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I met an old friend on Facebook the other day and found out that she was pregnant with her first child.  After we talked a bit, I asked her if she would be birthing naturally.  She said that she had decided to have pain medication.  She asked if I had birthed my children without medication and I said yes, and that if she wanted to know more about it I would send her a book called Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Revised Edition, by Susan McCutcheon-Rosegg.  She wrote me a few days later saying that they had gone over all of the drugs that could be used during labor and the effects they would have on the mother and the baby.  Some of these were longer labor, lowered infant heart rate and a drowsy baby that could not breastfeed well after birth and would have to be closely watched.  With this new information and a loving nudge from a fellow mom who had “been there done that,” she began her quest to have a natural birth.  I gladly took her under my wing and sent her emails with my birth stories and answered questions about her labor fears.  Just a few short weeks later, she is no longer fearing her labor and is actually excited about the experience.  She is due shortly, and I can’t wait to hear her story.

I believe that every woman should have a great birth story.  If you have never heard a great birth story, you might check out Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.  There is enough inspiration in just a few pages to make every woman want to experience this type of birth.  A great birth story does not begin with, “the pain was so horrible, I told them to give me whatever they could,” and end with, “I couldn’t feel a thing,  they had to vacuum extract my baby,” or “the baby’s heart rate started to drop so they did an emergency C-section to save him.”  And even worse, ”I am never going through that again!”

No, a great birth story is one of victory, courage and power.  One where we let our bodies do what God designed them to do, in the way that he designed it.  These types of stories sound something like this:  “I did my homework and I know that unmedicated  childbirth is the best way to bring my child into this world.  I took care of myself, ate right, rested and exercised properly, and stayed away from harmful drugs and alcohol.  I learned how to control my pain during labor, and I prepared myself by learning what my body would go through.  I had the courage to do it, and I survived.  More than that, I lived! I was in complete control and I felt the power of childbirth.  And, I would do it all over again.”

That is the power of an unmedicated birth, and that is why every single woman who is going to bring a child into the world should at least consider birthing naturally.