undrugged labor, I was totally charged up! What's the old saying? .......That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger!![GRIN] RE (The only problem with this is that at around 9 cm who doesn't want drugs.) When labor gets intense most ladies reach that point of thinking they cannot do it. And if it is a particularly difficult labor I'm sure the strongest NC mother would find herself wanting to escape. How many times have you heard the statement: I can't do this anymore. That's when I try the line (well, lines [GRIN]) .."You're right, you can't do this any more... And you don't HAVE to!. You're almost there! You've made it all the way through labor and only a tiny bit more to go... the very best part is coming, you'll get so much energy and feel so good when this last little bit of cervix is out of the way -- just a little bit of tissue is in the way, and then you'll get all this strength to push your baby out! You'll get to see what you've been working for... you're sooo close now....!"
When that woman looks into your eyes and says, I CAN'T DO IT ANY MORE! That is the time a midwife really shines. She will look right back, hold your hand, or maybe even your face in her hands and tell with all the compassion she has that you CAN do it! That millions of women HAVE done it. She will not steal YOUR birth experience away and make that statement I CAN'T DO IT ANY MORE!, a harsh, screaming reality! She will give it back to you, empower you and help you do it yourself. When that baby is in your arms, you will know for the rest of your life, THAT Y O U CAN DO ANYTHING!
Further reality check here. I've done endurance athletics, and I found that (induced, unmedicated) childbirth was far, far more painful than either running a marathon or bicycling 200 miles a day. In fact, it was much worse than doing the Ironman triathlon. A prominent several-time winner of the Race Across America, in which you ride a bicycle across the US in eight or nine days, riding twenty-two hours a day, reports that she found (uninduced, unmedicated) childbirth more painful than that.
First I think the most important factor for a woman to give birth unmedicated, in our highly medicalized american environment, is that she wants to. But more than that, that she believes that nature has wisdom and woman have special powers to give birth. Or just that she has sheer determination...lol.
Second that she surrounds herself with people who believe the same or at the least, fully support her desires and respect her wishes.
Third is luck. Because sometimes birth is like a crap shoot. Are you feeling lucky today????...lol. [Ed. Many of the "lucky" aspects can be helped along by a midwife who is paying close attention to all the factors in the pregnancy/labor.]
Three questions to ask:
1) On a scale of 1-10, how important is it that you give birth unmedicated?
2) Why? Why is her desire that number? What are her motivations? ie: inner wisdom or fear. Not that fear of an epidural needle is a bad reason, but I feel she needs to recognize and honor her fear based reason.
3) On a scale of 1-10, how much pain is she willing to tolerate before she thinks she might ask for pain meds?
Not that she will be held to these numbers or her answers, but so that people supporting her have an idea of where her head's at, so they can better support her. And...so she can have some clarity on her own thoughts. I sometimes find when a woman has a desire and a willingness to tolerate pain that are equal numbers, say both 7, 8 or 9, that she is connected with herself and open to the mystical powers of birth (whether she says it that way or not). Also, I like to remind woman that they may actually be gauging their labor pain, but once they get to an 8 they are often transported to that magical place called labor land where the numbers don't mean anything anymore.....
And then.....lots of non-judgment by all and most of all herself!
Pain in Birth is Less for Dutch Women: Labor Pain: A Comparison of Parturients in Dutch and an American Teaching Hospital
Obstetrics and Gynecology, 71:541, No 4, April, 1988.
Abstract:
Women giving birth in two university hospitals, one in the Netherlands and the other in the United States, were surveyed postpartum regarding expectations of pain in labor and availability of medication for its relief, perceptions of the painfulness of labor, and use of analgesia and anesthesia. American women expected labor to be more painful, anticipated that they would receive medication for it, and did receive such medication in significantly grater proportions compared with Dutch parturients. These finding point to fundamental, culturally determined differences between these two societies with respect to women's views of the painfulness of childbirth
BTW: the numbers sampled were: 194 women in the US and 152 women in the Netherlands.
From one chicken to another, I very deeply understand your position on pain relief. In my first pregnancy, I read the book Painless Childbirth by Fernand Lamaze. I was taught to think of contractions as discomfort, etc. Well, I took it hook, line, and sinker!!! What I didn't know, and wasn't taught was that the staff in the hospital was NOT there to help you! Oh, Boy, had I been misled! I went on to have three more children, all without the use of medication because the risks of getting the medication FAR outweighed the perceived benefits. When I was pregnant with my 3rd, I learned that one can either create a high pain threshold or a low pain threshold, this being affected by whether you were tired, hungry, without a supportive environment, and not believing that you are able to handle 60 to 90 seconds of pain at a time, etc. When I put this to the "test" of having a home birth, I discovered labor wasn't that bad and that the anticipation of the pain of labor was worse than the actual experience. In other words, fear of labor makes labor horrific and unbearable. I sympathize deeply with women who have no supportive environment, etc., and am more than happy to recommend an epidural once they get into active labor so that they can get some much needed sleep, if nothing else! These are all very real variables in the subjective experience of pain, and do need to be recognized for their effect on laboring ability. This validation of the woman and her experience of life is something that enables empowerment. (I can't believe I'm arguing for drugs!)
Back to the subject, after the home birth of my 3rd, I was an empowered woman (at 20 years old!), and finally had my rite of passage into womanhood. I was no longer my mother's daughter, I was now my daughter's mother. (that realization alone was a mind blower!) I also knew that no one in the medical system was ever again going to rip me off! Soon I was pregnant with my 4th and had a no brainer decision about the next place of birth--at home again!
You must know, that it is not the experience of pain or no pain that causes home birth moms to deliver at home. It is the ability to give birth without unnecessary interferences inherent in the hospital system that one wishes to avoid. I don't disagree with pain medication when it is truly warranted. I smashed my fingers in the storm door of my home one time only to find myself immediately socked into the pain. I got a prescription of strong ibuprofen medication from my doctor only to find it didn't help and I was allergic to it. Broke out in hives on my chin and neck! That is about as close to anaphylaxis as I want to come! I break out in a sweat at the dentists when he gives me a shot, and any other time I get any other shot! So, from one chicken to the next, please keep an open mind. The experience is very much worth it. LOL
Freedom From Circumstances - "If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your here and now, and you can't remove yourself from the situation, then accept your here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power. Through surrender you will be free internally of the situation. You may then find that the situation changes without any effort on your part. In any case, you are free." ~Eckhart Tolle
Source : http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/birthjoy.html
