What Are The Risks?

Giving birth should be a beautiful experience even though delivery can be terrifying and discomfort. Even though women have the decision to choose between having a natural childbirth or get an epidural majority of women give birth at a hospital get an epidural. Make sure when you base your decision on what’s best for your infant and not base off anyone influencing you. What constitutes a “Natural childbirth”? A natural childbirth is when a woman gives birth without any medication. You can choose between having a mid-wife and having an at home birth or you can give birth at the hospital without any medication either way is consider giving natural childbirth. According to Kristeen, an epidural is drugs called local anesthetics, such as bupivacaine, chloroprocaine, or liocaine it numbs the abdomen or pelvic region during labor. An epidural is given when the women is about 4 or 5 centimeters dilated (Cherney, par.2-6). In order to get an epidural you have to get a shot in your spine (lower back). In 1909, the first caudal anaesthesia was given for labor pains by a German obstetrical, Walter Stoeckel, and he study 141 cases of healthy laboring women with epidurals. In 1931, the first catheter was used in an epidural. By the 1940s, epidural were being used sporadically for labor but did not gain true momentum until the 1970s. This was in large part due to the fact that other

The author is a nurse in a level two trauma facility in a community of approximately fifty thousand people in Oregon. The community is a college-town surrounded by a large agricultural area. There is a minimal ethnic diversity within the community. The diversity present occurs mainly from internationally students and faculty from the college. There is a growing population of women who desire low interventional births in the community. The author has worked on the labor and delivery unit of the hospital for the last 14 years. The hospital is the only one in the area to offer trial of labor services to women who have previously undergone a cesarean section. The unit on average experiences around 1000 deliveries annually.

In the past, in the United States the majority of women delivered at home with no anesthetics; women might have received assistance through a family doctor, including midwife care (Thomas, 2011). A radical change happened by the 1960s, when hospital childbirths had become the norm, the pain of the experience was reduced by epidural anesthesia controlled by a physician. Pregnant women received education on breastfeeding and other topics during their medical visits (Thomas, 2011).

This is a very interesting story and a victorious one too. Maternal-child nurses are faced with complex dilemma that requires careful consideration. This couple would have been disappointed if they wife had finally ended up getting epidural injection after laboring for hours. I am glad you used your critical thinking to advocate for this family. Our job is to do what is best for our patient.

Therefore, often birth is not very “natural” in the United States, filled with the administration of many drugs to control pain and speed up labor and other interventions like C-sections. However, many women seek a birthing experience that is free or has limited intervention, does not include drugs as a form of pain management, and allows them to be in as much control as possible. I must ensure that I can provide comprehensive care to my patients and that they have access to all the possible approved approaches to managing pregnancy, such as acupuncture for pain management or chiropractic medicine to help with joint pain. In the current system, physicians often practice medicine that operates with the ideology that drugs are the sole method to treat pain and disease (Escape Fire). However, alternative medicine forms have been scientifically proven to be very useful methods of pain management and unfortunately their effectiveness has been limited to the system’s inability to assimilate services like acupuncture and chiropractic medicine into the current system (Escape Fire). There are also other services that I can provide that will help my patients as well, considering that in today’s system “high-cost, intensive medical intervention is rewarded over higher-value primary care, including preventative medicine and the management of chronic illnesses” (The Commonwealth

Only women are permitted during the labor and delivery of an infant. While in labor, women commonly express pain through facial expressions, verbalizations, and body movements. Women of these groups are often mistakenly considered to need more pain medication due to their level of expression throughout

Thanks for sharing your story. I know that epidural has become increasingly common for childbirth and has been an ideal tool for many doctors to offer patients with relief from the pains of labor and delivery; however, I was disappointed to those doctors or nurses who kept questioning you about this option although you did not want it at first. Your experience truly shows how physicians gave over medical control to this procedure rather than view it as a part of natural birth; but yet I guess it really depends on the nature of the cases, every woman and every labor are different. Probably, if I were in your situation, I would do the same thing too, especially if the baby had a fever and still inside of me, as a mother, like you, I would definitely

Natural birth is not having the most common drug an “epidural” in your back before you are giving birth. Epidural birth is when you get a shot put in your back before you go into labor to reduce the pain of contractions and pressure of your baby. You will be numbed from the waist and down.

