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@mrsbrewer - I knew a few people who had successful unmedicated births and had a great experience with it, so that definitely influenced me a lot. The more I researched it, the more it appealed to me.

However, the biggest factor that made me really want to do it was the breastfeeding thing. I know a lot of people who get epidurals go on to successfully breastfeed, but I didn't even want to chance it that me and baby would be too groggy/out of it to breastfeed. I had heard how hard breastfeeding was, and I really wanted to be successful at it so I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure that happened.

I was also more scared off by stories of failed epidurals, or permanent back pain due to epidurals and more intense contractions from the pitocin/epidural combo than by the idea of an unmedicated birth. But I also have a pretty high pain tolerance in general so I thought I would be able to do it if I set my mind to it.

I don't have LOs yet, but I have thought a lot of about my birthing preferences (because, I am crazy and like to over think lots of things way ahead of time). I plan to try for an unmedicated, natural birth for a few reasons. Mostly, I prefer to do things the way they are meant to happen, but have no problem with medical intervention when needed. It seems like there would be fewer complications with fewer interventions and I want to avoid the domino effect (ie, inducing with pitocin leads to stronger contractions leads to epidural). I'm afraid of an epidural slowing down labor too, and I really want to avoid a c-section since that's major surgery.
That said, I'm open to them. I know a few people who made it most of the way unmedicated, but were just SO exhausted they couldn't continue. They got the epidural, were able to rest for a little while, and had enough energy to push the babies out. So, I'm open to that.
And of course, I'm open to a c-section or whatever it takes to have a healthy baby and mom. I'm just going in hoping I don't need anything.

@highwire: yup i had an epidural and both me and the baby were not groggy at all actaully all the nurses couldnt believe how alert my son was and he stayed up for a long time after he was born

@highwire @foodnerd81 and @stargal - oh that's good to know! yea i just didn't want to take any chances!

I wanted an unmedicated birth because thats what is "normal" in my circles, I spent many years in england and thats pretty the only way they everyone I knew gave birth. Thats how my mom gave birth and all my family. I was surprised to see how many americans are medicated during labor and all the down sides of it and I decided it wasnt for me. Pain meds CAN lead to further interventions such as pitocin or c-section. I think giving birth is a natural process and interfering with it can sometimes back fire and cause more problems.

i too want to avoid unnecessary interventions so things don't spiral out of control for no medical reason. i'm also a bit of control freak and feel like adding this interventions would add to things outside of my control rather than make me feel more in control, if that makes sense. i'm happy to intervene if needed and so thankful that we have these advancements in medical technology, but for the birth of my daughter, i believe that my body is made to do it and want to give it the chance to do what it was meant for!

I wanted to go med free if possible because both my mom and sister were able to have 2 children without meds and I figured I could at least give it a try. I was also really worried about how I would tolerate pain meds since I had never been on any before.

@Mrsbrewer If it makes you feel any better I didn't even see the needle when I got my epi! It did not hurt. I got mine at 8 cm and now I sort of wonder if I had wanted to try, whether I could have made it all the way.. Still don't regret the epi but who knows, maybe next time I'll try (or won't have a choice!)

ETA @highwire Nope I wasn't groggy either. Neither was LO. (We did end up having trouble breastfeeding but for totally different reasons.) From my birth class I learned that some of the other drugs do make you groggy though. They gave us a handout telling which ones but I can't remember off the top of my head...

I wanted to try for an unmedicated birth for many of the same reasons I've seen here....I liked going through my pregnancy as normally as possible, I don't like feeling drugged up in any way, and I saw it as a challenge for myself.
I labored for 12 hours at home (only towards the end did I really start to feel in a lot of pain). By the time we got to the hospital I was, fortunately, already 6cm. Once I got in the tub, labor seemed easier, until my water was broken. In the end, I had my son only about 3 hours after getting to the hospital. I was able to do it naturally and was in such a zone that I honestly never thought to ask for medication.

