Natural Childbirth... am I crazy?

* If you're uncomfortable with certain woman things.. maybe you shouldn't read this post.

So, recently I've started to ride the natural childbirth wave. If you know me well, this should come as a surprise to you, because I'm all about medication and pain management. If I have the first sign of a cold, I believe in drugging myself up, taking a nap, and not letting it get worse. The whole let-your-body-fight-it mentality... I never understood it and quite frankly, I thought it was really stupid. I'd catch the cold or the flu at around the same time as other close people - I'd be over it in a few days, and the other people that refused to take medicine let-their-bodies-fight-it for weeks. When people first found out that I was pregnant they asked me if I was freaked out by the labor and I said, "Not really! Bring on the epidural!" I always thought I'd be napping somewhat in peace, blissfully unaware of the contractions because of the epidural's amazing ability to paralyze you waist down.

But then I started to read about the aftermaths of labor and all the really really crappy and scary things that could happen to the woman after she gives birth - and this is the kind of stuff you NEVER HEAR ABOUT. For instance, an episiotomy. Talk about ouch. Now, part of the big problem are doctors these days that are just scissor -happy and just like to cut things. However, theres really no evidence that an episiotomy is necessarly better than letting things happen naturally (tearing). However, if you get an epidural, you have to lie down. Lying down slows down the labor process. Lying down on your back is also one of the worst positions you can be in during labor (the baby is fighting gravity). Your pelvic positioning also sucks. All of this can lead to medical interventions, like episiotomy, forceps and vacuums. Yikes.

A lot of people, when you ask them why they want to do natural childbirth, they say they think its best for the baby and they want to experience the childbirth in the most real way. I'm not like that. So many women get epidurals, that while I don't think its the great thing you can do for babies, I'm sure your baby will be fine and unharmed. I don't really want to experience the childbirth in the most natural way - I'm not into pain and that part of it isn't super appealing to me. BUT, I would rather, suffer for hours, and endure that pain, rather than potentially having to suffer for weeks after the birth. I want to do everything under my power and in my control, to give myself the best chance of recovering after the baby comes.

So yup.. I am exploring my options. Albert and I started to take the Bradley Method classes. Not as well known as Lamaze classes (which I don't like).. but I think its great. First, it gets your husband or coach super involved in the process. And instead of these weird breathing exercises, it teaches you more about working with the pain than hyperventilating yourself out of it. I also might hire a doula -- but we'll see about that. In the end, I know this whole thing is really not under my control, and God forbid, if my baby is in danger, I would do anything (a gazillion medical interventions) to save her. But you can't fault me for trying, right?

If you have time to kill, here is a really interesting article. I think it would be particularly interesting to the future doctors out there. It talks about the industrialization of Obstetrics.. its long though.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/09/061009fa_fact