Natural birth pros and cons epidural pros and cons

[Kishalyn]

im thinking about natural birth but idk if I can take the pain lol what do you guys prefer and your reason.

[NewAngie]

I'm choosing natural as well, but am in the minority of my friends. Whatever you do, it's helpful to learn more about birth in general, it helps take the fear out of it & with less fear, your body will be less tense & contractions will hurt less. Also, if you go with the epidural, you can know when to push by placing your hand on your abdomen- you can feel it tighten under your hand as you have contractions, so you can time your pushes to match the contractions. Good luck with everything, remember either way, you'll be holding your baby at the end :)

[bebexbella]

research shows that with natural birth its a faster delivery and your hormones release natural pain killers and some hormones r passed onto the baby to help release any stress for the baby. epidural blocks hormones from your body and it will take longer to push the baby out and the baby wont be getting any hormones passed from the mom. i read it a few days ago but dunno the link. if i find it i will post. i went natural with my first and honestly it wasnt as painful as i imagined... just really intense. the pain came a few hrs later worst the next day.

[sb530]

I'm considering a natural birth. I had an epi with my first, I pushed for 3 hours. Her head didn't drop far enough bc I got the epi too early. By the time she was born I was drained. Some one else on this board suggested bradly method. I'm going to be getting the book in the next few days. I don't think hubby and I can make it to a class. He works 2 jobs, on top of being a volunteer fire fighter, and our little one.

[wondermommy90]

I had no meds with either of my babies and plan the same with this baby. I think it's just personal preference and pain tolerance. Everyone is different. I also enjoyed walking right after and helping wash up my baby. I figured if women have been doing it without meds since beginning of time then so can I lol its been a beautiful experience and I only pushed for 15 min the first time and about 8 the second time. I've heard u push for hours with epidural because u can't feel what your doing.