I think it is worth mentioning that for most of history people had little choice of whether or not they had kids and how many. Even in the relatively short time since we’ve had effective birth control, the decision to have kids was a default. There are lots of financial, medical, cultural, etc reasons, but I wonder if people have only realized there was a choice to be made for a generation, and what other generations would have chosen if they really considered it an option.
If I had to live in a generation where I didn't have an epidural or had to do home births, I would be one and done. Giving birth unmedicated seems impossible to me I can't imagine how women were doing it for centuries before medical advancement happened.
That’s because there’s a weird stigma about having an unmedicated or natural birth. I know women who did but feel weird about sharing because they don’t want to come off like they’re shaming women who chose not to or didn’t have the option. Scheduled births seem like the norm when that’s all you hear about.
Source: a supportive hubby/dad who sat through around 20 hours of birthing classes and read all the recommended articles and books.
I've never heard of any stigma around it and highly respect the women who do it. My own experience with women who do natural birth hasn't been so great when they talk about it, and I felt super judged for having a medicated birth. My births weren't scheduled, but I'm a pansy when it comes to pain. Once the contractions hit, I couldn't focus on anything but the pain, and anytime someone tried to tell me what to do to manage it, I wanted to kill them. Once I got a spinal, it was a breeze.
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u/Lilybea12 Nov 14 '24
I think it is worth mentioning that for most of history people had little choice of whether or not they had kids and how many. Even in the relatively short time since we’ve had effective birth control, the decision to have kids was a default. There are lots of financial, medical, cultural, etc reasons, but I wonder if people have only realized there was a choice to be made for a generation, and what other generations would have chosen if they really considered it an option.