Unbound Birth: How to Have a Natural Birth in the Hospital (Review & Giveaway!)
The photo that I share with you today is somewhat of an intimate one. It is my daughter, Aliza Emmanuelle, born in 2010, just seconds after she entered the world. I feel such a sense of awe and a rush of emotions whenever I look at it, as I remember the incredible other-worldy experience that was her birth.
True to my wishes, my wonderful doctor passed her to me immediately for skin-to-skin bonding and breastfeeding, which we enjoyed for the first hour or two after birth before they did the exam and weighing, etc. I had many specific desires for her birth because I wanted to have my first natural birth (my son’s birth in 2008 was fairly mainstream, involving induction and an epidural, etc). I was able to have the natural birth I desired with my daughter, but it took much planning and thought and determination.
Recently Jenny from The Southern Institute blog contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to do a review and giveaway of her e-book here at Red & Honey. I was happy to oblige, since it is all about that very subject: how to have a natural hospital birth.
From the time I had my first child to now being nearly 35 weeks pregnant with our third, my views have drastically shifted concerning childbirth. I am now a firm believer in the superiority of out-of-hospital births, and of drug and intervention-free labour and deliveries. I believe that a pregnant woman is not a medical emergency, and that her body was designed to give birth. I believe that it can be an incredible experience.
However, I have many friends who (for whatever reason) are just more comfortable with birthing in a hospital, but yearn still for a natural birth. They want to find a happy middle-of-the-road approach, and are not quite sure how to achieve it. In an environment that is more prone to the use of drugs and unnecessary interventions, it is essential to be educated beforehand about the process. This book helps you do just that. Jenny birthed three children naturally in a hospital, and had great experiences.
In her book she quotes the following:
Cynthia Gabriel, author of Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds wrote:
“My research indicates that between 40 and 65 percent of women say during pregnancy that they would like to give birth naturally, yet only one percent is willing to choose home birth. Two hundred fifty thousand North American women want what only a tiny percentage achieves: natural childbirth in a hospital.
There are so many woman who have that desire for natural births but don’t end up having them, and the reasons are too numerous to list. There are steps that you can take to understand and be prepared, and this book helps you to do exactly that. It is inspiring, encouraging, and practical all at once. I enjoyed reading through it and I think you would too!
Jenny is generously giving away a free copy to a reader here at Red & Honey. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling me if you enjoyed your birth experience or not (or if you’ve never had one – then tell me if you are afraid or not).
Giveaway has now ended – the winner was Lindsay!
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This book sounds great! I own _Natural Hospital Birth_, and it sounds like this resource your discussing is around the same lines.
I think the main thing here is that women need to pick their hospital very carefully. A natural birth is more possible in some hospitals, and less possible in others. Some hospitals respect a woman’s wishes in labor, no matter her delivery preference; other’s actively try to thwart natural birthing mamas. So the main thing is that women need to do their research on all the hospitals in their vicinity if they’re going to go that route…and find the very best possible. Ask questions – my cousin was told that if she hadn’t given birth 20 hours in, they would most likely do a c-section. Never mind that she wanted a natural birth – this particular hospital in the Greater Toronto Area operated this way. And it was the doctor herself that told her this. Needless to say, she decided to drive over an hour away and delivered in a better environment (except this doctor broke her waters during labor against her will EVEN after my cousin told her – specifically – she didn’t want AROM prior to labor).
After this birth, my cousin went with a midwifery group in hospital, and it was a great experience.
So it can all be done, but much depends on “how.” And what you get in that regard is often correlated to how intensely you question your providers. I always say – when a woman tells me she wants a NUCB in a hospital, is near the end of her nine months, and has no clue what the c-section rate is of her hospital, and/or what her doctor’s personal c-section rate is, or what her careproviders (midwife or doctor) consider a “true” medical emergency, it is not a good thing…seldom does she avoid the cascade of interventions and have a naturally unmedicated childbirth.
Have not given birth yet but my friend is 33 weeks and so am learning a lot about it – would love to learn more!
