A pain free natural birth may sound like an oxymoron, but it actually is possible. With some preparation and the right mindset, you can have a wonderful and empowering birth experience!
I grew up with the birth horror stories of my relatives haunting me. My mom describes pain so excruciating, that she literally wanted to kill herself. She was given Pitocin with no epidural and left to labor on her back.
My grandmother was actually wrestled down by the nurse who clamped a rag soaked in ether over her mouth until she became unconscious. She woke up to find her baby girl in the nursery.
Hospitals have not always been kind to laboring mothers over the decades, so enduring childbirth with minimal interventions and drug free pain relief is practically unheard of. I knew though that I didn’t want my birth experience to mirror the pain and humiliation of my mom’s or my grandma’s.
Pain free natural birth
The most important step by far in a successful, pain free natural birth is confidence in your body’s ability to do what it has been designed to do. You are not an accident, you are not a machine. You were fearfully and wonderfully made and your body can do this!
Very early on in my pregnancy I was gifted a book by a friend called Supernatural Birth. This book was a catalyst for change in my life and gave me the confidence I needed during delivery. It focuses on believing and praying scriptures over your baby and you.
I wrote relevant verses on notecards and taped them to the bathroom mirror. I prayed these verses over my life and over my baby’s dozens of times a day. One of my favorites was “For you have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
A lot of women also have success with the hypnobabies course. This uses positive affirmations as well through soundtracks that you can listen to during labor and delivery. It focuses on mental preparation to help your body be open for a pain free natural birth.
A good support team
I was combatting a lot of fear from everyone around me telling me that I was either crazy or just plain wrong to think that childbirth could be attempted without pain medication. It would hurt like you know what and be a horrible experience according to my own mom. Even my spiritual mentor told me that I needed an epidural, since God’s curse to woman was unavoidable pain during childbirth.
Despite all the naysayers in my life, my husband was behind me 100%. He was my encourager and my support system. I also switched from a OB that made me very uncomfortable, to a team of amazing midwives just a few months before delivery.
Having the support and confidence of your birth team behind you is crucial for your confidence. I didn’t invite anyone into the birth room with me unless they believed I could do it.
Education is key
Not only did I speak life and blessing over my pregnancy, but I spent time educating myself about natural childbirth. I read every natural birth book in our town’s library and then some. I read about waterbirths, the Bradley method, breathing techniques, birthing positions and free birthing with dolphins. Don’t worry, birthing in the ocean after connecting with my dolphin spirit is not on my to-do list.
One of the books I read was Your Baby Your Way. This book, written by my friend Jennifer really goes over why our modern hospital system is very unfriendly to mother’s and babies health and wellbeing. Did you know that we rank 30th out of the world’s countries for infant mortality? Even Cuba and Hungary have better outcomes than we do! (source)
The importance of food
One thing I didn’t do that I wish I had was eat more nutritiously. For the first three months the morning sickness was so severe that all I could stomach were wheat thins and cream of wheat. I later found out that I have a gluten sensitivity, so I was probably doing more harm than good there.
When you give your body the foods and herbs it needs to not just function but thrive, it better prepares you for labor. I’ve since learned a lot about diet and what’s really healthy. This book, Nourished Baby, is one of my favorites for pregnancy and details the optimal diet for a healthy baby, pregnancy and delivery. I wish I had known about it when I was pregnant, but it’s definitely one I’ll be referring to during my next pregnancy!
The following foods are particularly helpful for a healthy pregnancy:
- Beef liver and red meat – very high in bioavailable iron to help with anemia
- Kefir and probiotic foods – Helps populate the digestive tract with healthy gut flora for baby and improves immune response
- Dark leafy greens – high in whole food folate (folic acid is synthetic and can be harmful)
- Fish – high in omega 3 for healthy brain development in baby
- Eggs – full of cholesterol and healthy fats baby needs to grow
- Lots of fruits and veggies – for obvious reasons
Avoid refined sugar like the plague as this can cause nutritional deficiencies in your body. Sugar robs the body of minerals, namely magnesium, feeds cancer cells and increases uric acid in the body. This increase in uric acid not only causes inflammation in the joints, but puts you at high risk for gestational diabetes and the deadly condition eclampsia. (source)
Natural birth positions
Moving during labor is vital to getting baby into position and controlling pain. I had to lay on my side in the bed at the birthing center while they got a baseline reading on the fetal monitor. It was the most excruciating part of the labor and I couldn’t wait to get back to my position of leaning over the sink. I actually didn’t get back in the bed until after my son was born!
