Why (did I choose) Natural Childbirth?

Salam, Hello there. Nice to meet you =)

Salam,

Last two years, while waiting for the birth of my first baby, I started to do some online research on birthing. I watched birth videos, and stumbled upon Lamaze.org and Birthingnaturally.net. Some months before I even conceived, I happened to watch a TV program about water birth.

And my simple research made me decide, I want a natural birth:

• I don't want to be induced (therefore I will try some methods of being induced naturally like lots of walking, eating and drinking certain food and drink, etc), 
• I don't want any kind of drugs as pain relievers (therefore I will practice active birth positions and other comfort measures)
• And I also informed my gynae of my decision (besides choosing one who is open to the idea).

But the question that haunts me now, in trying to promote natural birth to friends, is why should we attempt to give birth naturally? As I searched the net for the answer for 'Why Natural Childbirth?', I realized that I have to find the answer within me first.

Yes, I did succeed to give birth naturally, without being induced with artificial oxytocin called pitocin and yes, I did not use any drugs as pain relievers. But nobody gave me a medal for that. I was not trying to win a contest for the bravest woman alive. In fact, as I try to recall, my reasons for attempting natural birth was because:

1. (My biggest motivation was) Especially because, we didn't have a lot of money. The administering of drugs, especially epidural and especially at a private hospital costs at least RM500, if not more. We were struggling to even save up for the necessities of the hospital bill, so another bulky RM500 for a pain reliever was a financial burden.

As a result, I opted to do these things: I borrowed RM60 from my sis to buy a birthing ball (which was actually just a normal gym ball) and PRACTICED on it at home, I watched online videos of women using movement as a comfort measure and occasionally PRACTICED them, I made a playlist of calming music to be played during active birth, and I bought a bottle of calming massage oil (the only comfort measure I didn't get to use, I was too focused on moving). The other comfort measure I didn't get to apply was taking a hot shower because the water never warmed!

2. The other reason I was attracted to attempt natural birth was the fact that it involved in believing and trusting that Allah had designed women's body to give birth; (note that I said to GIVE BIRTH, not to suffer the pain of child birth). I subscribe to the belief that yes, some if not most things work best when its course is run naturally, and that things that are 'natural' are better.

To me it's pretty simple, actually. Artificial food, artificial flowers, artificial fibers, and other objects, products and things that you can think of. What comes to your mind about them? They don't taste good, they don't look or smell good and they're bad for your health, to a lesser or greater degree. Men are intelligent, and technology is good, but Allah is greater than man and technology. Medical intervention is good when it is really necessary.

Though sometimes in life we are forced into some "unnatural" circumstances and we survive just fine, but most of the time, even in those hard situations, we often let things go slowly, and 'naturally', because we instinctively know that it is better that way. Like love which gradually builds in friendships and relationships.

Getting back to medical interventions and artificially inducing or speeding up labor and taking drugs to eliminate labor pain, yes - nobody gets a medal for choosing natural birth, and it's not a contest.

But it's quirky how we choose to 'go natural' or 'choose natural' in many aspects in life but when it comes to birth and medicine, we hold the medical world in absolute authority. Forgetting to trust Allah and His plan, design and creation ("nature").

I truly believe that birthing has in fact been taken away from mothers and has become a 'business'. The very intimate, special, miraculous event has been robbed away from mothers and their family to become artificial, robotic, unnatural and supposedly leaves everyone in the 'dark'. Only the doctor and nurses know what to do and what is going on.

Our intelligence shouldn't be degraded and we shouldn't be so ignorant.

Nobody likes to be totally ignorant about cars, computers, handphones, houses, etc so that when we buy or repair them, we won't get cheated by people who sell them or repair them. We are willing to educate ourselves about cars, computers, handphones, etc, but why do we refuse to learn and make informed decisions about childbirth?

Weird, isn't it?

I didn't win any medals or contest for attempting and succeeding at natural birth. But I felt good, because my body and Allah didn't let me down: I trusted Allah and He permitted me to go through birth with pain AND relief. It didn't take me at least 6 hours of pain: my waterbag burst at 8am, contractions began to become intense from 9am onwards, and Musa came out at 11am. So my first labor took 3 hours, because Allah permit it to be so, praise to Allah for allowing my efforts to result in success.

After birth, I was amazed that I did not feel sleepy or exhausted. So I could initiate breastfeeding early, eventhough it was with much mistakes. Well, there's a first for everyone.

I do not want to make other people feel bad or disappointed for going through hours and hours of contractions and medical interventions, not every birth is the same. But we can always attempt and prepare ourselves for birthing; because WE are the ones giving birth, and it is the birth of our loved one, and it should be a 'moment'. And it shouldn't be taken away from us from anybody at all, especially those who don't really care about us.....