I gave birth to both my babies in hospital; both involved more interventions than I wanted, but both times I was able to labour drug-free and deliver vaginally. So overall good experiences. Both were induced, so I’m hoping our next baby will not be induced! Would love to read this book.
I’m from New Zealand, where our birthing practises are VERY different to North America. Public health care is free, and 90% of pregnancy/birth/newborn care is provided by midwives, including in the hospital. There are specialist obstetricians, but unless your midwife/GP has sent you to one, you have to pay, so most women don’t do that. I’ve had the same midwife for all 4 of my babies, had all 4 in hospital, and only ever had my husband and midwife in the room. The last 3 were water births – most hospitals have at least some birthing rooms with permanent birthing pools in them. My first birth was the worst – my midwife was urging me to have an epidural (because I was so exhuasted, and she didn’t think I’d be able to push the baby out), which I really didn’t want to have. She respected my decision, although I did have to have an IV in, giving me fluids because I was going into ketosis, and when my 9lb 13oz daughter was finally born (ouch!) her head was sideways, with her hand up by her cheek and I tore in such complicated ways I had to go to surgery to get stitched up, and got an epidural anyway! Sigh… the things we go through!
Second time round, my midwife was a little hesitant about me having a water birth, due to my previous birth history, but was willing to let me labor in the pool, and he ended up being born there anyway – no intervention, 10lb 4oz boy delivered after a 4hr labor without even tearing!
3rd and 4th babies were uncomplicated water births, and by now my lovely midwife knew how I birthed and was quite happy for me to pretty much do what I liked – I’d ring her when I was ready to come in to the hospital, she’d check how dilated I was when we got there, and then left me to it. We both knew when I was in transition, and she would keep an eye on the baby’s heartbeat, and give some suggestions for breathing or positions if the contractions were getting too much for me, but other than that I pretty much delivered the babies on my own, with my husband there supporting me.
Fantastic experiences, and no medical intervention, apart from a little with the first birth.
Having said all (sorry, this is getting rather long!) that, not all midwives are perfect, some are very bossy and lay down all sorts of rules to women about what is or isn’t going to happen during births. I guess what I’m trying to say, is that people are people. Some want more control than others, whether they are doctors, midwives or mothers! But having a mainly midwife-led maternity system is, on the whole, a real positive.
What an amazing thing – mainly midwife-led system. That’s the way it should be!
33+ weeks with #4, I’m looking forward to my first vaginal birth ever after 3 C-sections (woot!) and it will definitely be in a hospital but I’ve really been studying up on the concept of natural birth in a hospital. With a VBAC, they do tend to monitor you more but I know my rights now and my birth plan is ready to go! I’d LOVE to read this book
Sounds like a fantastic book! I have not given birth yet. Newly married, but down the road looking forward to natural child birth. I know I have a low pain tolerance, but believe so deeply in trusting my body, and trusting God through it all, and so greatly desire a drug free natural birth. I don’t think I’m that afraid…more excited.
I did not enjoy my first birth *I had dreamed of a natural water birth and got the opposite*. However, my second birth was the amazing natural water birth that I loved and it was amazing!!
Sounds like an awesome book! Much needed in our current culture.
Both of our births have been great experiences! I can’t say that I enjoy labor (mine are long, #1 was 25 hrs and #2 was 13 hrs) and very intense. But our midwife is awesome and L the Lord has blessed us with two uncomplicated and smooth births so far! 
We are so grateful for our midwife. I know if we would have been at a hospital we would have wound up with a lot of interventions that we didn’t want. Baby #1 would have for sure been a medicated birth and possibly a c-section. But our midiqfe was just willing to let baby come in their time and not put time constraints on either of them. So thankful! 
After 51 hours of intense labor and horrible pain and being completely ignored by hospital staff unless they were putting their hands where I didn’t want them, I had an emergency C-section. During the C-section, my epidural (that I didn’t want) wore off and I felt the entire thing and started screaming in agony until they finally put me out. Because of that I have an intense fear of giving birth in a hospital. Or of even giving birth again. We had planned on a huge family (10 kids) and now I’m afraid to have any more.
