I plan on having a natural unmedicated birth, I made this decision early in my pregnancy – after years and years of saying if I have a baby I want ALL the drugs.

I came to the decision after thinking about the birth process, I was not inspired by a book or a tv show, I just thought about how women for billions of years have had their babies, and I figured if they can do it, I can do it. I started to look online for help.

There are a lot of reading materials for people who want to have their babies at home with no medicine and no doctors- well Im not that brave- I will take doctors and hospital equipment over over my own home any day, choosing no pain medicine is just fine for now.

I choose a book from amazon, by Ina May Gaskin, titled Ina May’s Guide to Child Birth.

I started to read my new book and thought it sounded crazy, it was about people living on a compound in the 80′s, BUT the more I read it the more it began to make sense. Most women who gave birth at “The Farm” had natural unmedicated labours with no problems, it was not their lifestyle that led to them being able to birth their babies naturally, but it was the support they had from midwives, doula’s family and husbands.

The midwives and doula’s use simple common sense techniques to help the Moms to relax during labour – walking around, limiting exams, massage, breathing and mantra’s. Of course if a woman is able to stand, squat and move around during labour the process will be helped by gravity, how had I not realized that before?

So many TV shows and movies featuring birth scenes show ladies in birth screaming in pain laying flat on their back I automatically assumed that you had to lay down, and you would be in a tremendous amount of pain. Now dont get me wrong, I know labour is going to hurt, I know its going to be the hardest thing I have ever done, but I really believe that with the help and support of the people around me labour will be easier to handle.

I have a few things that are a must do on my birth plan, some of these are for early labour,  some is for later stage labour and some for pushing, I thought I would share a few of my plans with you.

1. No induction – unless medically necessary
2. Labour for as long as possible at home in my own environment
3. Watch Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (favorite movie)
4. Move around, walk, eat, drink, sleep, change positions frequently
5. Listen to songs I can sing and dance too (happy endorphins help with pain)
6. Practice relaxation via hypnobirth CD’s
7. Believe in myself

If I cant have the birth I want, yes, I will be sad, and yes, I will be disappointed, but right now this is my plan and I am crossing my fingers (not my legs) that I can get though and stick with it.

Got a good positive birth story?  Feel free to tell me about it in the comments section!