What is it like to be pregnant, and would you ever do natural childbirth?

I want to have my children/child by natural childbirth to feel the pain. I’ll tell you how it feels in about some years.

It’s weird. No doubt about it. You’re walking along, having a great time, then all of a sudden wham! he kicks your cervix, and you feel like you’ve been struck by lightning. Sleeping when he wants to be awake is a pain, but also really fun.

I wanted so badly to birth my son naturally. Unfortunately the cards didn’t play that out for us. If I have another child (I’m not trying, but not not trying, if you follow), I’m going to try for natural, but in a hospital for the security, as I know now I’m prone to complications.

Being pregnant is certainly strange. I didn’t really enjoy much about it, with the morning (all day) sickness, exhaustion, heartburn, maternity clothes, and eventually not being able to trim my own toenails. As the baby grows and you can feel, and later see, it move around, it just becomes unreal. It’s very difficult to imagine that the thing kicking your ribs or making your whole belly visibly shift will be a separate human being. It is a pretty amazing experience, I just could do without the rest of it!

As for natural childbirth, I did it once out of the three times I had a baby. My first was born too quickly for the epidural I’d wanted. It really wasn’t too horribly bad, and at least was over quickly. I can’t think what I’d compare it with, but I do remember that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There was no screaming or anything like that! When my second was born, I wanted to avoid drugs again. However, I didn’t know they’d have to give me pitocin, how much more painful it would be, or how big the baby was. Nine pounds is a lot harder to push out than seven pounds, let me tell you. With the third baby, I was a complete wimp and asked for an epidural at the first twinge of pain. That was a very peaceful birth! :)

The thing to keep in mind is that pregnancy, labor, and delivery, are different from woman to woman and baby to baby. There’s no way to predict how it will go for you, even if you’ve already had a baby. On the upside, it also means that all of the horror stories women tell you when you’re expecting your first baby can be ignored, because odds are you’ll have an entirely different experience!

I did it three times. I loved being pregnant in all the months except the last one. By the last month I was too big to do anything comfortably. My favourite sensation was when my children would get hiccoughs in utero.

I had all three of my kids the natural way but my boys (1 and 3) with an epidural. I hated how numb the epidural made me but it was necessary.

My daughter was born in 2 hours with no extra help. I couldn’t believe how fast I went from mild labour to heavy labour to pushing. If was funny watching my doctor and all the nurses scramble.

I loved being pregnant with my son up until having to be induced. It was amazing to see and feel him move around. We are trying for another child. I don’t know if I would even try to go completely natural without an epidural after the issues I had with my son. Being induced was pretty bad and I hope to never have to go through that again.

It feels right, like it makes sense and it is wondrous, really to have a baby develop inside you. There is nothing you can do or not do, the baby will grow and kick you in the ribs anyway. So you’re always pregnant until you’re not, if that makes any sense – there are pains and heartburn or whatever might be happening to you but it doesn’t matter – after, you don’t remember any of it so that your body can do it again. I wanted a natural labor the first time around but, as always, my whole labor got usurped by the ‘hospital birth’ and it didn’t happen. The second time around, I labored mostly at home until it was really time and then got an epidural for the last hour or so and was much happier with how things went down this time around.

Each pregancy is different. My first was miserable the second was easy. Yes they have their difficulty and to say by the 9th month you want your body back is an understatement. Feels like the invasion of the body snatchers.
I had both my children naturally. And yes, I would do it again that way. I would never want anyone to cut me open. That is major surgery. The body is made to have it naturally. My son was a painful delivery but it was mostly the enema they give you before that made the cramps unbearable. When I had my daughter there was no time so the cramps werent’ as bad.
He was easyier to deliver but that was because he came out head first. My daughter tried to come out back first. Not pleasant to say the least. Imagine pushing a basketball out.
But worth it in both cases. Less trama for them and less recovery time for me.
Only thing I would suggest is when the doc says don’t push. Don’t push. I couldn’t help it and I almost hung my son on the umbilical cord. I was lucky because the doc was able to pull the cord out of the way in time.
I don’t think I appreciated being pregant till my second pregnancy because my hormones where not so out of wack like it was for my first.
I think the worst part of being pregnant was the extreme mood swings, the rages and the crying at a drop of a hat. I had a lot of apologies to do after I got back to normal. A Whole Lot!
When all is said and done, there is nothing like being pregnant. Your lucky if you get to experience it once. In between the horrible parts. You can’t help but pause and think what a miracle it is. So many people say they didn’t feel it was real till they saw the ultrasound. I never had one and it felt very real to me. You can help but marvel at the thought that your body is creating a life.

Do you know, if the gene pool had been arranged differently, i’d have relished the possibility of experiencing pregnancy. Yeah it can be a drag & yes nine months is a hell of a long time to be “with child” but hey, what an awesome experience. I mean, to feel a living being growing inside of you, that’s part of you. Every kick & each elbow a reminder of what an awesome thing the gift of life truly is. Yeah, sounds to me like despite the relative hardship it would be a spectacular experience. What a prize awaits in the end too :¬)

@ucme You are so correct about that.

