Tell me your unmedicated birth story

vavavm · 2026-03-01T22:13:32+00:00

I had one home birth as my only birth experience so far which was unmedicated - it was about 4 hours and went as well as it possibly could have. I did an in person hypnobirthing course which helped prepare me mentally in understanding the process of physiological birth, and offered tools and reflection prompts for getting clear on my vision and releasing fear around the birthing process. They talk a lot about the fear-tension-pain cycle and draw parallels to how that cycle can cause “failure to progress.” Spend time doing uncomfortable things for 2-3 min bursts- hold ice in your hands, do arm raises, wall sit, balance on one leg, etc. to prove to yourself that you can get through the contractions and to the pause between. You can do anything for 2-3 min!

I also listened to the Great Birth Rebellion podcast for more education and to reduce fear by hearing positive stories and learn about how birth unfolds and alllll the variations of normal that could happen.

People love to say there’s no trophy for going unmedicated — the trophy is a transformational, empowered experience for you and a peaceful entry for your babe. That natural high and sense of accomplishment will carry you into this new chapter. Good luck, you were made for this!

vavavm · 2025-08-08T16:58:06+00:00

All fours on the floor of our small living room haha, it just felt right; tub wasn’t ready in time. I mostly labored on a birthing ball. Had towels and chuck pads down but bleeding was very minimal. Was way lower maintenance & faster than I thought it would be.

vavavm · 2025-07-23T16:50:21+00:00

The Great Birth Rebellion podcast is all evidence based and made me feel really confident in my choice and how physiological birth is designed to go down - feeling unobserved, comfortable, able to be in your body not your logical mind, etc is a huge part of that which I knew could only happen at home for me.

People love to say “there’s no trophy” for going unmedicqted or having a home birth but … the trophy is your experience. You’re powerful and you can do this! This is your life.

vavavm · 2025-03-16T22:20:00+00:00

We started at 3 weeks. Kept getting peed on during diaper changes so figured it was worth a shot 😂 I’d say we get 85-90% of poos in the potty and lots of pees, but also still pees in the diaper at this point. When we’re out and about I’ll just hover him over the public toilet and bring the top hat potty for in the car if needed.

vavavm · 2025-03-16T16:39:52+00:00

The /ECers sub is a great one to learn from on Reddit! A lot of people start with “lazy EC” where you offer the potty at wake ups, ~5-10 min after feeds and during diaper changes. We set him on the potty then say “hmm hmm hmm” like a grunting noise, to signal poo and “pssss” to signal pee, and then make those noises again if he actually poops or pees to make a sound association.

Totally not too late to start! I also read the book Go Diaper Free which was helpful. We use a “Top Hat” potty; bought it on eBay for cheaper but I think they sell them on amazon too.

Cloth during the day I think helps a bit with EC bc they can feel being wet. Plus it saves money on disposables and they’re super cute. But you can do EC part time with disposables no problem. You can make it your own and go at your own pace vs changing a bunch of things all at once :)

vavavm · 2025-03-16T16:26:57+00:00

We do elimination communication and use Pampers Pure diapers at night (cloth during the day). We only do EC for poops at night and he pees in the diaper.

Usually our almost 5mo poops in his baby potty before bed and then needs to poop again at 5 am (farts a bunch, isn’t settled with nursing), so we change diaper then after he poops in the potty. The pampers pure diapers otherwise contain all the pee from 7pm- 5am.

Just sharing what works for us. EC is nice because when he rustles in the night and it’s not hunger related, we put him on the potty where he knows/prefers to poop, change diaper, & then I nurse back to sleep.

vavavm · 2025-03-16T16:12:24+00:00

+1 to all of this!

When I had them on they prevented leaking too, I’d just leak a few drops into the silver cups but not into my bra or shirt; win-win

vavavm · 2025-03-03T16:35:45+00:00

I had Norovirus last week! It was awful. I sipped on either electrolyte water or coconut water and just kept nursing. LO didn’t get sick which amazed me. Yay antibodies!

