Hellobee Boards Topic: If you had a med-free child birth...

Hellobee Boards Topic: If you had a med-free child birth... https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 20 Apr 2026 23:04:20 +0000 emg86 on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-872258 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:33:37 +0000 emg86 872258@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I planned for an unmedicated at home birth--took Bradley classes, did lots of reading, hired a doula and had 2 midwives. All went well and I'm glad I prepped for it cause it was definitely a lot of hard & painful work! Protectlove on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871828 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:49:26 +0000 Protectlove 871828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I didn't plan anything other than unmedicated and at home. For me I feel like that was best. I truly did not want to "prepare" for something, have an idea or image of how it would go, and then have that sense of loss or feel unprepared when it went other than that. I truly trusted my body and the people around me supporting the birth. It went beautifully! Best of luck! merriment on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871712 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:26:23 +0000 merriment 871712@https://boards.hellobee.com/ A med-free/intervention-free birth was really important to me, so I prepared! I took a hypnobirthing class and hired a doula. As runsyellowlites said, I also prepared by thinking about birth and thinking about the fact that my body had been designed to do this, that women have been doing this without medicine/intervention for years, etc. I think that having such supreme confidence in my body and its abilities (and toughness!) was also pretty crucial. sorrycharlie on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871679 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:19:43 +0000 sorrycharlie 871679@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @lindseykaye: our class was through my hospital/OBGYN office and they definitely warned to have some coping strategies. lindseykaye on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871640 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:14:18 +0000 lindseykaye 871640@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I prepared by taking the hospital-offered Natural Childbirth class. It was 2 hours, once a week for 5 weeks. I feel like the class prepared me very well for what to expect and I was able to deliver with no interventions and no pain medication. My instructor (even though this was to a room full of us intending on a med-free birth) definitely made the point that epidurals fail, and that you want to wait to get one until you're sufficiently dilated so having the coping strategies to labor until the point that you are medicated is a good idea. I wonder if the standard childbirth class the hospital offers made that point... Adira on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871610 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:11:13 +0000 Adira 871610@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I did NOT plan for a med-free birth. I had EVERY intention of getting an epidural and when I couldn't... well... yeah. I think I did decently for being so unprepared. Though I was definitely a complainer! maybebaby on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871562 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:05:30 +0000 maybebaby 871562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We took a one day prepared medfree childbirth with a midwife class and hired a doula who was a huge source of info and support. I had to be induced with a very small dose of pitocin but had no pain meds. matador84 on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871536 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:02:02 +0000 matador84 871536@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Hell to the no. I didn't plan anything! I wanted an epidural when I was 2 cm and contractions were 5 minutes apart. My thinking was this isn't too bad, but it does suck and is only going to get worse! Then I went to a 6 and couldn't stop pushing. Then went from a 6 to a 10 in about 30 minutes, so it was too late to get the epidural because it wouldn't have helped me anyhow. MamaJ on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871493 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:56:06 +0000 MamaJ 871493@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I took Bradley method classes. I ended up getting induced but with no epidural. mrskc on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871438 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:46:18 +0000 mrskc 871438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I didn't take any classes or do anything to prepare. Hiring a doula was how I prepared. :) sorrycharlie on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871434 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:45:15 +0000 sorrycharlie 871434@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My only birth plan was to get an epidural..and I didn't bother prepping or learning any coping techniques cause I was GOING to get the epidural. well..LOL, said life. I got to the hospital and triage took their sweet time, I didn't get into a LDR room until I was already bearing down, 10 cm dilated, +3 station. They gave me the epi then, but yeah..I only had a medicated delivery, not labor (sad face). Best part, was I was stuck on a gurney in triage for the entire labor. No moving around for me! ETA - Honestly, I was used to searing, gripping pain from stomach issues, and I felt like it was like that, just worse. So I wasn't out of control during contractions. I told DH I was going to die a couple times, but yeah. runsyellowlites on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871426 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:43:40 +0000 runsyellowlites 871426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I planned for an unmedicated birth & planned for it just by learning all I could about the process & gaining faith in my body. I didn't take any birth prep classes or anything like that. I always advise moms to prep for a natural birth b/c epi's don't always happen & don't always work. lovehoneybee on "If you had a med-free child birth..." https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-had-a-med-free-child-birth#post-871405 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:40:59 +0000 lovehoneybee 871405@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Did you prepare for it? Mine wasn't unmedicated--I actually had 2 epidurals--but they both failed, and I spent significantly more time trying to get through my contractions without any pain medication than I did with a working epidural. I had always assumed I'd end up with an epidural and didn't really prepare myself for not having one. I think I did fairly well when I didn't have it, although I still had IVs in and couldn't get off of the bed (I didn't really want to). I was glad when it was replaced, though, so I could get a little bit of rest before I started pushing. Did you have a planned unmedicated birth or did circumstances force it?