I had three of my four children naturally without any drugs of any kind. (only an episiotomy
for the first birth) My third was a cesarean because the baby was in a frank breech position and failing fast. The fourth a V-back, with no problems other than the baby was face up. (longer and harder labor and delivery)

I loved being pregnant, and yes I had all the nasty stuff that has already been mentioned that goes along with pregnancy. I loved childbirth, and no they weren’t all a piece of cake.
Creating a life is such an honor, I feel sorry for men that they can’t experience it.
I know that there are women who don’t feel about it as I do, and that is just fine with me. We are all different. I have a lot respect for women who know that they don’t want to be mothers and don’t succumb to pressure to “conform”.
I would have had many more babies if I could have afforded to do that and have help with all the other responsibilities in my life so that I could devote all my time to my babies.

Wonderful, in retrospect. Seen through the distance of time. I remember being more and more uncomfortable as the weeks progressed and really wanting to sleep on my belly. The first stirrings of life are indscribable.
I proved I was a “real woman” with the birth of my first and had no drugs at all. (Why did I think I had to do that?) In retrospect, I think it would have gone more quickly had I just taken the damn drugs.
I enjoyed being pregnant more with my second and third because I was not sick and throwing up the whole time. I think back to pregnancy fondly for the most part but when I see a pregnant woman now, I think; “Better her than me.” ;-)

I’m 32 weeks pregnant with my first child. My best friend also just had a baby two weeks ago and my cousin had her first a week before that. All three of us went through different things. I had God awful morning sickness and I can still get sick even this late in pregnancy sometimes. You have aches and pains, heartburn, many many sleepless nights (I can’t remember the last time I slept a decent amount of time). Would I do this again? Heck yes I will! I want three kids :)

What is it like to have something living inside of you? It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever gone through. I’m having a little girl and to be able to feel her kick and squirm and grow inside me… It’s amazing to me. It’s beautiful. I haven’t gone through childbirth yet but I can guarantee you whatever amount of pain is headed my way in the next few weeks will be worth it.

Do I like the feeling? Is it strange? I love the feeling even when she kicks and it makes me kinda sore I wouldn’t pass it up for anything. It was strange at first but now I look forward to feeling her. Sometimes I can put my hand on my belly and I can feel her little hand reach up and touch mine..

With natural childbirth, would I do it? I’ve decided to have an epidural, but I don’t want a C-section unless necessary. I feel like the best thing for my child will be to have her naturally, since that’s the way nature intended. Surely that’s for a reason lol. But nothings wrong with having a C-section I hear they can be harder on the mother to heal from but they can also be less traumatic for the baby. I personally want to choose the best possible path for her not for me, if that means no pain killers, yes I’d do it. From what I understand it can actually put more strain on the baby for you to be going through labor with no help though.

@Seaofclouds Being induced when my first son was born was so awful (not reacting well to the pain meds they gave me made it even worse) and was a big part of why I opted for an epidural the next time. My boys are only 17 months apart, so the memory of that induced labor was still very fresh in my mind when it was time to give birth again. I knew my second son was also going to be large, and I knew I was going to be induced again. I told every single person who walked into the labor and delivery room that I wanted an epidural. I probably even mentioned it to the janitor! I still have fond memories of the epidural. :)

I think every mom should plan on doing whatever she is most comfortable with, but keep an open mind in case things don’t go as expected. There’s nothing at all wrong with telling your doctor you want to try to get through it without an epidural or other medication, but you’re certainly allowed to change your mind. Up to a point, anyway. If labor has progressed far enough, it can be too late for an epidural!

I didn’t enjoy pregnancy, some women do. I was very sick with my second child—the entire time. Both times there was never a moment that I was not at least mildly nauseated. Yes, I had my first child completely natural and unmedicated. That is the best way as far as I know. My second delivery was complicated and after about 14 hours I had an epidural due to exhaustion; labor started at 9PM.

It is a miraculous feeling to have a moving live being inside of you. There is no denying this. If for no other reason, this will always keep me a foe of abortion.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant and sometimes being pregnant can be a pain, especially if you have morning sickness like I did my first trimester. It was so bad I lost 10 pounds and couldn’t hold anything down. I nibbled on crackers and drank water and gatorade, I would still throw it up though. I got dehydrated a few times and had to go to the ER to get fluids pumped into me through an IV.

Other things I don’t like about being pregnant is my back is always killing me, I breakout ALOT, I get tired easily (I have low iron so I get tired twice as fast as a normal pregnant girl should), My nose is always stuffed with bloody boogers. Yuck And I have mood swings alot also. The heartburn is another thign I have a huge problem with. I have it every single day. Most the time when I lay down to go to sleep it comes up then all this extra saliva comes into my mouth and it makes me feel so sick.

My favorite part of being pregnant is being able to feel the baby moving inside of me and kick. It feels so great and gives me the most amazing feeling. It does feel weird but not in a bad way. I instantly fell in love with my baby the moment I felt her kick for the first time. :)

I haven’t experienced giving birth yet, but I’m not doing it the natural way. I’m too much of a chicken to know what it actually feels like without medication. Plus, I just seen the movie The Back-Up Plan and it looks really painful even though its a movie with actors.

@Mom2BDec2010 You sound like me to a T. I went to the ER three times in my first Trimester and I’m still on nausea meds Ick

It was a long time ago, and I would never, not for a million pounds, not for a billion pounds, do it again. It totally messed with my head, psychologically speaking. ~shudders~

(Yes I am living proof of that joke that says that if men could have babies they would only ever have one each).