Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Epis, Pitocin and IVs oh my!

The great debate. What to do about labor...



This is a tough subject simply because EVERYONE has an opinion, and usually they are super passionate about their side. People get pretty crazy about the whole birthing process. 


I first realized this when my chiropractor offered a natural birthing class to me. My immediate response was- no thanks! He then went on to lecture about how horrible drugs are, complications, blah blah. Then he said to me "this is what your body was made for". This really pissed me off, this dude doesn't have to pass a watermelon through something the size of his butt hole! Please don't lecture me.


I had always kind of assumed "duh, I want the drugs" but now that I'm faced with it I'm not so sure. 


I certainly don't want pain, that's for sure. About a month ago I experience some sever nerve pain in one of my molars. An infection had been brewing that I did not know about and somehow it totally pissed off the nerves in my molar. The pain was so horrific I literally wanted to die. It was an intense, on the floor crying, hour of severe pain. All I wanted was for it to either go away, or someone to kill me so it would stop. While I was in pain I tried concentrating on one object in the room, tried to breath through the pain. The thought then crossed my mind, omg is this going to be what labor will be like!?


I'm not so against the drugs because of what people say they will do to you baby Serg. Honestly I think the whole " the baby can't bond with you, they won't be able to breastfeed" blah blah is silly. I have known plenty of people who have done epidurals and their babies are just fine. 


The thing that makes me wonder about drugs are those rare stories where something goes wrong. They are sticking a giant needle in your spine after all! The spine is not something to be messed with. I totally understand that there are far more stories told about the horrors then about the wonders. People repeat negativity more then positive things. I'm a worrier though, what if the meds do go the wrong way and paralyze my lungs, what if that tingling sensation never goes away, what if I have chronic back pain forever, what if I'm paralyzed! These are all the horrible things that are out there to scare you. 


I honestly don't know what to do. I don't want the pain, and I figure why not take advantage of modern medicine. It's there to help you after all. Everything comes with a risk though, nothing is fool proof. It's just a matter of weighing in on those pros and cons to see which comes out on top. Either way, this thing is gonna hurt! Ouch!


xoxo
the mom