https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 26 May 2026 19:19:19 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1969729 Wed, 03 Dec 2014 18:09:21 +0000 jedeve 1969729@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>(Background: I had a failed epidural with my first, which left me immobile but I could still feel almost everything, went epidural free with my second, although not "med" free cause I had antibiotics and an IV)</p> <p>1. I kinda wanted to know what it felt like. Is that sick? Right before I pushed with #2 though, I was like there is NO NEED for me to feel what this is like, haha. I was trying to ask for an epidural but couldn't talk because I was, in fact, already pushing.</p> <p>2. My first epidural experience was so awful I didn't want to do that again.</p> <p>3. I just wanted to see if I could. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1969715 Wed, 03 Dec 2014 18:03:15 +0000 kgbee 1969715@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted the freedom to move or change positions or do whatever my body might want to do while in labor/pushing, and for me that meant opting out of anything that would require me to stay still, on a bed, connected to IVs or monitors. I went with a midwife-run birth center, had an incredibly intense long labor, and (with a last minute shift in my son's position) ended up with a med- and intervention-free birth. I was able 5 minutes from transferring to the hospital, though, because he just would not move down for the longest time. If he hadn't shifted, medical assistance would have been the only way to get him out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1969673 Wed, 03 Dec 2014 17:40:55 +0000 Anya 1969673@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No one huge reason, but a combination of most of the reasons pp have listed! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1968882 Wed, 03 Dec 2014 10:38:36 +0000 littlebittyhouse 1968882@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted a peaceful empowering birth with as few interventions as possible. That said, I had high blood pressure at the end and my LO was having some heart decels that they didn't like so I ended up being induced 2 weeks early. I did have a lot of interventions (pitocin, monitoring, epidural and a vac assist birth). I did feel like I made the right decisions for us at the time. This time around, now that I know how all that can go there are still a few more things I would advocate more for. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1958969 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 20:25:46 +0000 ScarletBegonia 1958969@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sarac: Oh no not dumb at all!! thats not what I was trying to say. Just that I had thought the same thing - a gentle, natural, loving entry into the world for my child - and my reality would have been anything but if I hadn't gotten my amazingly effective epidural. This stuff certainly isn't one size fits all, is it!? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1958937 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 20:04:40 +0000 sarac 1958937@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ScarletBegonia: Yeah, gentle is kind of a dumb word for it. Having experienced an epidural and a bunch of interventions that I just hated, I guess what I mean is, I'd prefer 'natural'. If I'm going to puke, I'd rather it be because of what my body is doing. If it's going to hurt like hell, I'd rather feel that, than the horrible failing epidural max pitocin pain. That feels more 'gentle' to me, even though I get the ridiculousness of that term for it.</p> <p>If I'd had a really positive epidural experience, I might want to repeat it. And if I had to do it again because they wanted to do really painful sounding interventions to up my chance of a vaginal birth, I'd do it - no problem. But if it was just a matter of avoiding the pain, I'm going to try to go without. I was in a lot of pain, but it was never more than I could handle. And it wasn't worse than not being able to move my legs for a full day, and not knowing when to push, and not knowing when I'd delivered, because I couldn't feel it. I hated that so much. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1958779 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:57:37 +0000 ScarletBegonia 1958779@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sarac: It's funny you should use the word "gentle" - I kind of had that same thought - but the unmedicated portion of my labour was ANYTHING but gentle - I was screaming, begging my husband to knock me out with his fists, my legs were twitching and my spine arching uncontrollably, I was tearing at the skin of my arms and legs to distract myself from the pain of contractions....and then when I got an epidural after an hour of pushing at 10cm, I had the calmest, most beautiful experience ever, even though it was in an operating theatre with forceps. I so wish I had gotten the epidural earlier. </p> <p>My thoughts going in were that I was tough enough to handle it unmedicated, and my mother had had a bad experience with her epidural having my sister so I wanted to avoid it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1958730 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:29:07 +0000 Mrs.KMM 1958730@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've always wanted a med-free birth (long before we even thought about TTC). I have a concern about the "cascade of interventions" but also hate the idea of a massive needle in my spine. I'd also like the ability to not be stuck in bed.</p> <p>We'll see how things go come June 2015! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1957227 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:57:28 +0000 sarac 1957227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted a gentle birth, and going med free seemed like the best way. My birth became very medicalized, and it was basically the opposite of gentle. It was all needed for her health, but I didn't like it. Also, my epidural felt awful and didn't even work. So, I'm hoping for med free the next time. </p> <p>I have a dim view of epidurals, anyway. Mine didn't work on one side, it made me feel like crap, and I hated it. I was still in a ton of pain. Next time I'd rather just be in a ton of pain, but able to move my legs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1957169 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:21:26 +0000 littlejoy 1957169@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@coopsmama: @Little Misters Mom: Yes! ALL birth is natural!! Thank for making this point. I also prefer to refer to "c-sections" as caesarian birth ... I think it gives more honor to that kind of birth. (Society seems to rank caesarians as the last resort.