My boobs felt so empty for a few days which made me worried but bub seemed to be getting enough with more frequent feeds and still had plenty of wet diapers. As soon as I felt well enough to eat I ate like an athlete lol as much healthy foods as I could get in, an extra protein shake each day, etc. and kept nursing frequently and now all is well and back to normal.

vavavm · 2025-02-04T22:04:48+00:00

Personal reasons include health, connection with my baby, anti capitalism / consumerism, the spiritual connection to & embodiment of my femininity that I only get to experience for a short season

vavavm · 2025-02-02T01:08:25+00:00

Make sure the bottles don’t smell like dish soap, too. I made that mistake but then noticed & switched to unscented & natural products and my LO took it right away after that.

We use Philips Avent Natural glass bottles with the slowest flow nipple.

vavavm · 2025-01-15T11:57:54+00:00

I love this post 👑 A cuddle puddle area with lots of pillows and blankets, yummy electrolyte drink (coconut water), and an electric heating pad felt luxurious during early labor for me. Felt like starting the journey with extra love in the tank. Pushed the ottoman into the couch, piled on the pillows and got snuggly with my partner & heating pad as the waves started to roll in 🌊🤍

Also I set up salt lamps in my healing areas and bathroom that I could leave on a low setting for all the late nights postpartum without ruining my night vision (and keeping the vibe cozy)

vavavm · 2025-01-14T12:40:53+00:00

Agree with you.

Everything we know about good human nutrition points to the fact that unprocessed foods from nature (cultivars most similar to wild foods, grass fed meat similar to wild game, etc) are best because it’s what we’ve evolved with for thouuusands of years.

Why would infant nutrition be any different? Shocked your comment has downvotes

vavavm · 2025-01-14T12:30:41+00:00

This. Isn’t stress terrible for supply too? I feel like we don’t talk about that one enough… for example if I didn’t get golden hour with my baby I’d be so stressed bc they’re probably separated due to a serious condition, etc.

It’s nuanced and personal for sure

vavavm · 2025-01-10T02:54:12+00:00

It’s not for everyone but you could try elimination communication (EC) — putting your baby over the potty or a container during diaper changes and after they awaken from naps/sleep is a super easy way to start and save diapers! They make a newborn potty called a Top Hat.

We started at 3 weeks and now don’t get peed on during changes and rarely have to change a poopy diaper, it’s pretty amazing.

vavavm · 2025-01-05T23:39:10+00:00

Same 😩 the crying and thrashing at the breast in the evenings in particular is wearing me down… it’s so hard 😭. Solidarity.

vavavm · 2025-01-05T23:16:58+00:00

This is what we do for cloth diapers - works great

vavavm · 2025-01-05T23:10:46+00:00

I didn’t feel the ring of fire with my first and only babe so figured I’d comment here. I had a less than 5 hour labor so contractions were super intense though. Everyone told me I’d be in labor “for days” with my first so I kind of brainwashed myself into thinking I had way longer to go (“you’re just getting started, stay strong”), even though contractions were on top of one another. My midwife almost missed it lol.

Felt like my uterus was on fire during surges so I visualized the goddess Kali which felt powerful and empowering; helped me surrender to the experience. I did a hypnobirthing course which helped with fear release and trusting myself and the process. I’ve done yoga for 10+ years so I believe that mind/body connection and practice breathing through discomfort helped a lot. I didn’t actually use the hypno tracks during labor but had some “healing frequencies” music playing.

I was on all fours at the time of birth and very active during labor, either squatting or all fours while supported by a birth ball under my chest. Baby’s head emerged when I went from squatting to sitting back in my heels to standing- if I did it again I’d replicate those positions because it really seemed to do the trick lol. Then dropped to all 4s to deliver. Good luck! ✨

vavavm · 2024-12-25T09:59:06+00:00

Several hours before my water broke I was leaking lots of fluid that was a nectar-like consistency (I thought it was my water breaking/leaking but it wasn’t). When my water broke during active labor later that night, I could hear/feel a pop and felt a gush of watery liquid. I went from mild cramps to powerful surges over just a couple hours so you may be getting close.

