Crimpe- I just had my first baby with a natural childbirth. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again. It’s good to hear that there are other women who feel the same way.

I was out of my mind with pain and mentally I’m still getting over the delivery even though my physical recovery was very quick. I feel like the pain of childbirth interfered with my ability to bond with my baby a bit.

And the worst part is that everyone told me my labor was great… I’m thinking, if that was a great labor there’s no way I could handle a typical one! I don’t like hospitals or needles but I am almost sure I”ll go for the epidural next time.

I am impressed when a celeb decides to have a natural childbirth, especially when they can afford the best medical care and doctors (although they can still have bad things happen a la the Quaid twins).

Jean – you went out to dinner the night your baby was born? Did you take the baby with you?

I just wanted to say how nice it is to read about celebs choosing to have a natural birth (whether medicated or not – I don’t think painkillers makes you a wimp!) Not so long ago it seemed like every celeb baby arrived via C-section, and I’m not saying C-section is always wrong – there are many reasons why a woman might need to have one – I just don’t particularly like the idea of choosing a C-section for convenience or to “get it over and done with” as I heard one woman say!

Two kids with no meds here (one at home) and felt AWESOME after. Packed up my hospital room alone and was ready to go home four hours after the first was born and the second? Showered, napped emailed and posted pictures and then went out to dinner. That night. Wouldn’t trade that for the world. And really, other than the back labor with both it was really tolerable.

Absolutely what the last poster said. We’re all wonderful, strong women. It’s all about having a positive birth experience for you personally and no one else. I had both children with epis and it was fine. But I’d like a third. And I want to try a homebirth and no meds.

I was all for a natural drug free birth too – but after 3 days of labour at home, I needed a little help and I don’t regret it one bit! I had a low dose epidural for the last 12 hours of labour, which wore off for pushing. Felt fantastic afterwards too!

Whatever works for the woman, works. I think it’s way better to have a positive birth experience than one where you look back on the experience negatively.

Ah, the natural childbirth debate. My water has always broken on it’s own, and my first two children were “natural”. None of my kids had long labors. But screaming pain, and I felt like a frenzied animal after. My third, I opted for the epidural, the anesthesiologist’s name was Dr. Brutus! It was not hard to sit still, it did not hurt, nor did my tattoo provide a problem in the area. I was wide awake and much more mobile and happy after the epi, and my son had a killer apgar score and seemed happy too. I am having a fourth, and you bet I’ll get my epidural. I have nothing to prove!

Love that Mimi stopped to vote!

I had one of each– an unwilling natural birth because she came too fast and a very painful medicated birth, mainly because her head was too big and rested on a nerve for over 2 hours. I am glad that I had the epidural on the first one, because even though I was in incredible pain, I didn’t experience the labor contractions during it. I had almost 4 hours of pushing. The second hit full-on contractions about an hour and a half before she was born– with only 5 minutes of pushing. I much preferred the second birth.

Just nobody make the mistake my sister did and go to a hospital that does not provide epidurals and that for childbirth.
For her second child, she was having a lot of difficulty and was in a huge amount of pain. The nurses called for the doctor and when he FINALLY showed up, he’s like, “Yeah, you should have had an epidural but, too late now–baby’s almost out.”

Thus ended my sister child-birthing career. LOL

Ha Ha! I love that Mimi stopped to vote. That’s great!

I’ve been in a few labour rooms and watched natural and medicated births- they both look pretty painful, uncomfortable, terrifying, etc… but all the mothers were alert and ready to party after the baby was born, even the one who’d been in labour for 40 hours. Hormones are a wonderful thing.

I’ve also seen two epidurals being put in, had to hold the mother so she wouldn’t move… and to be quite frank, I’d be more worried about spinal damage than any injury/damage to the baby. Just as an aside both anaesthetists were incredibly handsome… not sure if that’s an international phenomenon though