Giving Birth: Why Give Birth Naturally

THE WHY'S

• The Midwives
• Believe pregnancy is a natural and normal event. 
• Believe the parents are the best people to care for the baby.
• Are not quick to jump to medication and interventions. 
• Have lower rates of C-sections. 
• Listen to and trust the mother's instincts.
• Constantly check the baby's position from about 30 weeks on and if the baby is not positioned well do all they can to help.
• Have an arsenal of strategies to help you be comfortable and address problems as they come up.
• Are willing to gently stretch you to minimize tearing when giving birth. 
• Will not cut the umbilical cord until it has fully drained to the baby giving it all the blood and nutrients.
• Believe nursing is best and are quick to place baby skin to skin so baby can nurse within a half hour of being born.

• Not the Hospital
• Hospitals are more likely to do interventions.
• Any intervention adds risk.
• The more interventions the more likely you are to have a C-section 
• Babies born by C-section are more likely to experience respiratory complications because birth canal squeezes the fluid out of baby's lungs. This squeezing kick-starts the breathing through the lungs which is critical for the suck-swallow-breathe reflex. 
• Drug interventions can cause breast swelling which can make nursing more of a challenge. 
• Didn't want an epidural.
• A massive needle in my spine scares me.
• The drugs in the epidural cause the baby to be drowsy for a little while once it is born making it harder to nurse.
• Epidurals almost always require pitocin because epidurals slow down the body's natural laboring process.
• Pitocin is way harder on your body than normal contractions. It squeezes from both sides and the top while contractions only squeeze from the sides.
• Without being able to feel what is happening you don't know what pushing correctly feels like and are not able to discern how hard you should push. 
• Convinced feeling how you should push minimizes tearing.
• There's a very small risk of being paralyzed with the epidural. 
• Hospitals hook you up to IVs and monitors which require you to stay in bed.
• Laying on your back with back labor is one of the most painful positions to be in.
• You are not allowed to eat any food.
• Didn't want Baby C in the nursery without our supervision.
• The nurses just took Baby C from us without asking when we checked in to make sure her blood sugar levels were ok.

• The Birth Center
• Significantly cheaper than any hospital. 
• Works with TMC
• The midwives at the birth center can be in touch with the doctors at TMC if any problems and/or concerns arise 
• The hospital is less than five minutes away from the birth center in case medical interventions are necessary. 
• Could snack on food while in labor.
• The privacy and home like setting of the birth center was very comfortable.
• WATER BIRTH was amazing! 
• Not having an IV and not being hooked up to a monitor allowed me to move around to be in the most comfortable position. 
• Baby C never left us after she was born while at the birth center. 
• Got to hold her immediately. 
• Being able to nurse within a half hour with a baby who was completely awake and alert was amazing. 
• The baby checks were not at all intrusive. 

• The Bradley Classes
• Wanted my best friend to be my coach. 
• Equipped my best friend to be my coach!  And he did phenomenal!
• Agreed with their belief that my body was created to give birth. 
• Gave us an arsenol of ideas and suggestions on how to manage pain and have the type of birth we wanted.

Round Two

• Chose the hospital because it would be significantly cheaper.
• Having the midwife there was helpful.
• Overall a really good experience but not my preference.