Epidurals

To be honest Epidurals are my favorite pain relief choice of the medical sort. Are you shocked? Well, let me explain. The Epidural is not a narcotic, it does not end up in the baby’s blood, and if managed well it can be adjusted to wear off for the pushing stage of labor to allow the women more mobility to aid her baby at that stage. What’s the catch? The catch is babies whose mothers have had epidurals are less responsive after birth, more fatigued, less likely to breastfeed within the first twelve hours. Women who have epidurals have harder recoveries, more difficulty breastfeeding, and more often experience long term negatives effects from the epidural. In contrast natural birth babies are wide awake after birth and usually stay that way for some time, they are alert with their mothers, and ready to feed immediately. In fact, they have a totally different countenance then epidural babies. It's obvious that the difference is the epidural but why? What does the epidural do to babies if it doesn't "drug them"?

I believe that labor and birth is very difficult on an infant’s body, I believe they are affected by the intensity of it, and I believe that the longer the labor the more fatigued the infant and mother. Studies have shown that in non-medicated births labor time is reduced by at least 25%, this is mainly due to the many advantages of having the entirety of the mothers body engaged the work of labor. The epidural on the other hand renders the powers of a mother’s body useless to her infant and places the unnecessary hardship and stress on the infant during labor; after all they can still feel the pain unlike their mothers.

In an epidural birth the mother who feels no pain attempts none of the natural measure to relieve such pain, therefore as the uterus labors down often assisted by Pitocin to increase the strength of the contractions to speed the labor, the baby alone feels the pain of the labor which pain is significantly greater because no natural measures are taken to relieve it. To further complicate the birth process epidurals with render the mother immobile often lead to a slowing of the labor, which is then treated by the artificial augmentation labor contractions through the administration of Pitocin. Since the mother cannot feel the pain of the contractions it is generally viewed as “no problem” if the contractions are close and hard, in fact it is seen as a benefit of the epidural that the labor can be augmented to speed it up artificially.

Though it may be no problem for the mother it seems from the apparent difference between natural birth babies and epidural babies that it is a problem for the baby. Whether or not the mother feels the contractions they go on crashing down on the baby (who in many cases is without the cushion of the amniotic fluid because of the routine practice of rupturing the membranes early to speed the labor). I believe this is the reason why epidural babies are so exhausted when they are born and less interested in their mothers.

Mothers who are active in their labors are using every measure and tool available to them to speed their labors naturally and help their babies descend the birth canal safely. There are less presentation problems in natural labors due to the labor movement that helps babies get into the right position for birth. There are far less vac and forceps used at delivery because unmediated moms are more effective during the pushing stage, and there is far less fetal distress including respiratory distress postpartum. Only 10 to 14% of mothers who labor without drugs have c-sections, compared to 25 to 30% of epidural moms who end up on the c-sections table.

To add to the benefits of a natural labor there are significant postpartum advantages. Natural birth babies breastfeed earlier and natural birth moms report less breastfeeding problems in the months following labor then epidural moms. Many respected lactation experts believe that there is connection between the reported 60% of American moms reporting breastfeeding difficulties and the American epidural rate of 80% on average.

Early baby bonding is a sad casualty of the unusually high epidural rates in American hospitals. The connections between early bonding and natural birth are most the reason women who choose natural birth do so with such passion. In the long term there may be no measurable difference between the bonding of mothers and their children, but there is a stark difference between the two categories in those precious bonding hours just after birth when natural birth babies are awake and alert, ready to breastfeed, and natural birth mothers enjoy the added benefits of natural hormones that fuel their energy and interest as well.

Many modern women have been convinced that the sweaty exertions and primal sounds of naturally laboring mothers are evidence that natural birth is violent and hopeless. What they observe as painful and undesirable is in reality one of the most empowering, precious, and fulfilling experiences that life has to offer. As a doula I have come to love the sweaty smelly work of labor that transforms women into mothers and brings babies into the world in a truly gentle loving way. These mothers throw all their might, mind, and strength into labor and shield their infants from a greater portion of pain, by doing the essential work necessary to bring their babies into the world naturally. This is why natural birth in reality is the gentlest of births.