look at all that hair sticking up! so cute:)

in terms of all the comments, i believe that every woman has a right to choose whether she wants an epidural or not. i had one with my daughter and my mother made me feel so guilty about it, almost like a failure. it still was a “natural” labor, unless a baby comes out of your nose i think it’s considered natural. my epidural eased the contractions, but believe me i still felt plenty, you can ask them not to put so much medicine in the line so you still feel pressure and some contractions. one thing i’ve noticed about labor these days is the amount of inductions and scheduled c-sections, i have many friends who work in labor and delivery and they all say the same thing..doctors are just getting lazy, they hate to be called in at 3 am and prefer to know when their patients will be delivering so it doesn’t interupt their life. people looked at me like i was crazy when i told them my water broke at home when i was 39 weeks. my doctor tried convincing me for 6 weeks that i wouldn’t be able to deliver vaginally for many reasons and begged me to schedule a c-section. i think it’s really sad that so many doctors do that because my delivery was perfect and i’m glad i didn’t listen to him. either way, the mortality rate for mothers and infants during childbirth has gone down dramatically, so whatever advances they have made are obviously working:)

Anna, I totally agree with you. BTW, I saw Ricki Lakes’ “The Business of Being Born” and made my teenagers watch it. A very important film IMO!

Anna-I wonder why it is that you are so judgemental of others? How on earth can you have ANY perspective on ANYONE other than yourself? Who are you to assess another, or dane to tell any other human being how she should or should not conduct herself. Don’t SHOULD on me. You have no sufficient knowledge about other women’s labor decisions, or what rationale drives those decisions (i.e.: Trust or one’s body as you say, or something else.)You know, it is sad that you and many others believe so vehimently that it is your place to weigh in on other people’s choices. Perhaps you should keep the focus on yourself. It’s called live and let live. Try it and do us all a favor and stop judging anyone other than YOU.

Amen Emily!!!! I chose to have an epidural before as well. I ended up having an emergency c-section because they couldn’t get him to turn around (he was face up instead of face down), then his heart rate started going up and i started to get a fever. and to be honest, i healed just fine and had no pain once i got home. i realize that isn’t the situation for everyone who has a c-section. i was in the hospital for 4 days after (standard for c-section) and i was up and walking fine and taking NO pain meds by the time i left the hospital. i know a woman who had her first 3 kids natural and had her 4th with an epidural and she said she’d never have another child without one!

Anna, I agree with you about unnecessary c-sections. That why in my first post I said ‘emergency c-sections’, like for women who have a disproportionate baby head to pelvic ratio. I chose before giving birth to have an epidural, and it drove me crazy to hear women tell me that my body was designed to give birth. How can anyone, including me, say that until AFTER I’ve given birth? The pelvic bone/head ratio thing alone is enough reason to stop saying that we were designed to give birth. I won’t even go into women who struggle with infertility…

Also, there are many reasons that could possibly explain the high cesarean rate in the US…one explanation could very well be that women or doctors choose to go that route. Or it could be the US possibly has higher cases of Herpes, which usually causes the woman to need a cesarean. Or extreme cases of HPV are the same way, though most doctors will tell you it is unnecessary. Obviously, I’m not privy to the details on the reasons why we have a too high c-section rate, but I do realize there could many explanations.

I think Josselyn is a beautiful name for a beautiful baby! I love her hair and think she is just a cutie!

Emily – I am not insisting that all women are perfect but there is an american trend to belittle and scare women by doctors and nurses to not opt for a drug-free birth. The WHO recommends a 15% ceasearean rate. Why 1 out of 3 American women get a ceasarean?

With regards to the epidural- my cousin just had a baby in January and at the hospital where she gave birth, the epidural they used can be started at any point….and doesn’t run out….I sure hope they use that method when I have a baby!!! She got the epidural when she was at 3cm and only felt pressure…no pain….throughout the entire labor. I know people that live 30 minutes from us and had babies at a different hospital, and they had the traditional method, where you have to wait until a certain point to get the epidural, and then if the labor is long it may run out.

i don’t think it is anyone’s right to tell someone they should or shouldn’t have an epidural. but i guess this subject is always up for a debate. i just think that is a personal choice. i had one (at 2 centimeters)…..and i was in labor for 18 hours. they told me he’d only weigh 6 1/2 lbs and he weighed 9!!!! i am 5’2″ and weight 105lbs before i got pregnant…..it was long and hard and i am glad i had mine and wouldn’t change the experience for anything.

i think keeping the baby’s name a secret is a good idea too… especially for the person you’re telling it to…

when my boss was pregnant, she told me the name she picked… and i made a face… i don’t remember whether or not i said i didn’t like it, but my FACE definitely said so…

that’s her little boy’s name now… and it just feels kind of weird that she knows i think her babies name is lame…