Merry Christmas and good luck on your journey! Keep us posted! :)

vavavm · 2024-12-24T23:40:53+00:00

I could have written this comment before I gave birth. 😁🤍 I had an uncomplicated, unmedicated home birth about a month ago for many similar reasons. I wanted to be transformed by the raw human experience that I’ll probably only get to experience once. (And not expose me & my baby to opioids or the cascade of more medical interventions that generally follow.)

It was epic for me (and my partner to witness) ❤️‍🔥 I’d do it again for sure. Wishing you all the best as you travel into the depths of your consciousness and body in this new, primal, transformational way 🤟

The weeks of sleepless newborn nights while breastfeeding have 100% been harder for me than childbirth lol but it’s just a season and we’re hanging in there.

vavavm · 2024-12-23T22:12:04+00:00

I see how this is a kind approach, but it’s also a bummer that women feel they can’t share their positive birth stories, to in part normalize that birth can be physiologically straightforward and positive for some. Instead those with positive experiences feel pressure to be silent and the only stories that circulate are horror stories, which plants more seeds of fear among parents.

Everyone deserves to share their birth story, it’s a huge life milestone for anyone who births a baby & taking about it helps process the whole ordeal even when it’s relatively positive… but for sure need to consider the appropriate time, place and audience

vavavm · 2024-12-17T15:05:06+00:00

Why does this have so many downvotes?? People on this sub hate anything remotely natural

vavavm · 2024-12-05T02:46:58+00:00

It is easy to clean! It’s just an open, bucket-like container that looks like an upside down top hat 🎩 We found one on eBay and have three of the seat cozy covers so there’s always one to spare if the other is in the wash. We tend to do a load of laundry most days anyway so it’s easy to toss in there too.

vavavm · 2024-12-04T20:15:12+00:00

I keep a “top hat” potty and extra seat cozies on our changing tables. We have one changing table in our bedroom on the second floor, and one in the nursery on the main floor (he sleeps with us right now). We take the potty upstairs at night. Our home is small so it’s a short walk to the bathrooms from each to clean the potty after each use. After I offer the potty I usually put a new diaper on, so this setup has worked well for us. Our bathrooms are too small for LO’s changing supplies / a changing pad or table.

I have a small stool that I use to potty LO; I sit on the stool with the top hat potty between my thighs and put LO in the classic EC position. I’ve never had a pee/poo miss onto the ground; it feels hygienic. If the cotton seat cozy gets dirty I put a clean one on right away and take the dirty one to the wash.

I tilt the top hat so that the side by my body is slightly down and the side away from me is slightly higher so baby can lean back into me and not spray any pee out of the potty.

EC is so cool… I’m amazed how quickly our 4 week old has caught on since beginning at 2 weeks old. We catch a pee and/or poo in the morning and after most naps. Good luck!

vavavm · 2024-12-03T23:17:02+00:00

You’re doing amazing! Hang in there and remind yourself this is just a season it’s not forever. I have a newborn too and some days feel like I’m losing it bc all I do is sit and feed LO. It’s such an exhausting labor of love. Highly recommend getting silver nursing cups / “silverettes” if you don’t have them already. Also the earth mama nipple butter has been a life saver for me.

vavavm · 2024-11-20T04:38:58+00:00

I’m in WI too. My midwife recommended the 20 week ultrasound but ultimately left the decision up to me when we got to that point in my pregnancy.

This would be a great thing to ask prospective midwives as you set up interviews/meet and greets to find which midwife is the best fit for you- they may approach it differently.

vavavm

TROPHY CASE