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1957161 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:15:10 +0000 littlejoy 1957161@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never been into medication. For me, it wasn't a "I do NOT want medication!" kind of thing ... It was just what felt natural to me based on my past. </p> <p>In the end, we chose a home birth, which means pain medicine was not an option. We also had a hard time conceiving, and having the birth I wanted was really important to me. </p> <p>I found comfort in knowing that my partner and midwives would have supported me if I wanted to transfer to the hospital for pain management. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1957152 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:11:35 +0000 Adira 1957152@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I want to go med-free just to say that I did, haha.</p> <p>With Xander, I had always been banking on getting an epidural, and then I wasn't able to get one. I got a couple IV meds, but they really didn't help (and definitely wore off by the time I was pushing)! Now that I've given birth once without an epidural (and much other drugs), I know that I can do it, so I want to go med free just to prove that I can! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1957050 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 19:27:30 +0000 Sapphiresun 1957050@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had a concern about the "cascade of interventions" but mainly the idea of a massive needle in my spine was scarier to me than how painful childbirth might get. </p> <p>I ended up using the laughing gas, and then the dr and anesthesiologist weren't available during my birth anyway (2 emergency c-sections came in, and then I was done before the on-call person made it in) so even if I'd wanted something more than that and a small dose of IV fentanyl that nurses are allowed to administer without permission, I was on my own. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956916 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 17:01:05 +0000 looch 1956916@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted intervention and med free. No epidural, no vacuum, nothing. I've always said I'd had a totally unassisted birth, but really, I don't know if it counts because the midwives had to break my water. </p> <p>I wanted to let nature take its course and see what happened. I was open for anything, but in the end, didn't end up needing an epidural. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956903 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:47:09 +0000 coopsmama 1956903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Little Misters Mom: I also hate when people call med-free births natural births. Drives me crazy!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956898 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:45:49 +0000 Foodnerd81 1956898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am another one that wanted to avoid the cascade of interventions. I also wanted to be able to feel when to push and aloe my body to do its thing, basically. But I also was open to it if I felt I needed it in the moment, I just asked in my birth plan that they not offer unless they thought it was really needed. I ended up asking about it at 9 cm and the nurse and midwife encouraged me that I could do it- plus by then I probably would have had her before the anesthesiologist even showed up. </p> <p>@Snowdrop: I generally specify "pain med free" which means no epidural or other pain meds (iv, gas, etc) before birth, but would not count lidocaine for stitches in that. "Med free" I would think of as nothing, including pitocin, but I think most people don't usually mean it that way. "Intervention free" means nothing- pain meds, pitocin, vacuum or forceps assist... My birth was med free but had a vacuum assist. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956897 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:45:04 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1956897@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Torchwood: You are just incredible. I cannot even imagine going through that and karma owes you the most beautiful, gentle possible birth. :heart: :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956893 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:38:32 +0000 Mrs. Chocolate 1956893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted to try it simply because I figured woman had labored and done this for millions of years before modern medicine and if they were capable of doing it I was at least capable of trying it. In the end I was lucky to have a supportive Dr and a decent labor albeit long and a pushing nightmare that I was able to manage to have 2 med free births. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956889 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:29:36 +0000 Torchwood 1956889@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Basically all the things @Mrs. Deer said. Though after my delivery (as part of the termination) I was on Pitocin but no epidural was available. All they had was Demoral. I react badly to narcotic painkillers (or at least all the ones I've tried), so it was HORRIBLE. The first thing I said to DH when I saw him afterwards (no, he wasn't allowed to be with me, I was left alone most of the time) was "f*** natural birth." Granted, I was pretty loopy from the drugs still, but that was how I felt at the time. </p> <p>Now, a few months later and starting to think about those sorts of things again for future pregnancies, I'm back to wanting to at least try for med-free. I think with no pitocin, not being left alone, not being so drugged I couldn't function (and therefore literally couldn't even move at times), and delivering a live baby, I can at least make a solid go of it. I'm still more afraid of all the bad possibilities with the "cascade of interventions," and especially of being stuck in bed, than I am of the pain. We'll see if I still feel that way when the time comes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956879 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:11:47 +0000 wonderstruck 1956879@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Because I'm terrifies of needles. I didn't even want an IV!</p> <p>Joke is on me though, I ended up with an emergency c-section because LO wasn't doing well. And then with my section pregnancy I got GD and had to poke myself for blood four times a day.</p> <p>I really never stressed about the whole 'cascade of interventions' thing though. I think that is totally preventable that with a good hospital/labor team, my hospital prided them self on their low number of interventions - they spent hours trying to naturally raise my baby's heart rate and didn't force an IV or heplock until it was clear that LO was in distress. