Here is a sampling of my wonderful Charlotte Birth Family. Curiosity might have you asking, what are the odds a person can actually get through labor & birth without the use of pain management? Well, you might be surprised to know with a traditional 12 week training prep of how to best handle labor & birth utilizing proven relaxation techniques, that success rate would be around 87% are successful in accomplishing a low intervention, narcotic / epidural free labor & birth.
If you are a poker player, you will be happy to know you can increase your odds even higher with the use of a midwife and switching to a natural birth friendly hospital or out of hospital birth center. Want to increase your odds even more, hire an experienced doula such as myself to hands on assist you with relaxation techniques, proper positioning, ways to speed labor, maintain a relaxing environment at your birth place, etc.
Don't cheat yourself out of at least trying if you are truly willing to learn the best ways to handle labor you may just find its not as difficult as you might think to achieve. Dr. Bradley used to say, "A trained husband coach can do way more for his laboring wife than any amount of medication." I have the pleasure of witnessing this all the time. They do not call it a birth marathon for nothing, it takes proper education, training, application and believing in your body. Women were designed for such amazing work and when empowered and properly supported low intervention/ natural birth is very much a doable thing.
Take this photo for example: there are 11 drug free natural births represented, 1 medically necessary c-section due to entanglement in cord after 40+hrs of drug free labor, 1 epidural for pain relief due to previous back injury. I'd say the odds are pretty good if you know what you are doing. For more information on upcoming training classes or doula assistance email: yourbirthhelper@yahoo.com or view www.bradleybirth.com/pamelasauls for more class details.
Photo compliments of Maggie of My Little Dragonfly (of whom I had the pleasure to teach).