OB Nurse's View on Natural Childbirth

[LexiRN2]

I'm curious to know what labor and delivery nurses honestly think of natural childbirth. When I say natural I'm referring to no epidural and alternative methods of pushing other than laying in bed with your legs in the stirrups. I am a nurse myself, but now that I am looking into different hospitals to deliver my first baby I just want to know what l&d nurses think of natural births. From a lot of things I've read online it sounds like the women who go in with a birth plan and want no meds to assist in the process end up leaving unhappy. Some say that the nurses don't respect their plans or that they feel they were "pushed" into getting an epidural or c-section. Just want to know everyone's thoughts, thanks!

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

I read something just the other day about how anesthesia and anesthesiologists, specificially, are overused for colonoscopies. And the gist of it was that making the patient unaware of the procedure was too costly and not necessary. Hmmmm. I would pay extra to not be aware of that one.....but the real message left unanswered to me was in regard to epidurals. They are not necessary either, but can you imagine the uproar if their availability is lessened?

I think they have their place, and sometimes are just the right thing, but it does bother me that women come with the idea that they cannot do it without one. That is poppycock.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

Here's the thing: we have to ask patients if they want pain meds. If we don't, the PTB think we are giving proper nursing care. I know it's a pain for the patient who is dead set against them.....believe me, it's a pain for us, too.

I usually tell my patients, at the beginning, that I have to ask them about it....doesn't mean I am pushing them that direction, only that I have to ask, and I have to ask because I have to assess pain on an ongoing basis.

We have anesthesiologists, who on their own, will go see our laboring moms and ask them about epidurals. And as a rule, they rarely ask the nurse first if the patient is even interested.

[caregiver1977]

I was around when women got scopolamine during labor. It was really ugly and demeaning.

Care to elaborate?

[PNCC2001]

"The Business of Being Born" Produced by Ricki Lake should be seen

by every OB Nurse, Doctor, Midwife, Doula, Childbirth educator and

pregnant mom; and anyone else involved in birth. It is powerful

and emphasizes the ability of most women to give birth without

interventions. It is about giving that power back to women. I don't

understand the comments made about "it depends on the hospital

policies". Informed consent and informed refusal trump "hospital

policies". The movie also talks about the "scopolamine era" and

shows laboring women that it was given to; as well as talks about

what it did to them. It also talks about "Thalidomide babies"; as

well as the off-label use of cytotec for labor induction. All

interventions have potential side effects, it's a matter of degree.

It contrasts all of this with how birth is meant to be; and how

little doctors know about natural birth.

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

I work at a hospital based birth center that has awards for low c/s rates and high VBAC rates, we do water births, and our doctors do parallel care with the home birth midwives. Our epidural rate is well below 21% and Ina May Gaskin once said that my hospital is the only hospital she would ever give birth at...so yeah, I am a big supporter of natural child birth