Natural Birth and Baby Care.com

How painful is natural birth?

by Jami-lee Carelsen
(South Africa)

I am terrified of any form of birth ....
I've set my mind on vaginal birth but with an epidural... how painful will it be and how exactly does it work?

Answer:

Pain in birth is very relative. Some women feel a lot of pain and some women feel no pain. There's really no way to predict what you will feel - but you can do a lot to prepare for birth so that you will be able to handle a birth even if you feel a lot of pain.

Firstly, a vaginal birth with an epidural is not what is considered a "natural birth." It is a vaginal birth, but usually natural birth implies that no epidural/spinal or IV-injectable medication is used. During a cesarean section medication is always used, either epidural, spinal, or general anesthesia.

An epidural or spinal is fed into the appropriate place in your back by a trained anesthesiologist (the epidural space or spinal block space, thus where the names come from). IV drugs, such as Demerol, are put directly into the bloodstream via IV.

All drugs change the course of labor and your ability to respond to your body during labor.

It's important to realize that you can and should go into birth with skills that will help you cope with your labor - and work with your baby. It doesn't matter if your labor is painful, painless, short, long, etc. Understanding how to work with your birthing body and your baby makes any birth possible. These skills even help during procedures - even if an emergency c-section is needed.

Nobody can sugar-coat birth, it can be painful. But if you're ready to work with birth you can work with and through any pain to bring your baby into your arms.

I recommend you use a childbirth course that teaches you true birth skills - the Pink Kit is my top recommendation.