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I was worried about the "cascade of interventions." It started with an idealized view of things courtesy of The Business of Being Born and a few other places long before we even started TTC. Once we started trying I reconsidered and started to think an epidural was the way to go. I went back to wanting a natural birth though when I had several friends choose to get epidurals and then have all sorts of issues. It was truly just a fluke but it told me a lot about the local hospitals and it also scared me off of wanting an epidural anymore.

In the end it didn't matter because my labor was too short to even get an epidural.

I got the epidural in the end. But I had gone through my pregnancy thinking I'd go med free. I feared the cascade of interventions and, if I'm being 100% honest, wanted to prove I was tough enough. Then about a week before delivery I had a moment of clarity that I was going to trust myself and what I wanted an needed in delivery. We'd had a whole plan for my doula and DH to talk me out of or delay the meds when I asked for them, and I told them that actually I just wanted to be in control. When the time came, I knew exactly what I wanted and have no regrets.

That said, I am really glad I prepared for an unmedicated birth because I used those techniques a lot in early labor.

I was also worried about the "cascade of interventions." I wanted to try to avoid pain meds, but I didn't attend natural birthing classes or anything. I read a book or two on the subject, just in case. I ended up in pretty hard labor for over 30 hrs before I went to the hospital and agreed to an epidural right away. I went from 4 or 5 cm at intake to 7 or 8 within about 15-20 minutes after the epidural, and had my daughter a few hours after that. In my case, the epidural definitely seemed to speed things along. I'd also been awake for over 48 hours at that point, so the epidural helped me to catch my breath and rest (though I wasn't able to sleep) for a short bit before it was time to push.

This time around, I will probably get another epidural, but we'll see. If it goes a lot faster, I might consider going without meds. My sister's second labor was so fast she didn't even get a chance for an epidural, so you never know!

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.

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.

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.

That being said, I've also taken plenty of medications. Haha

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.

I ended up getting induced and getting all the interventions and a c section. It went so so well though. I'm glad.

- wanted to avoid extra interventions that increased the likelihood of a c-section (epidural, stalled labor, pitocin, fetal distress...)
- 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).
- wanted to not be stuck in bed (yoga ball, tub, walk around)
- didn't want a catheter
- didn't want baby sleepy so she could be awake and ready to breastfeed

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

What do people count as med free? Literally nothing at all or just no epidural?

Because I'm terrifies of needles. I didn't even want an IV!

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.

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.

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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.

I want to go med-free just to say that I did, haha.

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!

@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.)

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.

We'll see how things go come June 2015!

@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.

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.

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.

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.