I have had 5 hospital births. The first was supposed to be a birth center birth, but it didn’t go according to plan. I have hospital births because my children have all come out with meconium, and my husband and I feel more comfortable being where they can properly suction the top of the lung, because with our first born, this did not happen and resulted in an 8 day NICU stay and a fear of loss of life.
My first three births were hospital augmented. Since I have poor responses to epidural I really wanted to stop having them. Baby 4 I was determined to avoid an epidural and have a natural hospital birth. So I read about it. Then I determined to wait at home till my water broke. I barely had any labor pains. My water broke and we went to the hospital. 1.5 hours from time of water breaking to delivery, 9 minutes from entering hospital to delivery. Smooth and simple. It was EXCELLENT.
Baby 5, PAINFUL. I waited at home till hubby told me it was time (he didn’t want to deliver on the side of the road after the last rush!). But nevertheless, about 15 minutes after arriving my water broke and i entered transition. I had fallen down the stairs in the prior two weeks so my tailbone was bruised! He was coming out sunny side up… OUCH. It was so painful I barely knew that I was giving birth. But it was still worth it!!
I’m PG with number 6, and I think I have learned “the secret” for my body and how I like to labor. I can’t focus on labor, or it takes a long time, I have to keep focused on regular life. Contractions don’t really hurt me unless the baby is face up, or I am into transition. I prefer to labor through transition alone. (That doesn’t really happen, but I try to pretend that I am alone.) I look forward to laboring. Even after that last time being so painful, I am looking forward to doing it again this fall. Prayer gives me peace, I like to rest in the arms of my Lord Jesus. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I feel empowered by natural delivery, I enjoy it more, when there is less fear, there is less pain, so waiting at home as long as possible helps me, because hospitals induce fear in me. Fear also slows my labor significantly, its even stalled it altogether.
I can’t wait to do this again!
I had a semi traumatic birth with my son – induced and suffered a 4th degree tear. Recovery was unpleasant, to say the least. I’m 14 weeks pregnant with my second and am hoping for an intervention free birth (with a much lesser tear, if any!). I’d love to read this book! Thanks so much!!
I had a fourth degree tear with my first and have had two more babies since with just one or two stitches each time. It’s possible. I hope it goes well for you!
Thank you for sharing and for the encouragement!! I’m so happy to hear a great success story!!
I don’t have any children yet, but when I do I would like to go for a natural birth…in the hospital. There are so many things that can go wrong during child birth that are not expected. These things scare the living daylights out of me, so I would like to be near some doctors. My mother was also a nurse in a hospital birthing center, so I think they hold a special place in my heart.
I had a friend who gave birth about a week ago that wanted to do a natural birth. Just about everything that could go wrong did. She was have hugely painful contractions, so much so that her whole body was convulsing like during a seizure. She also didn’t advance past 8cm, so she got pitocin and an epidural. They had to break her water, which caused an infection. Then finally she had to get a c-section. She probably wouldn’t have survived the labor if it hadn’t have been for modern medicine.
So for me: natural….in a hospital.
I have not given birth, and I have enjoyed having time before even being pregnant to glean as much information as I can! I would love to have this e-book because most of what I’ve read so far is either/or – natural birth at home, or trying for natural birth at a hospital and ending up with interventions.
I’d love to lend a book like this out to a few friends of mine as well, not to mention maybe get a copy for our midwifery.
Well, you know me, you know Ransom’s birth story and you know I LOVED every blessedly painful moment of his homebirth….though somedays I still can’t believe I did it!
Hi Beth!
I would so love to receive a copy of this book. I had Liam int he hospital. I had planned for a natural birth, I wanted my body to go at its own pace and wanted to see the baby before they did anything, but when I got there I felt a bit bullied by the doctor to get things moving. It was suggested that they break my water and I asked for time to think about it. The nurse said she would give me an hour to decide, and then a doctor showed up 15 minutes later, hook in hand, and said “hi. I’m here to break your water”. I didn’t even have time to say anything before he went in and did it… And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the birth. I enjoyed the nursing staff, and it was a good birth experience all things considered, but I felt a bit cheated out of what I really wanted. I wanted to have a midwife and a home birth but was told that I can’t have a home birth because Liam’s shoulders got stuck last time and this is a condition that could be expected again. Would *love* to know how to pull off a natural birth in a hospital.
