Natural Birth

So, I've had 2 (32 and 34 weeks) preemies. With both of them, I wasn't really in tune with my body and I wasn't confident I could do it without an epidural so I got one with both.

My question is basically how do you do it? My body was fairly cooperative birthing my 4 lb girls, no C-Sections or anything. But, I'm terrified of trying to have my son naturally at full term (my goal is to make it to AT LEAST 37 weeks). I don't want to opt out of the epidural, start pushing and him just not come out because he's too big, then have to have a C-Section :S I have no experience with full term babies or regular birth, so this will all be really new to me.

If you had a natural birth, please, share your experiences.

It's pretty unlikely that he will be too big to push out. Also, you can opt out of the epidural and still have some pain meds.


If you are really set on trying for a natural birth, look into a doula, they are really very helpful.

Your body will rarely make a baby that is too big to push out. Women give birth to 10-12 pound babies all the time. Pushing the baby out isn't the painful part. Its dealing with the contractions. Once you find the pain management method that is right for you, you'll be fine.

An epidural sin't going to change whether you can push him out, other than getting in the way basically. It's better to NOT have one especially if you're worried about your ability to push this baby out because you can feel your contractions and know when to push. Believe me, labor is the worst part. Pushing is NOTHING.
If anything, get the epidural during labor and let it wear off before you push. They forgot to hook up my button so I only had the epidural for about 45 minutes of a 7 1/2 hour labor. It really was fine. When the anesthesiologist came back to hook up my button thingy I told her to forget it because I was ready to push anyway.

I had a natural birth and I agree that the contractions are the worst. For me what helped was a mantra going through my head along the lines of women have been doing it for centuries without painkillers ;) it worked for me. I opted to tear naturally which I will definitely change and go for an episiotomy this time. My tears were bad but not because of the size of the baby just the way she was positioned. It's really not as bad as people make out. I think for myself recovery was the worst bit. You'll be fine!   xx

Quoting Becky☮Will:" An epidural sin't going to change whether you can push him out, other than getting in the way basically. ... [snip!] ... When the anesthesiologist came back to hook up my button thingy I told her to forget it because I was ready to push anyway."

That's basically how it was with my daughters, I had the epidural but it wore off everywhere but my hips down before I started to push. I felt all my contractions, but I couldn't feel the baby coming out. I guess that's what I'm worried about; the pain when the baby comes out, lol.

My Great Grandmother was a very small lady, she had 12 kids & one was born over 13lbs. She had them ALL at home! You can do it. lol I had a natural birth with my DD & it really wasn't that hard. My labor was 11 & a half hours long & I pushed for 12 minutes.

Quoting Taylor Migliano:" That's basically how it was with my daughters, I had the epidural but it wore off everywhere but my hips ... [snip!] ... but I couldn't feel the baby coming out. I guess that's what I'm worried about; the pain when the baby comes out, lol."

There really is no pain when the baby comes out  

I just kept saying I could do it.. I've not used an epidural or pain meds with any of my three births. Will power, maybe.