Few mothers describe the birthing process as stressful, more often than not, mothers describe it as exciting and happy. The long awaited arrival is about to make their entrance and mother and child will at least be united. There is only one thing that could ruin this excitement, a problem with the baby.



Labor and pain go hand and hand during the birthing process. No one ever says how pleasant their labor and birth was, at least no one who did it naturally. Before you write off natural child birth all together consider the following, every year newborns suffer side effects from epidurals during birth. While not every child will have these problems, there is no guarantee yours will or won't have them.

"Epidural fever" is an infection that 30% of newborns whose mothers use epidurals will suffer. The illness is much like an infection and doctors treat it by immediately isolating the baby and administering IV antibiotics. Other fetuses will be at risk for a lower heart rate, decreased oxygen levels and emergency c-sections all due to the mother's body reaction to the anesthesia. If the mother has problems with the epidural, most likely the baby will as well. If the baby continues being exposed to a stressed mother, often the doctor will order a c-section which will only include using more drugs therefore increasing the odds that your child will be exposed to side effects.

Another test which can be effected by epidural use is one of the most important, the APGAR test. This test is administered one minute after birth and again at five minutes after. The APGAR evaluates the baby's breathing, coloring, activity, pulse and grimace. Epidurals can create false positive results in newborns mainly in the breathing category. Because of low or increased heart rates in the womb, the newborn is prone to abnormal respirations and pulse readings which can cause the doctors to worry. Under natural birthing conditions these abnormal readings would be cause for concern, however if the mother is using an epidural there is no way of knowing if there is truly something wrong or if it is a false alarm.

Since the APGAR test assesses the baby's breathing, coloring, and pulse, many mothers hear these results and panic regardless if they are a false positive or not. This causes even more stress to their bodies as these areas are must critical to the baby's well being. Many women reported to birthingnatually.net, that they experience tremendous anxiety when hearing the low test scores until they hear the second higher reading.

Every woman has the right to choose which birthing method works best for them. However no method is completely safe. Even with natural child birth there are risks and problems. Everyday you are faced with risks, once you are a mother, the risks will only continue to come, few times will you have a choice, and it seems senseless to expose a fetus to medication side effects when the side effects of natural child birth are generally pain and discomfort.