It would be fool-hardy to equate one’s desire to engage in natural childbirth without the use of epidural as a simple relic leftover from historic religious theory.  Life, the good and the bad, the painful and the pleasurable is always lived on a continuum.  There is unnecessary pain – e.g. extraction of a tooth without novicaine, unavoidable pain – e.g. suffering trauma in an accident with no medications/drugs on hand at the moment, and the free acceptance of some pain for some  higher reward – e.g. childbirth without use of epidural.  Giving birth to a child without epidural does hurt but as soon as the labor is over the pain pretty much stops – not so with labor under epidural.  Likewise, necessity of episiotomy is less likely (I have given birth to 4 children – no episitomy) and likelihood of side effects or after effects due to adverse drug reaction is obviously limited (e.g. no headaches).  Most importantly, when everything goes well and emergency procedures or medications are not required during labor, the biggest payoff is being present in the moment, being fully cognizant of the creation of life and being intimately connected to the moment that that life is brought into full being into this world.  A woman in labor whose senses in addition to her pain are dulled by medications cannot fully be in that moment as some of her faculties are necessarily slowed (which is certainly a choice a woman is allowed to make and no one should be looked at askew for so choosing).  For return on investment and pain minimizer there is simply no drug on earth (natural or synthetic) that provides the “high” that comes from being acutely mentally, physically, and emotionally present at the moment of birth.  Furthermore, unlike he pain relief/”high” provided and felt from other prescribed medications however useful, this is a birth “high” that can be recalled and viscerally felt at later points in time –

I encourage every woman to make her own choices about style, locale, and amount of times of childbirth. However, I also encourage society to be mindful of biases against people who choose to experience life in all its pain and glory – not all of us want to dull our senses or walk through life as if in a daze.  While undue pain may no longer be a societally recognized “good”  certainly, we may still live room for personal choice in regards to the cognition level at which an individual chooses to live her or his own life.

Catherine J. Woods

Associate Counsel &

Sr. Director, Corporate Compliance

excelleRx, Inc.

an Omnicare Company

1601 Cherry Street

Suite 1700

Philadelphia, PA 19102

215.282.1735 (direct)

215.888.2107 (mobile)

215.282.1587 (fax)

cwoods@excelleRx.com