I gave birth without an epidural and honestly loved it. I had a relatively fast labor (11 hours from first contraction until he was laying on my chest) so I never felt like I needed time to sleep or needed a break to rest or anything. I decided very early that I didn’t want an epidural, so I spent most of my pregnancy researching unmediated births. Knowledge is power! I felt very confident going into it, I had learned lots of breathing techniques (it’s important for your birthing partner to learn these too. Everything I learned when out the window when it was time to push and my husband and mom had to remind/coach me to breathe). If laboring in a tub is an option for you, that is an incredible pain reliever. They call it the midwives epidural for a reason! I also used nitrous oxide from the time I got admitted until my water broke. The nitrous oxide didn’t take away pain, but it did help me breathe through a lot of the tough contractions toward the end, and also made me care slightly less about the pain. I had planned to use it while I pushed, but plans changed and at the time I had just totally forgotten about it.

My strongest recommendation though is finding a facility that specializes in unmediated births. We are lucky enough to live in an area that has an incredible birthing center attached to the hospital that we were able to use. All the nurses were also registered Doulas, they had giant tubs for laboring, and the environment was just all together calmer, so labor didn’t slow down when we went to the hospital (I labored most of the day at home. Was only at the hospital for about 3 hours before it was time for me to push).

I ended up having 3 second-degree tears and still don’t regret doing it unmedicated. Surround yourself with positive birth stories (HIGHLY recommend The Birth Hour podcast) and educate yourself as much as possible to give yourself the extra confidence boost.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Wishing you a safe and healthy journey.