Birth is normal. It's something that healthy bodies just DO. The more we try to actively manage birth, the more we tend to screw it up, so why even go down that path?

I've read and researched enough to realize that I don't have much to fear from giving birth, especially with the care of my midwives. But I should be extremely wary of anything that will interfere with the process.

It's very important for me to avoid the domino effect that others have mentioned, interventions leading to more interventions and occasionally effecting the mother and/or baby's health and certainly effecting the experience.

Pitocin makes contractions more painful, often leading to an epidural. Epidurals sometimes slow down labor (partially because you lose the ability to walk which helps move labor along), which leads to more Pitocin to speed labor back up.

Because of the way Pitocin works, inducing unnatural contractions that are stronger and more constant than natural contractions, the baby doesn't have time to recover in between the contractions and the heart rate will sometimes start to suffer.
When the heart rate begins to suffer, it often means an automatic c-section.

And all because of a bit of Pitocin or an epidural, your entire birth changes drastically and all subsequent births are affected since every birth after that will have to be a c-section or VBAC birth, which many doctors and hospitals won't even allow.

I don't want to scare anyone by explaining my reasoning, but this is why I'll be delivering naturally, in an out-of-hospital environment (free-standing birth center) where I won't be pushed into any medical interventions I don't want (like Pitocin, which is almost automatic in the hospital) and allowed to birth the way nature intended.

I'm not against people having an epidural for the pain - I don't WANT people to suffer - I just want them to be informed of the potential risks that come with that decision. It's not the epidural that is the "bad guy" most of the time, it's the chain of events the epidural can set off.

I have had several clients (I'm a doula) choose to have an epidural and simply refuse Pitocin, which is a viable option.

However, that sometimes leads to very long labors (40 hours +) and end up having to fight the doctors every step of the way who want to speed up labor with Pitocin. Sometimes this even leads to a diagnosis of "Failure to Progress" which means a c-section.

That's why I'm choosing for myself to avoid medical interventions altogether, but that's my personal decision. Everyone has to do the research and make the right decision for them, personally.

I always knew I wanted a med free birth... The thought of a needle in my spine freaks me out (not to mention, every single woman I know who has had an epidural now has some sort of back pain in that area) but I was open to pain relieving drugs if I had a long labor and needed them to rest and get my energy back.
Thankfully, my labor was pretty quick- I labored at home for about 2 hours, and then was at 5 cm at 8:30 am when I arrived at the hospital, and had my baby at 10:59 am...so no time to really think about wanting drugs. I'm really happy that I did things all natural- I felt that the experience was very rewarding.
Another person said something similar, but I have a high pain tolerance, and I was so in a zone that the pain of the contractions really wasn't that bad. I just closed my eyes and focused on riding out the contractions.
It's all very much up to the individual what you want to do, but I wish more women would trust their bodies and their own capabilities more. I think we are all a lot tougher than we give
Ourselves credit for.

This thread doesn't apply to me because I was pro-pain intervention for both births, but I just wanted to note that epidurals don't make you groggy since it's not going into your bloodstream-- it goes directly into your spine, which numbs but does not affect the rest of your body. It's the other drugs that can make you or baby groggy -- shots, laughing gas, etc.

@Minnie_Girl: this! My main reason for wanting to go med-free is because up until the early 1900's, our bodies were expected to do this on their own and they did. I wanted to just let my body do what it was supposed to.

When I first got pregnant I thought I would give it a shot and take it from there, but the more I researched and learned about medical interventions and the benefits of being able to move around into different positions through labour. I became very passionate about having an unmedicated childbirth and I'm so glad I did.

unmedicated will be my preference because that's how i live in general. i don't take anything when i have a cold or flu or headache.

second, i don't react well to medication/drugs in general. for example, an iced tea in the afternoon will keep me up all night.

third, i think i have a pretty high tolerance for pain. though we'll see. i still get drugged up for surgery, because it is just not natural to get cut up or drilled into.