My husband and I are at the point where we both want a baby,so I know that will probably happen soon. I definitely would like to read this book because, of course, the delivery is the part that makes me nervous. I know the more positive and encouraging things I read the better, so this looks like a good place to start!
I hope it encourages you, Katie!
I haven’t given birth yet and am nervous about both a home birth or a hospital birth – I’ve heard horror stories of forced interventions in hospitals, even when moms had natural birth plans. Yet some friends have had dangerous complications that meant being in a hospital was almost life-saving… so I’m undecided but would love to read this book!
Hi Amber,
It’s totally normal to be nervous about birth… it’s the great unknown isn’t it? The best thing that you can do is educate yourself about your birth options and make a choice based on that. Whatever you choose, if it is an informed choice then it’s the right choice for you. I just wanted to encourage you in that.
Blessings,
Jenny Yarbrough- Unbound Birth
Both of mine were hospital induced, epidural, intense, labour and deliveries, and both were “medically necessary”. I know that I will never have a home birth due to Rich’s work history. That being said I crave a natural midwife & doula birth, be it in a birthing center or hospital.
Hi Beth, I love following Red and Honey and I do love the new layout!
I did enjoy my first birth experience (as much as one can enjoy with my uterus contorting in ways one never thought possible!) and I did want to have a natural one although it was in hospital. The birth didn’t go as expected however and after 15 hours of labour and being only 6cm dialated I needed relief and opted for the epidural. I gave birth at the Jewish General in Montreal and must say though that never did I ever feel pressured by the nurses/staff at the hospital to get one. I explained that I wanted it natural when I arrived and no questions were asked. They were absolutely wonderful, and immediately after our little guy was born I had skin on skin and nursing time, before examinations and even before the cord was cut. I did have severe tearing and required some surgery afterward so I benefited from being at the haspital with the support and aid needed.
I am now almost 33 weeks with our second and once again I hope for a natural birth although in hospital and feel much more prepared for the event this time around.
Thanks again for your wonderful posts!!
Sarah
Hey Beth,
That is so wonderful that you were able to have a positive natural experience in the hospital. I had Kiana (my first) by c-section due to her being frank breech and 15 months later (shorter then recommended for an attempted V-Bac and against the OB/GYN’s recommendations of a repeat c-section) I opted to try for a V-BAC while continually being monitored. I had a midwife with both babies and although both the midwives I got were not the most compassionate (aside from the one that came in just in the last hour with Selah and helped me deliver her) it was a good experience in the hospital. I too wrote a birth plan up and was allowed to bond with baby afterwards. Also might i add… Selah’s birth was 9 hours with 10 minutes of pushing. I was shocked being that my mom had to have 4 c-sections because she was “too small.” Although definitely very painful ( I used laughing gas and a very little bit of demerol) it was the most amazing experience of my life to be able to birth Selah naturally.
I was very interested to read your post, because being up north in Alberta (Grande Prairie ) there are no midwives here so I am destined to a hospital birth with a doctor. I have read the Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth and I feel it really prepared me for what procedures to expect in the hospital. I’m looking forward to reading this book that you recommended during this pregnancy (i’m due Dec 16, 2012) Blessings to you Beth
Hi Hateesha, this is Jenny, the author of Unbound Birth. I’m glad you read The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth… excellent book! Unbound Birth will be your cheerleader, with stories and information that will inspire you and give you confidence. You can do this! Best wishes for a beautiful birth this December!
Oh…I would love to win this!
I have had 5 kids in hospital, the last 3 were natural births. I have had nothing but awesome birth experiences, but my best was with my son (3rd child) where I basically just walked around until it was time to push! It’s amazing what our bodies were created to do, isn’t it?
I love it when people are encouraging about the possibility of good hospital birth experiences…. those of us who want or need to give birth at the hospital need to hear the good stories too, not just the bad ones!!!
Ooh I would lot to read that. I had both my babies at home but I’m a labour and delivery nurse so I definitely feel the tension.