Osborne and Hanson (2011) study aimed at providing a description of practices that certified midwives and nurses use as they respond to bearing down efforts by mothers while dealing with women during their second stage. Additionally, the study aimed to determine major factors linked to use of supportive methods during second stage of labor care. The results revealed that 82.4% of the midwives and nurse midwives frequently provided care and support for women who had no epidural anesthesia to initiate bearing down

The journal, “Why Natural Childbirth?” written by Judith A. Lothian discusses all reasons as to why women want to experience natural childbirth. Labor pains are a large part of childbirth, but Lothian states, “The pain of the contractions in labor is valuable” (Lothian). The different types of pain from each contraction help mothers become more in tune with labor. If an epidural is not a part of the birth process, then you must rely on yourself for pain control. A laboring mother will learn the various positions and activities that will aid in labor and actually increase strength and efficiency of the contractions. This will help the baby to settle and move down the birth canal. If all pain is removed from labor, then the natural feedback system is disrupted. Since the mother will not be aware of the pain that signals to move into different positions, her contractions will become less efficient and labor will slow down. Lothian also discusses what she calls “Nature’s narcotic” (Lothian). This is simply the endorphins that are released by the brain that will result in a decrease of pain. These endorphins also aid in a shift of thought. The endorphins will put women in a more instinctive mindset which help manage the difficult task of natural birth. Along with the mother becoming more instinctive, she will also “go into herself” (“Why Natural Childbirth”). This means that she will become more focused on laboring, and bring out her inner wisdom and instincts on how to handle what she is going through. Once her baby is born, she is proud of what she has accomplished and is eager to watch her child grow over the

At a point in history, Homebirths and Midwives were prevalent when delivering. However; the use of these two methods plateaued as many people were concerned with the health of the infants and the mothers. The ultimate goal of delivery is the safety and protection of both the mother and the child. For a time, and still to this day, women turned to hospitals to ensure that safety. However, as a new wave of feminism has empowered mothers to take control of the natural birthing process, more and more women are reverting back to the home birth method. Though homebirth goes smoothly for most mothers, there is always the potential for complications that many mothers are not prepared to handle.

Hannah and Chlovetta you guys all bring interesting points. I do agree with you with the risks associated with using pain relieving medications during labor. All decisions including the use of pain relieving medication prior to labor should be a joint one. However since everyone experiences pain differently and it is the woman experiecieng that pain at the moment, she can choose to decide to use pain relieving medication as she wishes. It takes two to have a child and I definitely I agree but it takes only the woman to experience that excruciating pain during labor. Chlovetta did bring up a good p[point about the role of the father during that painful moment to constantly remind the woman of their mutual decision and well being of their

Childbirth is a beautiful thing. After the hours of labor, there is nothing more special than having the newly mother able to hold her child the minute after it’s born. It makes the pain that you had just experienced go away because all that matters in the world is that newborn child in your arms. During labor, every woman has her own experience but one common experience is the pain. According to Kitzinger (1978) “Labor pain can have negative or positive meaning, depending on whether the child is wanted, the interaction of the laboring woman with those attending her, her sense of ease or dis-ease in the environment provided for birth, her relationship with the father of her child and her attitude to her body throughout the reproductive

Central Idea: Pain management is an important aspect of childbirth that women need to educate themselves on so they can make an informed decision when choosing which method they will use.

Childbirth can be described as one of the most rewarding and also painful experiences in a woman’s life. Most women choose some type of method to ease pain, however, there has been a lot of controversy over with pain management method is the most effective. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), In 2013, there were 3,932,181 births recorded in the United States, 32.7% of those births were surgical procedures. In 2012, 1.36% of recorded births occurred out-of-hospital, meaning these births took place mostly in homes or birthing centers. Without the option of medicine that a hospital provides, how were these women able to manage their pain during labor and delivery. There are many different methods for easing pain during childbirth, some methods involve the use of medicine and surgery, and others include natural techniques, such as hypnosis, Lamaze, and many others. It is a personal preference of the parents over which method is right for the needs of the mother and child. This can be an overwhelming decision for new parents to make because they have to take into consideration the safety of the mother and child, pain management for the mother and desire for medical involvement.