Thursday, February 5, 2009

Birth Is Good

I came across this cool story of one woman's journey to birthing at home. I resonated with much of what she wrote, especially:

In fact, I am not a hippy. I don't buy organic, I drive a SUV-cross over thing, and sometimes I even vote Republican. When I chose a home birth for the birth of my first son, it had very little to do with what kind of experience I was hoping to have, and everything to do with wanting to avoid the cascade of interventions: the use of chemical augmentation in labor, vacuum extraction, forceps deliveries, c-sections. You know, the things that could be harmful to my baby.
...
So, I chose to birth my son at home. And it was a LONG PAINFUL EXPERIENCE. But you know what? Even though I had not set out to have a euphoric experience; even though his labor was the most painful and exhausting thing I have ever been through, it was my single greatest triumph and accomplishment. His birth was a testament that there is nothing you cannot do if you set your mind to it. I did get a medal. My award was a new sense of self-confidence, the likes of which I have never before possessed.

You can read the whole thing at the Birth Is Good blog!

3 comments:

Debby said...

Her perspective was helpful. Most folks (including me, before you loaned me your books!) don't know that about epidurals. I just heard, "it doesn't have to hurt, just get an epidural!" Which realllly didn't work out well for us. Well, and I just said, "ok!" and went along with that. I'm so thankful for our water birth with Theia (painful but beautiful!)

Thank you for helping me know about my options, Melissa. And for continuing to give helpful info. A lot of people have been blessed by your research. And you inspire me to research more for myself!

Love,
dp

Leah Miller said...

You didn't REALLY resonate with the part about "I'm not a hippy," did you? :)

melissa said...

C'mon, Leah - I don't even make my own hummus!!! How hippy can I be?!