Friday, March 28, 2008

Natural Birth - Part 2

**This post was back-dated. It was written 7/27/13

Tyson and I knew we wanted our kids two years apart and were so blessed to have that work out in our favor. A few months into my pregnancy with Josie, I signed up for a Prenatal Yoga class. It was late at night and after being home all day with a busy toddler - it was a nice {calm} escape for an hour.  The yoga teacher was SO nice...but she was also SO "yoga." I promise you - I could see her legs hairs from across the room.

Regardless - she was a BIG proponent of natural birth, which wasn't a surprise.  What was more surprising was how much her words resonated with me. Me. The person who once coward in fear over a shot.

One night after a class - I returned home and vowed to "educate myself." It seemed reasonable and attainable. I started by watching the documentary, "The Business of Being Born."  It was produced by Ricki Lake and I was immediately intrigued.  The next night I talked to Tyson about his thoughts on a natural birth. He was supportive and told me he would go along with whatever I decided. I continued to educate myself via blogs, online information, and books. I also talked to other moms that had natural births.

Aside from Tyson and those moms, I kept my intentions to myself. I knew people would question why I wanted to "go through all that pain" when I could just have an epidural. When I discussed my intentions with my doctors - they were willing to talk with me, but seemed to doubt my ability to actually go drug free. One said, "I don't know why you'd want to, but it's your body and plenty of women have done it." {thanks for the encouragement} Again, I decided to keep my intentions to myself and continued to educate myself.

Here are some books I found helpful:

The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake
Hypnobirthing by Marie Mongan

Other books I've heard are great {and will be reading}:

Pushed by Jennifer Block
Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds by Cynthia Gabriel

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