As you are near your due date, so it’s very important to discuss “what kind of delivery you want?” This actually helps you and your medical team to get preparations for that special day. Well, many women prefer natural childbirth, while some get so anxious and prefer an epidurals childbirth process. Let’s just discuss this in detail i.e. natural childbirth with their benefits and risks, and an epidural with their benefits and risks. Keep reading till the end to understand all this in a better way.
Let’s get started with natural childbirth first:
WHAT IS NATURAL CHILDBIRTH?
Natural way to give birth to a baby with very less or no-pain medication. In other words, let your body start labor on its own without any medication or induction, and let the process of labor progress on its own without any intervention. It’s always recommended to firstly try natural childbirth process before epidurals, C-section, or any other medicated childbirth process (as medicated processes do have some side effects). Women use various methods like walking, trying different delivery positions, breathing exercises, relaxing techniques, taking hot water bath, and many more, to make their contractions stronger and to get their delivery process easier.
BENEFITS OF NATURAL CHILDBIRTH : Let’s discuss the benefits of natural childbirth, which are as follows:
You’ll Get The Experience:
As there is no loss of sensation during natural childbirth, so you have full control on your body. In this process, you get to feel and experience everything i.e. contractions, the baby’s movement, and finally when the baby is born. Some women get a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction by getting all the experience of natural childbirth process.
You can Adjust Your Birthing Position:
During labor, you can change or adjust the position in which you feel more comfortable, as you are fully alert throughout the process. Position helps to drop your baby more in your pelvis and speed up the natural process.
Less Risk:
As medicated childbirth process like epidural comes up with many side effects or complications for your or your baby’s health. But natural childbirth process is safe and have less risk to you and your baby, until and unless you have a complication in your pregnancy.
Faster Recovery:
You may become exhausted and too tired during the whole process, but your body recovers very fast after giving birth naturally. When you feel relaxed, it becomes much easier for you to walk, get out of bed, breastfeed, and enjoy your baby (as there is less perineal tearing and no need of a urinary catheter).
RISKS OF NATURAL CHILDBIRTH : Some of the risks of natural childbirth are as follows:
Labor May take More Time:
You can’t predict easily how much time your labor may take. In some cases, it may happen easily and quickly, while in other cases, it may take too long which will make you so tired, anxious, and stressed out.
Can Get Very Painful:
It can get very difficult to manage labor pain without any medication. Sometimes pain gets too severe that you’ll need medication in between. Pain may also distract you from the process or the experience of childbirth.
May Increase Risk Of Complications:
Even during the process of natural birth, some complication may occur, when your doctor may have to perform a C-section or some other medicated process by considering your or your baby’s health.
WHAT IS AN EPIDURAL?
In epidural process of childbirth, spinal anesthesia is given to block the nerve to ease labor pain. In general, an epidural take 20-30 minutes to work. It is basically a nerve blocker. In this process, an anesthesia injection is given on your lower back to numb some area, but you are awake and alert throughout the process. In between the process, you are asked to push the baby. It is one of the most common-medicated childbirth process. No doubt that it’s the stress-free process for you but it does have many side effects and risks as compared to the natural birth process.
BENEFITS OF EPIDURAL : Some of the benefits of epidural are as follows:
Pain Relief Delivery:
In this process, the medication helps to ease your labor pain, which makes you more relaxed and stress-free throughout the whole process. Medications take very less time to start working and make you feel little or very less pain during labor and delivery.
Keeps You Alert Throughout The Process:
This medication doesn’t make you unconscious, just numb some part of your body, which makes you alert throughout the process. Meanwhile, they’ll even ask you to push when needed. Somehow, you also participate in this birth process.
Alternate Plan:
In some cases, when your natural childbirth process goes too long or painful, then you can change your mind and get delivery through epidural birth process (only if you are at a hospital-based birth center).
RISKS OF EPIDURAL : Let’s look at the other side i.e. risks of epidural childbirth process, which are as follows:
Low Blood Pressure:
In some cases, epidural causes drop in your blood pressure temporarily and may also affect the heart beat of your baby. This process should be performed very carefully by continuously tracking your baby’s heart beat.
Risk Of Perineal Tearing:
In this process, some women are at high risk of severe perineal tearing, which causes injury to the tissues around the vagina. It may take more time to heal and your doctor will give other medications as well to get that to heal faster.
Side Effects:
Some of the side effects of epidural which some women experience are headache, dizziness, back pain, fever, itchiness, and may increase the requirement of vacuum or forceps during delivery. It may cause temporary side-effects on the fetus as well, like decreased heart-rate, reduced muscle tone, and respiratory distress.
Need Of Urinary Catheter:
As your lower part is numb during epidural, so there are more chances of needing a urinary catheter to empty the bladder. It is mostly needed on a temporary basis.
May Make Pushing Out More Difficult:
As you don’t feel any contractions in this medicated process, so it gets even more difficult for you to push. If baby is not coming in proper position of delivery, then you may need labor induction to start up your labor process.
Limited Mobility:
As the medication is to numb the lower part of your body, so it limits your mobility (as you’ll not be able to move your lower part or change position) during labor. It may slower down your labor process as well.
NATURAL OR EPIDURAL, WHICH ONE TO OPT FOR ?
If you have healthy pregnancy (i.e. full-term pregnancy), and your labor starts on its own, your baby is in a head-down position, and have a good tolerance level, then you can opt for natural childbirth process.
But under some circumstances, natural childbirth process is risky (and you have to go for medicated process of childbirth by considering your and your baby’s health) like:
- Having diabetes, preeclampsia, high blood pressure, placental issue or any other medical issue
- If baby is in breech position
- If you are older than 35 years
- If you had the last surgery through C-section
- If you are expecting more than one baby, etc.