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956873 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:02:16 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1956873@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Snowdrop: I consider med-free or unmedicated to be without an epidural or narcotic pain medication during delivery-- excluding things like lidocaine shots before the repair or post-delivery pain management. I think some people use it as shorthand for "no epidural" though. But even with the ambiguity I find it so much better than calling it "natural" childbirth (which gets on my nerves). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956868 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 15:54:48 +0000 Snowdrop 1956868@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What do people count as med free? Literally nothing at all or just no epidural? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956787 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 14:02:29 +0000 cait 1956787@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've always wanted med-free. That's how I was born and so it's just what I'd heard most about. It probably sounds funny, but I was more afraid of needles than the pain of childbirth - I cried when I was told there was a hospital policy of putting in an IV needle in case of emergency. I also wanted to lower my chances of ending up with more interventions or a c-section, and I really wanted to be able to feel the need to push and be able to listen to my body. </p> <p>It went really well for me and I'm hoping for the same next time around, but I'm happy alternatives are there for those who want or need them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956785 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 13:56:28 +0000 macintosh 1956785@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't given birth yet so this is all speculative. I started off wanting a natural birth before we even TTC. I had the hope that with my pilates training I could avoid pain meds and complications (the cascade of interventions like others have said).</p> <p>I chose a midwife when I got pregnant hoping that they could help me reach that goal, but I found the practice wasn't a good fit for me. I switched to a traditional hospital practice, knowing that I can't necessarily control the outcome if interventions are necessary. At least I can still chose to use pain meds or not during labor, unless a c-section is required.</p> <p>I'm still motivated to do try for a med-free vaginal birth, but I now know that if I go past my due date my hospital will induce. If I need it, I won't feel bad asking for the epidural. Luckily I have a friend who is a doula who will be with me.</p> <p>I definitely want to avoid c-section if possible because of the recovery time. I want to be able to nurse right away, and I also want to be able to ensure my husband is well taken care of. I would hate to have to leave him with a caregiver at home. I want him to be part of the process. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956774 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 13:44:38 +0000 skibobrown 1956774@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I figured women have been giving birth for centuries, and I wanted to allow my body to do what it was going to do naturally. In the end, my body didn't entirely want to cooperate -- after going on 3 days of active labor, my body never decided to give me regular contractions with spacing of less than 5-10 minutes. We finally opted for pitocin and eventually a light epidural to get the rest of the job done. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956689 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 11:48:21 +0000 Mrs. Deer 1956689@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>- wanted to avoid extra interventions that increased the likelihood of a c-section (epidural, stalled labor, pitocin, fetal distress...)<br /> - didn't want to count on the epidural to get me through in case it didn't work (my mom and close friend had epidurals that didn't fully cover the pain or only worked on one side of their body).<br /> - wanted to not be stuck in bed (yoga ball, tub, walk around)<br /> - didn't want a catheter<br /> - didn't want baby sleepy so she could be awake and ready to breastfeed</p> <p>All that being said, I almost got one for my second birth but didn't since it was easier and the pushing phase much quicker. I think there's pros and cons either way but Im happy with having had two med-free births :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956681 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 11:36:31 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 1956681@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My initial reaction was to go med free because I was terrified of the epidural. Then I chose med free because of my midwives and doula- they were so encouraging and I love the idea of a med free birth. I made it 44 hours med free before I had an epidural. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956654 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 11:07:02 +0000 artsyfartsy 1956654@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I always wanted to go med free. I'm kind of wary of meds in my day to day life...I prefer homeopathic remedies to treat and heal my body versus medication to help the symptoms.</p> <p>That being said, I've also taken plenty of medications. Haha</p> <p>I felt like I wanted to be in tune with my body and focus on working with the pain to progress my labor than to numb it out. I also didn't want the domino effect of interventions and wind up with a c section.</p> <p>I ended up getting induced and getting all the interventions and a c section. It went so so well though. I'm glad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956576 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 09:55:12 +0000 anonysquire 1956576@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted no shots at all. And no IVs! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-did-you-want-to-go-med-free#post-1956567 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 09:51:13 +0000 Corduroy 1956567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Shortly before I got pregnant I watched my SIL go through the cascade of interventions. After which she had trouble recovering and BFing. Her LO had trouble gaining weight. It made me want to avoid as much as possible. </p> <p>There was some (Crossfit-related) desire to see if I was strong enough to handle it. That part of it did not get me very far in labor. </p>