I had a homebirth without any medication and there was pain, but that isn't what I remember from the birth.

I think if you go into it beleving and wanting to labor without pain meds, you are half way to doing it! I think a lot of it is the mind set. I would talk to your doctor about being able to labor out of bed and the possibility of a tub. My tub helped me relax and was a big pain relief. The breathing techniqes didn't work for me. My midwife did coach me to do quick shallow breaths, which kept me from getting out of breath.

One thing my midwife did was sterile water papules, which is 4 injections of sterile water in the back to remove lower back pain. The injections hurt a lot during the injection, but I had NO pain in my back for the rest of my labor. You could ask you doc about these since there aren't any drugs involved.

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Mom to Kaylee (10/2006)
Waiting on our second bundle of joy to arrive January 2009!

I have signed the form to have the spinal block as an option at my labor but I don't think that I will use it.

Mainly because they only last about 2 minutes (different than an epi) so really is it worth the needle for 2 minutes? I don't think so at that point. Especially if they give it at the wrong time and it doesn't do any good anyway.

Plenty of women give birth without pain meds for one reason or another and do just fine. I have heard of morphine being used but I don't like the idea of it. I would do stadol or maybe a tylenol 3 or something. But its definitely a personal choice.

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Proud mommy to adorable Kinsley

MY BLOG!

I had an eppidural with DD1 and it didn't take. It all went into my legs and I felt all the pain of natural labor. I wasn't ready for natural labor, I was expecting to get the epidural all along. It was painful and I was not aware of much. DD1 was 9 lbs and 12 oz. when she was born and I wish I could remember it more clearly as I would have done with the eppidural.
DD2 I had an eppidural and I remember everything clearly, I didn't feel much pain at all. I was totally in control and My legs weren't completely numb I thought DD2's labor was 1,000 times better.
It is a personal choice though, obviously. I just knew that after DD1's full pain labor (and not being with it at all!!!!) I wanted to be more aware with the second one. I will definately be taking and eppidural with the twins...Dr. is going to try allowing me to do a natural birth with them, unless they are positioned wrong or something.

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One happy wife and mommy!!!

I highly recommend hiring a doula to help you through natural drug-free labor. Make the decision to go drug-free and it's a whole lot easier to deal with the pain when you have that resolve.

I labored for 16 hours (induction, had some pitocin) - it hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. What helped me tremendously was being able to be active - walking the halls early on, laboring on the toilet or in the tub in late labor. Having the doula to rub my back and reassure me was marvelous. She reminded me of breathing techniques (the concentration helped me through the 4 HOURS that I was 8 cm).

I thoroughly enjoyed my drug-free labor. I felt so accomplished at the end! Not only did I have a beautiful, healthy, alert son, but I had done it without medication! I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR! The whole experience was a huge ego booster.

You can do it!

You can do it if you have the right mindset. I didn't want an epidural with either of my deliveries. The whole epidural concept scares me! I had my DS 2 years ago, and only received a shot of Nubain right before I started pushing. The Nubain kind of put me out of it, so it's hard for me to remember all the details of my son's birth.

I just gave birth to my beautiful daughter 3 weeks ago. I was induced using Pitocin, and had a completely drug free birth. I definitely felt more this time, but it was all worth it! Even 3 weeks later, its hard for me to remember how painful it was.

If you are induced using Pitocin, ask your doctor whether you'll be able to get out of bed to walk around. I did alot of walking with my first labor, but with my daugter, I was not allowed out of bed because of the Pitocin. I wish I would have known that ahead of time! Kind of made labor more difficult for me--had trouble finding a more comfortable position in the bed.

Good luck! You can do it!

Great suggestion. The mindset was my thing. I didn't even talk about epidurals, learn about them, mention them, or anything and during the pain (2 back labor babies) I never even remembered about the possibility of getting it to help me out. I really could have used it w/my first not really knowing what I was doing, but my 2nd was a breeze! I labored alot on a birthing ball and squatted as much as I could during contractions so gravity could take over. The tub was nice but didn't help my back pain. I wish I had known about those injections so I could learn more though!! Good luck!

I had my first one with an epidural and it took forever and I was in pain for weeks and weeks and my vagina was never the same. Until...I had my second one and the weather was too bad for the anasthesiologist (sp) to get to town--I popped that kid out so fast and my vagina was fixed and I was up and ready to go home in a couple hours. (Of course they made me stay until the next day.)

It was like, I knew I wasn't getting an epidural and I needed to get that kid out as fast as I could. Less wear and tear, maybe? lol

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

I will never understand how some women do labor drug free. My first was and I would never do it again. You guys are brave! I would ask your dr. for something other than morphine though~ I work in Labor and Delivery and I really do not see many Mom's taking that drug.

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“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”