Which woman wouldn't want a 'painless' childbirth ?  After all, childbirth is about pain, right ?

If you ask any women about their childbirth experience, most will describe it as the most painful experience they had ever experienced. Some even resent and decide not to have a second one because of the traumatic first childbirth experience. To make the matter worse, media seems to echo this sentiment by portraying childbirth as a medical event involving a lot of pain.

Therefore, it is not surprising that almost all women accept that it is impossible to have a natural childbirth, and even unnecessary to strive for natural childbirth.

So what makes somebody want to have a natural birth? Is it worth it ?

Natural birth offers big advantages and it is good for mothers and babies and therefore is worth striving for. Here are the advantages of natural birth:

• First, When you choose a natural birth, you don't have to worry about drug safety because you're not going to use any drugs. Remember that a drug is a drug, no matter how safe the manufacturer claims it to be. Any drugs will have side effects which vary from individual to individual.

  You also have to bear in mind that drugs do cross placental barrier which means that your baby will be exposed to the drug you are receiving.

  By choosing to have an unmedicated birth, you eliminate the possible side effects of drugs to your baby and to you. If possible, read the insert package of the drugs normally given at labor ahead of time or do a research on the side effects and decide for yourself.

   

• Secondly, when you refuse both drugs and any intervention which will interfere with the normal course of labor and birth, you actually do yourself a favor because at the end, this will result in a non-complicated childbirth with a much less or no postpartum complaint.

  Let me explain this to you more clearly. Often, the drug used for either induction or pain relief has side effects which require you to be 'further' managed. For instance, an epidural, when given early, can slow the progress of your labor which can then make you to have a C-section. Epidural can also make you feel numb and unable to push your baby. This often lead to forceps or vacuum delivery. What are all these mean ? These mean that you will end up with more painful procedures which will take days, if not weeks to recover.

   

• Third, since you and your baby are not drugged during the birth, both of you are likely to be alert after delivery and hence you will be able to bond and connect immediately with your baby.

   

• Fourth, with natural birth, you'll likely to suffer only minor inconveniences and therefore you'll be able to care for your baby from early days and to get a head start on breastfeeding.

If natural childbirth is what you really want, then it is important for you to actively prepare for it. It means that you cannot just hope for it to happen. If you do just that, then it is almost certain that your wish will not come true. Here are the tips for maximizing your chance of having a natural birth:

FIRST, choose your caregiver wisely. Your doctor or midwife has to support your decision one hundred percent. Change the caregiver if you have a doubt about her/his commitment on natural birth. Generally, you will more likely to get a natural birth with a midwife, just because midwives have different philosophy and attitude towards birth from physicians do. But there are some physicians which have good reputation for supporting natural birth. If you want to have natural birth at hospital, your job is to find a supportive obstetrician.