A Chicken, a Needle and a Natural Birth

When I was pregnant with my first child in the USA, I read a lot about childbirth and how to have a natural childbirth.  I wanted this mostly because I went to the epidural class at the local hospital (just in case) and the guy there passed around a GIANT needle and talked about sticking it into my back and how there were many risks with an epidural, including death.  Hmmm...do I want to go with the contractions that have never permanently damaged a person, or the giant needle that may kill me...?

I may be the only person in history who chose natural childbirth, not because I am so brave, but because I am a chicken.

So after that, I decided to skip the drugs, and I read every birth story I could. I wanted to learn all the "tricks" to getting through labor on my own. 

I have been to over 40 births here now, and helped almost 40 other women in labor besides that.  I have noticed something.  None of these women have ever seen a pregnancy book.  Not one of them has been to a childbirth education class, and only some have attended other women's births.  They have natural labors because the other choice is a C section. 

The thing is, they seem to just go with their instincts as far as positions and laboring....and it lines up with all the things we write books about and think we are so smart to know as doulas.  Funny how moving around, changing positions, and using gravity to our advantage is just what they instinctively know to do.  I guess so much of what we read and are taught is supposed to just come "naturally."

Maybe we are born with the knowledge of how to give birth well, just like the rest of the creatures in creation. 

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