I’ve been going down the rabbit hole reading about labor and delivery. 

I plan to take a Hypno birthing class but it doesn’t start for a while. So, in the meantime I’ve been reading up on my own because I’m pretty terrified about pushing a human out of my body. I’m equally terrified about the possibility of C-Section, it’s a crazy delicate surgery even though they hand them out to moms like strip club flyers on The Strip at most hospitals. 

Either way, the entrance of the rabbit hole was terrifying. Full of photos and videos of deliveries that looked miserable and painful. Pregnant women attached to machines, laying down in bright hospital rooms, dad recording while people keep coming in and out. Then you get to the medical part and it’s doctors popping your water, epidurals that bind mom to the bed, pitocin (which has been proven to slow down baby’s heart rate, cause seizures, jaundice, breathing problems and more). I felt like I needed a medical degree to understand something so natural that women have been doing, on their own, for thousands of years. 

There had to be a better way to birth. Less traumatic, less stressful on both mom and baby.

There had to be a better way to do what a woman’s body is naturally built to do without it feeling traumatic and terrifying. There also has to be a way to meet in the middle, a combination of the Western medical support of a hospital and allowing for the mother’s instincts and nature’s wisdom to also dictate the process.

I started changing my search keywords to include natural, unmedicated, holistic birth or labor and delivery. Going into the depths of the rabbit hole.

What I found has really surprised me.

I have found so many amazing blogs and profiles that speak of labor and delivery as something powerful, not something terrifying like we see on television. Women screaming and in uncontrollable pain. The whole thing always looks horrifying. But these are movies. Fiction.

Instead of all that trauma, these more natural and holistic accounts share videos and photos of real life labor and delivery and it looks nothing like what we’re used to seeing in the movies. I see women going within, eyes closed, controlling their breathing. Sure, there seems to be pain, but it doesn’t rule them. It doesn’t break them. It seems to give them power. It seems to give them the power to know exactly what to do. It seems animal, instinctive, ancestral. Normal. 

This is the birthing experience I want. I want a birthing experience in which I feel powerful. 

I’m not sure that my OB/GYN is going to be a keeper for this. I have gone to 2 appointments so far, the next one is coming up this week. I might be judging too quickly but I just don’t get the vibe that he’s likely to bring a more natural approach to this whole thing. 

Did you have a hospital birth? Birthing center? Birth at home? 

Did you research everything before hand to decide or you felt comfortable going with the flow?

How did your birth experience turn out in comparison to what you hoped? 

NOTE: I’m not looking for opinions on what I may or may not choose to do, medical or otherwise. I’m looking for women who are willing to share their experience and the learning that came from it.