I have a friend that experienced post partum psychosis after her unmedicated water birth, so our two experiences have made me side-eye all these "alternatives" out there. I sorta hate the pressure women feel to go total med free during such a huge physical event in their lives, when potentially the best option of them is the "traditional" route.
I'm sorry this happened to your friend. It sounds awful, but I have a hard time correlating unmedicated with psychosis and wouldn't put this in the "why you should get an epidural" column. Like all experiences in life, people react differently in stressful situations and you never know what something like birth or the death of someone close or a big move or whatever else is going to do to your psyche, but sometimes you just have to plow ahead and hope for the best. Also, I would hardly consider unmedicated "untraditional."
I have a friend that experienced post partum psychosis after her unmedicated water birth, so our two experiences have made me side-eye all these "alternatives" out there. I sorta hate the pressure women feel to go total med free during such a huge physical event in their lives, when potentially the best option of them is the "traditional" route.
I'm sorry this happened to your friend. It sounds awful, but I have a hard time correlating unmedicated with psychosis and wouldn't put this in the "why you should get an epidural" column. Like all experiences in life, people react differently in stressful situations and you never know what something like birth or the death of someone close or a big move or whatever else is going to do to your psyche, but sometimes you just have to plow ahead and hope for the best. Also, I would hardly consider unmedicated "untraditional."
This is where I am at. Does your friend think the psychosis is directly related to the water birth?
To me, I didn't want to write a birth plan or have any expectations because I didn't want to be disappointed if things did not go as planned. I ended up having a c-section and while it did suck, now it doesn't matter at all and it no longer bothers me. I have an awesome baby who is happy and healthy. My sister said to me before I delivered, "it doesn't matter how they get here, just that they are here" and I believe that. Listen to your instincts too, they usually won't steer you wrong.
So today in prenatal yoga class they told a birth story.
The mom I think ideally wanted to go unmedicated and she's a first time mom.
She had 27 hours of labor, 4 hours of pushing and ending up getting a epidural so she could have a c-section. I don't know exactly why it ended in a c-section but it did.
This is why I think it's fine to have a "plan" in mind but be flexible enough to do what's best for you and the baby.
I had epidurals with both of my kids and I had a good and a bad experience. You really just never know how it's gonna go, especially with the first birth.
With my first I was very set on going med free. But I was induced at 2 weeks late and the pintocin contractions were horrible (basically one long contraction with no breaks) and I had back labor. So I opted for the epidural and it was the best decision. It worked perfectly (I could still feel and move everything, just no pain) and it actually sped up my labor. Plus my daughters shoulders got stuck, they had to do some maneuvers and I tore in 3 places. I was VERY thankful for the epi.
With my second I went in thinking I was getting an epi but didn't get to the hospital till 7cm. Getting the epi during transition sucked, they had trouble with it and it only ended up working on one side. In this case I really wished I had powered through and skipped it. This time if I have another fast labor I want to try for med free.