Natural Childbirth

Intro: We're talking wellness at MemorialCare Health System. It's time for Weekly Dose of Wellness. Here's Deborah Howell.

Deborah Howell (Host): And welcome to the show. I am Deborah Howell, and today we'll be talking about some of the most important aspects of natural childbirth. Our guest today is Dr. Amy C. Peters, Doctor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Saddleback Women's Medical Group and MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center. Dr. Peters enjoys facilitating low-intervention deliveries for women interested in natural childbirth, as well as actively managing high-risk obstetric patients. Welcome, Dr. Peters.

Amy Peters, MD: Thank you.

Deborah Howell (Host): What is natural childbirth?

Amy Peters, MD: So the main concept behind natural childbirth is just having an unmedicated delivery and labor process. So instead of doing a scheduled induction, women allow their bodies to go into labor naturally and allow the process to just continue on its own without any medical intervention with any IV medicine or other agents to stimulate labor. It just allows the process to continue on its own timeline.

Deborah Howell (Host): Got it. Now can you tell us about natural childbirth techniques like hypnobirthing? What is that?

Amy Peters, MD: Sure. So a lot of people are familiar with techniques like Lamaze, which is really just breathing methods, which is great for anybody to learn even if you're planning on an epidural or other medical pain management during labor. But there are other techniques that focus on avoiding any pain medication and just using your own body to work with itself to deal with the pressure of labor. So Bradley method is another popular one that also focuses on breathing and just kind of getting you through the process. Hypnobirthing has a different philosophy compared to many of the other programs. Instead of viewing childbirth as a painful experience, it's more programming yourself to understand this is a natural process. This is what we're built to do. We can do it. If you look at the animal kingdom, all the animals out there have their labor and delivery without screaming and having a big drama like you sometimes see in movies or TV.

Deborah Howell (Host): Yeah.

Amy Peters, MD: So Hypnobabies is kind of a subset of hypnobirthing, which is a very popular program nationwide, and even internationally. And it's a six-week program that over the course will teach your mind to be able to relax. It teaches you deep relaxation techniques so that you perceive the process as something natural and you're more open to it and accepting to it. To the point where I've had people who have no pain whatsoever during their entire labor and delivery. It’s a very successful program.

Deborah Howell (Host): Wow. I would say so. So what are some of the advantages of natural childbirth?

Amy Peters, MD: Well, it gives you the freedom to get up and walk around during labor. You can go in the shower or in the tub. You don't have to be attached to a bunch of equipment versus if you had an epidural, that is a medical procedure. So they have to watch your blood pressure closely. But if you're just laboring on your own, you don't need as much monitoring. So that gives you the advantage during labor. After delivery, it gives you the advantage of being able to immediately get up, walk around, go to the bathroom, hold your baby. You don't have to have a nurse assist you to the bathroom. You don't have to worry about having a catheter. So it's a very nice, it's a quick recovery. And it also helps you to control when you're actually having the birth process. You can feel a little bit about how strong you're pushing versus sometimes women with an epidural, they may just be pushing full force and not really, they don't feel the effects until after the epidural wears off.

Deborah Howell (Host): Got it. Got it. Now can women who have previously had a C-section have a vaginal birth?

Amy Peters, MD: Absolutely. And that's something that I definitely encourage. And women who have had a previous cesarean can have a vaginal birth and a natural vaginal childbirth. I actually have done both. So my first child I had a cesarean, my second I had a VBAC with an epidural, and then my last I had my baby using Hypnobabies techniques. And I would say out of all of those options, the best delivery, the best recovery was with the natural childbirth. So it's something I definitely recommend to everyone. Delivering vaginally after a cesarean, you can see a huge difference in the recovery time. It's, you know, natural process versus having an abdominal surgery. So the recovery could be minutes to hours versus weeks.

Deborah Howell (Host): Right. And you know, often there is no choice. But, you know, if there is, certainly the vaginal birth is the way to go, correct?

Amy Peters, MD: Exactly. Yeah. You know, some women do desire to have a scheduled repeat cesarean, and especially if they're not planning on having, you know, three, four, however many children, that's a valid option. Especially if you wanted to consider sterilization such as tying your tubes at the same time, that adds very little to the amount of time we're in the operating room. So if someone's saying, yeah, I really, you know, for childcare purposes and planning and everything, I want to just have a scheduled cesarean, they absolutely can do that and we can go ahead and tie their tubes at the same time.

Deborah Howell (Host): That is really magical for some women. really the answer for many.

Amy Peters, MD: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Deborah Howell (Host): How does MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center support natural childbirth?

Amy Peters, MD: They do have nurses who are focused on assisting women during their natural childbirth process. So they know to use quiet voices, dim the lights, arrange the room in a way that allows for more mobility, just make it as peaceful of an environment as possible. We typically also will place those women in kind of the corners of the hallways so that they have as much privacy as they need.

Deborah Howell (Host): So just basically being very mindful of women's needs.

Amy Peters, MD: Yes. Exactly.

Deborah Howell (Host): And how can people get in touch with MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center to ask any questions? And when should you start having appointments when you know you're pregnant with your physician?

Amy Peters, MD: Once you have a positive pregnancy test, it is good to contact an OBGYN's office. Usually, we want to see you between six and eight weeks to establish that there's one pregnancy, it's inside your uterus, and it has a heartbeat. So that's kind of a good timeline is between six and eight weeks. And people can look at the MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center website to select a physician and you can have links to bios and a good place to start as well is always look at your insurance to make sure whichever provider you're choosing is on your insurance plan.

Deborah Howell (Host): Absolutely. I have one more question. I know that you said it's much better for the mother if she can possibly go through a natural childbirth scenario, but what about the baby? Do you see differences in the babies?

Amy Peters, MD: It's very common after women get an epidural placed initially to have a drop in the woman's blood pressure. It's a temporary thing, but sometimes it does lead to an effect on the baby's heart rate as well. So if we can avoid that, that definitely reduces a little bit of potential stress on the baby. That does not happen to all babies. Many women get epidurals without any complication, but that is one of the possible side effects is it can temporarily decrease the baby's heart rate. So if we don't have to put that stress on the baby, that's nice to avoid.

Deborah Howell (Host): Absolutely. Well, I can't thank you more for being on the program today, Dr. Peters. It was really magical.

Amy Peters, MD: Oh, thank you.

Deborah Howell (Host): And for more information or to listen to a podcast of this show, just go to memorialcare.org. That's memorialcare.org. I'm Deborah Howell. That's all for this time. Have yourself a terrific day.