Gosh, where do I start? This topic has so many different opinions and debates but I'm going to throw it my two cents, if it even matters. It's a small ripple in an ocean of opinions and thoughts. The idea of natural birth has always intrigued me and I remember even in jr. high the sense of wanting to experience a natural birth when I had children. Having a mother who was in favor for it also shaped my opinion as I heard from her and my Aunt their own experiences. In college I think it became more clear to me the value of 'why' I was drawn to it more than some other methods.
My experience in Uganda had such a impact on the way I view certain topics in our Western society, and pain is one of them. Plus women have been giving birth for thousands of years! Our western culture doesn't want anything to do with pain, we want the most comfortable lifestyle farthest from any discomfort. We associate pain as negative and because of so many of our options today, there are many other ways to avoid it. I remember reading somewhere that there is no true joy without true pain. Pain, suffering, and joy always seem to coexist and I believe this to be fully true when it comes to laboring.
I have to admit, the first day I found out I was having a baby, labor all of a sudden sacred me. I think before that I had this mythical and romantic idea in my head, but once I was faced with the fact that was having this child, that meant that I had to endure labor! Ah! There is nothing joyful about the process of labor, only the result of it. But God has created our bodies so incredibly for the experience of labor that our bodies biologically release a hormone which has an affect on our brains once labor is through. Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone that is release within a woman's body during labor and breastfeeding. It's known as the "love hormone," that has such a powerful affect upon our bodies and plays a vital role in bonding with our baby after labor.
I find this to be so incredible how God has made a woman's body. About a year ago I totally went on this empowerment phase where I was truly becoming aware of my body, sexuality, feeling, thinking, and mental capacity. Scott and I have been doing FAM (Fertility Awareness Method) and about a yr. ago I really found out that it works, along with completely my first half-marathon, and reading a book titled, "The Female Brain." It seemed that I went on a little feminist kick because I was just loved being a woman and how empowered I felt at the time. I believe this to be a foundation of why I want to go the Bradley Method Route. I want to experience a natural labor and do all that I can to prepare for it. I love asking women who have gone through natural labor and what their experience was like. Talking to women in my family who have done it also gives me a sense that I could be successful too.
However, I have to step back and be realistic because nothing is for certain. I may look at this blog in six months and say, yeah I had great intentions but the experience was something I wasn't ready for. I have no idea what the pain will be like and have nothing to compare it to. My goal is to flexible and not rigid. I don't want my birth plan to be, 'this is the only way,' because what if there are complications that I have no control over? I think it's great to have a goal and plan in mind and I want to know that going in, but I don't want it to be like I 'failed' because I had an epidural. I get the sense from some woman that because they choose to have an epidural it was like they were a failure. Some women that I know are all hands down for one and take no shame that they had it done. I want to be flexible with my plan but really try and prepare to go natural as much as I can. This first starts with exercise and eating.
Ideally when we got pregnant I wasn't at my ideal weight or physical fitness. Now that I am pregnant, it's not about losing weight but staying active. I have been doing cardio on the elliptical at the gym at work and then doing yoga stretches. This seems to be going well as I now have the energy to want to be active not that I am in my second trimester. I have found that interval training to be a good way of possibly training my mind for labor. Doing intervals, I do a certain number of mins on an easier level of resistance and then the next 2 mins it is a harder level. During my harder levels I just self talk that this is a contraction and it will come to an end...It might be a silly way of looking at it but I love the feeling of being "in the zone" when working out, as it naturally releases endorphins anyway. So, if I work out, do some yoga, educate myself, listen to women who have gone before me, have Scott and myself take a Bradley Method class, and pray for the Lord's wisdom..... I think that's a good plan. We have to do the best that we can at having this baby, because no matter what, the end result is that this baby is going to be born no matter what way it enters this world. Oh, I am so excited to meet this little one! :)
Wow this totally sounds like something I would have written when I was pregnant with Christianna. I wrote a birth plan with her which they say to do in What to expect when your expecting and I can say it went nothing like I planned. I think you can be determined to do it the way you want and I encourage that, but also knowing you may not always be in control and circumstances can change is helpful. My thought was always whatever is best for baby and mommy.
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