When it comes time to make a birth plan, every mama will have a unique hope for how they’d like their labor and delivery experience to go. And for some, their birth plan includes a desire to have a “natural birth.” While all methods of delivery are natural, the term natural birth is often defined as a birth experience without pain medication or labor augmenting medicine (like Pitocin). If you’re thinking about trying for a natural birth, here are a few things to know.
You Can Have a Natural Birth in the Hospital
While you may associate natural births with home birth or specialized birthing centers, medication-free births occur in hospitals too. Be sure to communicate your desires and birth plan to your care team, and they will do everything they can to honor your wishes—while keeping you and baby as safe as possible. Your care team will still track your and baby’s vitals throughout labor and delivery, but the choice for pain medication or an epidural is yours.
Women & Babies Hospital encourages every patient to prepare a birth plan before arriving at the hospital for delivery. A birth plan can help you outline your preferences, understand your options, and help your care team navigate your experience to the best of their ability.
You Should Prepare for the Pain
We know, this might seem pretty obvious. But it’s one of the most important things to know about a natural birth. Even with using natural pain management techniques, labor pain is serious stuff and you and your support person should be prepared for how to handle it. Whether it’s your first baby or not, it’s impossible to know how you’ll cope with the pain in the moment.
We recommend taking birthing classes that will prepare you and your birthing partner for non-medicated pain relief and relaxation methods, such as:
Breathing techniques:
- Massage
- Hydrotherapy (in a warm bath or shower)
- Distraction techniques
- Visualizations
- Birthing balls
- Counter pressure or acupressure
While the pain is a given, many birthing people find medication-free childbirth to be empowering. Benefits of natural birth include: no loss of sensation or alertness, the ability to move around more freely during labor, and feeling more in-tune with your body’s instincts when it comes time to push.
You’re Allowed to Change Your Mind
If the labor experience becomes too intense or too long, you may change your mind about pain-relieving medication. And that’s ok! If it’s earlier in your labor, you may still have the choice to receive an epidural. Epidurals start relieving pain about 20 minutes after inserted, and the amount of pain management can be adjusted throughout the rest of your labor.
However if labor has progressed past a certain point, an epidural may no longer be an option and you may be offered a narcotic pain reliever instead. This kind of pain relief helps to lessen the pain without the numbness of an epidural, and it should not affect the baby. Your care team will let you know which options for pain relief are available depending on the progress of your labor.
Keep an Open Mind
Even with a specific birth plan, labor and delivery are unpredictable. And while your medical care team will do their best to honor your wishes and give you the birth experience you desire, things can change. Everyone’s priority will be the health and safety of you and your sweet baby. It’s important to brush up on your knowledge of pain management, labor augmenting medication—and even the induction and C-section processes—in the event that you and your care team decide it’s in your and baby’s best interests.
Talk Your Provider About the Risks of Natural Birth
While any birthing person can have a medication-free birth, those with low-risk pregnancies are the best candidates. If you are considered a high-risk pregnancy, using medication or labor augmenting medicine might actually be the safest route for both you and your baby. High risk pregnancies include: those older than 35, those with a history of medical conditions such as preeclampsia or blood-clotting issues, those carrying multiples, or the presence of other complications during the pregnancy.
As with any decisions during your pregnancy, it’s important to talk about your birth plan with your provider. They’ll review any risk factors that could impact your labor and delivery experience, and make recommendations that will keep you and your little one safe and healthy as you bring them into the world.