So normally I like to entertain people with really empowering stories about women who birth their babies without the use of pain medications, but this story came to my attention and while I read it I really felt connected to the author, Kaitlin, I’m not saying her story isn’t empowering, it really is, though in a different manor than I usually present.
It’s another two parter, so you need to read both part one and two, but the importance of a story like this is that birth does not always follow a pattern. Some babies are born in the way their siblings were born but many are not, and these differences in birth are ok, so long as mom is ready to accept the difference and enjoys her birth anyway nothing is lost. Occasionally it does take a mom a few months to step back from the situation to find the joy in the difference, other times it happens during the birth.
The other significant thing about this birth is that this mom wanted a natural birth, had had a natural birth with her first child and was prepared to deal with the labor pains, but when in the midst of some really hard core contractions she discovered she needed the relief of an epidural. Sometimes we natural birth advocates can be pushy and even unconsciously make a mom feel badly about her choice to birth with an epidural, but the truth is regardless of whether she got an epidural she birthed her baby, and perhaps a mom who tries to have a natural birth but then gives into the pain relief should be commended for her choice to accept help.
Our society doesn’t really look up on people who ask for assistance, we see them as weak, but several times in the last few years it has been brought to my attention that asking for help is often the hardest part of life, and makes us much stronger if we ask for and then accept it. I’m proud of this momma. She recognized her need to have a break from the pain to get through the rest of labor, and once she was given that break, via an epidural, she then progressed quickly and delivered her baby.
Congratulations on your little/big new family member Kaitlin, and thank you for letting me share your story!
Your Cherished Birth 