Birth Options- It's OK To Question

Some people call it skepticism, but I like to call it being inquisitive. However, when it comes to birthing options I call in to question "the norm".  When you think of delivering a baby, the first thing that comes to mind is a woman in a hospital room in bed during most of the delivery.  I don't know about the rest of you, but the thought of that just makes me want to run away screaming.  To be honest, when the topic of kids comes up, labor and delivery is the thing that first comes to mind and that pretty much dismissed the thought of kids from my mind.

I am a total sissy when it comes to pain; I know I'm not the only one out there.  When it comes to the very thought of labor and delivery, my lady parts started to freak out.  Most years I can't walk into the OB/GYN for my annual appointment without feeling like I want to run away, and I really like my OB.  I say all this to paint a bit of a picture for you of just how much the whole idea scares me.  I have always maintained when it came time for me to have a baby, I was going to be rolling up to the hospital asking for an epidural.

Over the past five years, I have watched many friends have babies, some of them more than one baby.  While talking to them about their experiences during childbirth, it got me thinking, "there has to be another way".  Some of them have had very easy labors and some of them not so much.  But, I thought to myself, "why am I so afraid of delivery".  Recently, I had lunch with another friend who also does not yet have kids.  We discovered we both have much the same fear when it comes to delivery; pain.

So, I have started on a journey to uncover some alternatives and challenge my mindset about delivery.  I would like to take you on this journey with me as I go through the various options.  Feel free to comment on posts if you have suggestions, recommendations, or general comments.  I love talking to people about this topic as I find everyone has their own unique thoughts on the matter.  I think it is important to open up a dialogue and challenge the status quo on the topic of childbirth, labor and delivery.

While surfing Netflix one Saturday morning and seriously wondering if I had watched every decent thing there was to watch, I came across a documentary called More Business of Being Born.  It actually has several parts to it on various topics.  I picked the first one and started it up.  A little ways into the film, Andrew came downstairs to see what I was up to.  He ended up sitting down and watching the rest of the film with me.  I remember texting a friend of mine who lives out of state after the film was done talking about how much my mind was blown by the film.  Andrew and I have actually had a number of conversations about the film since watching it.   

The things they talked about were absolutely eye opening, but made total sense.  Now, I try not to be a bandwagon person, so I didn't want to buy into what they were presenting in the film without researching further to back up their claims.  Some light research confirmed the information presented in the film.  I found the original film to the serious The Business of Being Born online and quickly watched it as well.  I sent a text to the friend I had been talking about labor and delivery with and told her she HAD to watch the film; we had lunch a couple weeks later to discuss.

After watching both films, I found I had more questions than answers.  The films did a great job of explaining things like what a Doula is and his/her role during delivery.  They also explained what a Midwife is.  However, I had more questions.  I wanted to know if there were options for Doulas in the Des Moines area?  Do we have Midwives in Des Moines, and can they deliver in the hospitals, or will I have to deliver with a doctor?  Are there options outside of delivering in a hospital?  Why are so many women induced?  What did women do before the days of an epidural? These were all questions I had as I have started my journey of questioning the norm when it comes to delivery.  I have tried to focus my research on local options to calm my intense fear of the delivery process.

Each post in this series will focus on a different option I have looked into.  My goal in these post is to educate others and encourage them to look into other options rather than accepting the norm.    

-N