Using a birthing ball, swaying your hips, dancing or getting on all fours are all common laboring positions. These help baby shift and move down the birth canal while managing labor pains. An experienced midwife or doula will be able to couch you through different positions that will manage pain and even help the baby turn. Here you can read about different birthing positions to help with the various stages of labor.
The worst thing you can do is lay down for an extended period, especially on your back. This decreases oxygen flow to the baby, increases your risk of tearing and is the beginning of a painful cycle that frequently ends in Pitocin to help along the stalled labor followed by an “emergency” c-section.
More solutions for natural birth
Vocalizing and moaning increases the adrenaline in your body to give you energy and help manage pain. If you have access to a birthing tub, this also helps calm and comfort your body during pregnancy. The water helps to relieve the pressure in your body and you feel more weightless.
Go with the flow
Don’t freak out though if your birth doesn’t go exactly as planned. I had visions of my perfect water birth, however after my water broke in the tub and it needed drained, I didn’t feel like getting back in. I was still standing, swaying over the bathroom sink when it came time to push. The midwife piled pillows under me just in case!
Without saying anything, and without intending to, I felt the instinct to get down on all fours. The room was quiet, everything was peaceful and relaxed. My husband sat across from me and prayed over me the whole time I was knelt down.
There’s something so serene about going inside of yourself in that moment, working with your body. Some women find it helpful to be vocal at this stage, but for me it was the opposite.
Love drugs
Your body will flood with the powerful “feel good” chemical oxytocin during delivery. With every contraction, your brain releases more oxytocin. Not only does this take care of the pain, but it gives you a sense of euphoria. It’s also the same hormone you get after an orgasm. Some women even describe it as pleasurable during delivery, though that wasn’t my experience. Oxytocin is released throughout labor and during breastfeeding and helps you and baby both feel connected. (source)
You’ll also experience a rush of adrenaline throughout labor and especially during delivery to give you that last burst of energy. It also engages the fetal ejection reflex, so that you can easily breathe the baby out.
Endorphins complete the chemical cocktail as they are increasingly released into the body to create a morphine like effect that combats pain and helps you focus. For me, I felt like I went inside myself and was completely oblivious to anything going on around me.
The results
So in the end did I have a completely pain free natural birth? Not exactly. Fear followed by pain crept in despite my best attempts when we were making the hour long drive to the hospital, trying to get in the correct lanes and find parking. I wasn’t so sure we would make it in time.
And at the very end of labor, right before I started pushing I felt intense pain, so much so that I was begging for drugs. After a quick check though, I was declared fully dilated and ready to push. I had been fighting my body and didn’t even realize it. The second I started to push the pain completely went away and I was left with a quiet resolve.
Thank you for this beautiful post. I had no idea that birth could be like the experience you described. Like you, I’ve also heard the horror stories for years. And they scared me so much so as to be absolutely terrified of childbirth. It is very comforting to know that it can be a beautiful, spiritual experience.
That makes me so happy to hear Madeline 🙂 I had no idea what birth could (and should!) be for the longest time, so I’m glad to pass the hope on.
Pain is such a dictator, isn’t it. Both of my girls are grown but we never remember the pain and reflecting on their birth stories. My second child wasn’t quite as painful as the first. I had natural birth with both but did get the epi at the last minute. Thank you for sharing with us at Merry Monday.
I wouldn’t say my natural labors were without pain, but the births were awesome anyway. I know that feeling of going inside yourself well, I just became an observer during birth. And the time to start pushing is the most awesome time ever. Suddenly all that pain turns useful. Thanks for sharing your beautiful words on the Homestead Blog Hop!
These are great tips, and a natural birth sounds like a hard but incredible experience. I was never able to have one, as my first was an emergency C-section and then the doctors insisted on a C-section for the second, as they didn’t do VBAC. I’m not sure I would have had your courage and great approach…but you make me think it’s possible! Thanks for linking up at the Manic Mondays blog hop!
Thanks for the comment Meredith! Unfortunately most C-sections in the US are performed out of convenience for the Dr. or because outdated or dangerous procedures (like Pitocin and laboring in the supine position) caused the baby to go into distress. My friend Jennifer’s book “Your Baby Your Way” covers the dangerous C-section rate we have here and was really eye opening for me. I recommend it to all moms! The Business of Being Born is a great documentary too for those who don’t have time to read a book.