Why I gave birth unmedicated

*Note: This is not about the actual birth.  This entry is simply to lay out my reasons for giving birth unmedicated.


There are times when an idea keeps coming to mind repeatedly, over and over until whatever that idea was is fulfilled.  The idea to write about my experience giving birth is one of those cases in which blogging about it keeps coming to mind.  I'm not a consistent blogger.  I have more drafts of blogs than I have actual published stories.  Yet, for some reason I feel to finally get this one written.

Why I had my baby unmedicated.

My goal in this story is to tell it so that a man would be fine reading it.  I may write another side story with more details for the women, but today it's just the basics.

The internet became my go-to in looking at how I wanted to give birth.  I never imagined there were so many different ways and tactics!  While looking through all the options, I came across one woman's story of giving birth unmedicated.  In her account, she shared how after her baby was born she felt awake and very alert.  She explained how she was up and wanting to see her baby that had been taken to the nursery.  This concept of being alert and awake after childbirth was a new one to me.  I had always imagined an exhausted and worn-out mother.  After reading this, I knew that was the experience I wanted.  I wanted to be alert and present for my newborn.

The second reason for giving birth unmedicated is due to a constant thought I had repeatedly. It was the thought that there would be a day when access to doctors and medicine would be very hard to come by, if at all. Based on this thought, I wanted to 'practice' and have the experience of going through this ordeal while still in the comforts of what is currently available.  I knew in doing so I would be in a position to help others go through the same thing at that time.

That thought - the one where doctors and medicine would one day not be available - came intermittently (as far as I could tell), but frequently.  It was this same thought that propelled me to attempt getting off my depression medication while in college (which was a disaster), and then later succeed in getting off it after finding the right supplement years later.  It took over a year to taper off the medicine and then the supplement.  It wasn't easy. Each tapering of the dosage would bring about moodiness and erratic emotions that would ensue during the two weeks while my body adjusted.  Going through this boot camp of emotions and relearning how to react to normal things really benefited me when pregnant over a year later. I only took the supplement as needed, and while choosing my reactions was still a real exercise, it was one I was familiar with.

So, there they are.  The reasons I went through childbirth unmedicated.  Pretty straight forward. I understand they're pretty basic; no big "hu-rah" of a deal.

There's a huge movement in the unmedicated childbirth world where women stand proud that they have done this grand hard thing; and many others look on either with the thoughts ranging from "you're crazy" or "that's incredible."  If going unmedicated was a goal and something a person really worked for, then absolutely that individual should feel proud of that accomplishment.  My reasonings behind my choice were different so I never fit in with this crowd.

I just did what I felt was best given the situation I had.