Natural Childbirth

I'm glad you are doing all your research before geting pregnant. I had planned a homebirth for both of my kids. My first had to be delivered in a hospital because I went into labor at 36wks. Even though I was in a hospital I had a natural birth with my midwife and husband's help. I also declined the vitamin K shot and the eye ointment.

I had a successful homebirth with my last baby. I had the same wonderful midwife as my first. Again, we declined the vitamin K and eye ointment. Pain is really mind over matter. As long as you stay focused and in control you can have a successful natural birth.

I've heard of other women using Hypnobirthing. We used the Bradley Method which worked great because it gets the partner involved.

I would recommend www.drfeder.com for more info. I highly recommend purchasing her book because it has great info from pregnancy through the early years. I wish I had known about this book with my first pregnancy.

Also, if you have difficulty getting pregnant I would recomend seeing a homeopath before using drugs. My friend tried for 5 years to get pregnant. She endured one heartbreaking miscarriage before having a successful pregnancy. This was all accomplished with artifical means. She didn't want to go the same rout the second time around. She saw my midwife who is also a certified homeopath. Six months later she is pregnant the old fashioned way!

Good luck!

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Hi S.,
How exciting to be interested in having another child and doing it as naturally as possible. I had 3 natural births and found it challenging but not impossible. I have been teaching Lamaze classes for decades and love to help women have the normal birth they want. One of the main things I help women learn about is optimal fetal positioning. If baby is in a good position, pregnancy, labor and birth are more easily done with less pain. Look at my web site for more information www.mybreastfeeding.com Love to hear more from you. S., PT and Lamaze instructor

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Hi S., My name is J. and I had a wonderful home birth 17 mos ago. I intended to have a water birth but everytime I got in the water I got too relaxed and my contractions stopped. Alas, no water but it was great for early labor. I used Leslie Drew as my midwife. She is great and I will use her again. Try out the moms program at MIT(massage institute) you get good info on alot of subjects incuding midwives- weekly you have a 2 hr guest speaker, prenatal yoga an hour and then a prenatal massage by students for I think 160. total for 8 wks I think. SUPER great. Also, the book Natural Family Living is awesome- great info. and the vaccination book I liked was 'Vaccinations- A thoughtful Parents Guide' By Romm- gives both sides of the coin. I chose to do no vaccinations but felt informed to make that choice. Good luck and if have any questions feel free to email!! J. W.

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I had a wonderful birth without drugs, at home and in a birth tub. I totally recommend to have a water homberith. In the bay area try to talk with one of the midwives from the bay area homebirth collective.

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I have had 2 natural births. One in a pool at home in my bedroom (40 hr labor total, 6 hrs from water break to baby out), the other in the car on the way to the birth center (2 hrs total, less than an hour from water break to baby out). They are both long stories but both children are fine. With the first we had complications and yet I still wanted a home birth for the second but couldn't find a midwife willing to come to us (we live quite a ways into the Sierra Mts.) I highly recommend it if it's right for you. It is my belief that mom knows best and mom should give birth wherever she feels most comfortable for the least stress.

I had family who disagreed too (especially with the first) but when they realized I was dead set on it, they shut their mouths and grinned and beared it. There are risks to every pregnancy so just be informed and aware and then go with your heart knowing it will guide you and if you go with your heart, be ok with whatever the outcome. One way to dismiss non-supportive relatives is to cut them off before telling you their horror stories and say, "Thank you. I'm concentrating on positive birth stories at the moment. Do you know any positive home birth stories? Here's a book with lots of them in it." or just interrupt them mid-sentence to say, "Thank you for your concern. You obviously care a lot. You gotta try this salad over here." And change the subject and keep deflecting. You don't need to argue or prove anything to them. It's what your gut says and that's all you need to know. You don't need to research even. Some do but I am a research fanatic usually and I just stopped during pregnancy because my heart kept telling me the same thing and I was getting exhausted trying to prove something that must rely on faith. It's like trying to prove God exists to an athiest. It's funny, those against home birth the most act like they have the strongest belief in God and yet they wouldn't hear my arguement that we must sometimes have faith in God and for me, this is one of those times. Take every precaution and then let it happen... hoping for the best. We are not in control. The Doctors are not in control ... though they like to pretend they are. And I'm not even a very religious person. Although misguided, they probably just want to feel important to you and want to feel protective of you so talk it up like they are and cut their words off before they go into being negative and overbearing. You can always ALWAYS hang up or walk away ...with a smile and a "thank you" so they think alls good. I don't really care if they're all good but it makes it easier on you ... if they feel attacked or defied, they'll keep trying to win you over to their side so it's pointless. Then go vent to someone more supportive.

Except for vit K and stuff the hospital administered without consent when we had to take the first baby in (she had a lung infection at birth so the midwife took her in and I followed after my tears were sutured), I chose not to vaccinate for fear of causing autism ... I know the jury is still out on it and I'm aware of the risks. I believe in what I've chosen. I've just talked to too many moms with autistic children who believe the vaccinations had something to do with triggering it in their children. There is a book I've been looking for myself that comes highly recommended called: A Thoughtful Parents Guide to Vaccinations by Aviva Jill Romm. Good luck.

A note about Kaiser ... it depends on which Kaiser you are attending. Not all are pro-natural and I've seen one Kaiser in action not natural at all. That hospital scares me.

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