Labour and Delivery. All women with children have gone through it since Eve. We all experience it in different ways. Some of our labours are fast, some slow. Some of it is a beautiful experience that we dreamed of, and to others is scary and timely. At the end, we all receive the same gift. A beautiful little infant that wants nothing more than to be in their mothers arms. However in today’s generation, women don’t know the rights they have to an informed birth, nor the different ways they can birth and be with their baby when it is born.
When you get an epidural, you are often slowing your labour down. It is taking away your pain, however it is making the baby so sleepy and relaxed that it won’t have the energy to descend. This can spark many issues. When a labour doesn’t progress, after time the baby can go into distress. Distress can cause the baby to excrete meconium (baby’s first bowl movement) in utero which is dangerous if they ingest it. It also means that you will be receiving a boreal of fluids. Sometimes it’s liters upon liters.
Once your baby is born, if it was a medicated birth, it will be extra tired. A tired baby is one who may not want to latch right away. That is ok. It just means you need to be extra patient in the learning process. Babies were designed to not need to eat in the first 24hr’s after birth. It is a time to learn their surroundings and get comfortable on their mom’s skin and around her breast. It’s a beautiful thing to watch a baby explore it’s new surroundings.
I am by no means saying that a woman should have a medication free birth, however, I am saying that they should go in informed and understand the risks and outcomes associated with each intervention.
Stay tuned to part 3 on my next article Life After Birth…………