Once my courage overshadowed my fear, I categorized giving birth as a sporting event. It would be the first conscious leap from my physical comfort zone. But if I trained properly and could manage with minimal intervention and without medication, it could be like conquering the ultimate challenge—my own personal Fear Factor.
This particular epiphany spun me into a fact-finding frenzy. I eagerly cornered every birth-lete who crossed my path and was willing to talk about it. I found that most women relished in their birth-athon stories, good, bad or text-book c-section. It’s no wonder many consider childbirth their greatest accomplishment. Claire, my dearest friend from high school, boasted two unmedicated births having mastered Lamaze breathing. I wondered, if she could do it without drugs, why can’t I?
Two couples we know had success with The Bradley Method, the art of attaining low-risk status through nutrition, exercise and mind power. One couple (the woman was a nurse) guided us through the twelve-week course at home. While it educated and empowered me, I still felt anxious.
I was addicted to watching A Baby’s Story and Birthday, hoping for a peak into my future. But no such luck. The epidural was often considered the candy of their process. I had already learned how I would avoid having one, and each episode inspired me to want to put that knowledge to the test.
According to the Bradley Method, squatting during labor opens the pelvis, creating enough elasticity to the perineum in order to stretch without tearing, thereby avoiding another hideous procedure: episiotomy.
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a midwife in Mountain View, CA, says that having an epidural makes squatting difficult, if not impossible.
"There is considerable debate as to how epidurals affect the progress of labor, but they certainly affect a woman’s ability to get into a squat, which opens the pelvic plane by 20 to 30 percent. “This could affect the possibility of the baby fitting through the pelvis” she says. “Epidurals can lower the mother’s blood pressure so that the baby isn’t getting enough oxygen through the placenta; this can cause fetal distress and the need for an emergency c-section to rescue the baby.”
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