i love reading about everyone's experiences with birth. i hate when women feel guilty about what happens to them. often what happens at birth is a matter of fate - there certainly are choices, but no one chooses to have a breech baby, or an OP baby, or a really long labor, etc.
i would love to see a lot more truth out there about birth. Yes, it hurts, yep, it really does. does just plain old labor (no pit!!!!) hurt so bad that the majority of women NEED (like they will die without them) epidurals? no, for pete's sake, absolutely not. i do not want to take anyone's epidural away, but many women are conned into believing that labor is soooooooo bad, they absolutely must have one. they get one before it even gets bad. if you want to have a "normal" labor, with no drugs, you have at least a 90% chance that you can do it. and i don't mean scream and bite the bullet, but truly not need any drugs. you'll need really good support, partner, doula, midwife or dr and nurses, and you'll need to believe in yourself and have educated yourself about how to cope.
but the question was really if an epidural safe for baby? i will simply say what i have heard countless ob nurses say (not in front of any moms on epidurals i will add), they can tell the difference, not as alert, dull, just not the same as an all-natural baby. I'm not bashing anyone who had to get an epidural - i do not doubt that you did what you thought was best - and that's all you can do, but, there is ample research out there which shows that narcotics do affect babies. i don't think we really understand the long- or short-term ramifications of these drugs on so many of our babies. and i will add this too, moms who get epidurals aren't as "high" after their births as all-natural. the euphoria is much more subdued. and i don't think we understand what this could mean either.
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i love reading about everyone's experiences with birth. i hate when women feel guilty about what happens to them. often what happens at birth is a matter of fate - there certainly are choices, but no one chooses to have a breech baby, or an OP baby, or a really long labor, etc.
i would love to see a lot more truth out there about birth. Yes, it hurts, yep, it really does. does just plain old labor (no pit!!!!) hurt so bad that the majority of women NEED (like they will die without them) epidurals? no, for pete's sake, absolutely not. i do not want to take anyone's epidural away, but many women are conned into believing that labor is soooooooo bad, they absolutely must have one. they get one before it even gets bad. if you want to have a "normal" labor, with no drugs, you have at least a 90% chance that you can do it. and i don't mean scream and bite the bullet, but truly not need any drugs. you'll need really good support, partner, doula, midwife or dr and nurses, and you'll need to believe in yourself and have educated yourself about how to cope.
but the question was really if an epidural safe for baby? i will simply say what i have heard countless ob nurses say (not in front of any moms on epidurals i will add), they can tell the difference, not as alert, dull, just not the same as an all-natural baby. I'm not bashing anyone who had to get an epidural - i do not doubt that you did what you thought was best - and that's all you can do, but, there is ample research out there which shows that narcotics do affect babies. i don't think we really understand the long- or short-term ramifications of these drugs on so many of our babies. and i will add this too, moms who get epidurals aren't as "high" after their births as all-natural. the euphoria is much more subdued. and i don't think we understand what this could mean either.
July 15, 2008 - 10:06pmThis Comment
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