Um, Can You Use a Vibrator While Pregnant?
But oddly enough, the two camps have lately collided at an uncanny meeting point: childbirth.
And more specifically, unmedicated childbirth.
Eschewing epiduralsor anesthetics that partially or fully numb you from the waist downis a hallmark of this vision.
I dont know, I just have never loved taking it, she tells theSundayTimes.
And shes far from the only one taking this stance.
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But that empowerment has lately come up against the rising tide of birth content onsocial media1.
Today, there are more than 700,000 Instagram posts tagged #naturalbirth or similar.
This can be a beautiful goal, if it resonates with you.
But how did unmedicated labor and delivery become the north star of childbirth?
As Somerstein catalogs, childbearing people became eager for pain medication as soon as it became available.
And theres been piles of proof through the years that epidurals specifically are safe.
Pros include reduced instances of serious medical complications like heart attacks, arecent study2of more than 500,000 women showed.
But the most obvious pro, of course, is reduced pain.
Yet that seems to be somehow less of a pro as of late.
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Its what lets you know its time to push.
This philosophy has taken hold in birthing methods likehypnobirthing, of which Meghan Markle is a rumored practitioner.
Additionally, in todays wellness landscape, we vaunt the idea of being in tune with your body.
Birth is a sacred part of life.
Why wouldnt you want to experience it wholly?
I loved it, I say, chin raised, whenever Im asked (which is weirdly often).
I started to cry, my chest heaving, tears streaming and cries turning to sobs.
My flabbergasted nurse walked in and asked what was wrongwas the epidural not working?
No, I was just finally processing everything that had happened over the course of the long night.
The shock of my water breaking.
The 10-hour limbo of not knowing whether I was actually going to make a run at deliver this early.
The fear of labor looming before me when I hadnt expected to give birth for another six weeks.
I was still supposed to be pregnant!
I was not ready.
But my baby was.
Until, of course, the contractions got stronger and stronger, and it was time to push.
In short, I have no regrets about my epidural, yet my need to justify it persists.
An epidural was always the plan.
Why wouldnt this attitude extend to childbirth and an epidural?
Why doesnt I wanted to reduce the pain of childbirth feel like enough of an explanation these days?
Neelemans vague feeling that she just doesnt like them for some nebulous reason may speak to why.
He yoked naturalmeaning unmedicatedlabor to what he saw as womens biological imperative and the ultimate expression of female identity.
A vision of domesticity and tradwifery.
Then theres the reality that womens pain just doesnt rate as being important.
But societal de-prioritization is a hard thing to shake.
Or maybe its just that we women are accustomed to suffering.
You only get the chocolate cake after youve earned it in spin class.
You do you
More choice can only be good for womens health.
Maybe theres another pull there: That generations of women before you have labored at home without painkillers.
Maybe you want that, too.
Neeleman herself got a taste of a less social media-ready way of laboring.
She delivered two of her eight children in the hospital.
For her third-youngests birth, Martha, Neelemans husbandwhom theSunday Timesprofile paints as domineeringwas not present because of work.
Martha was expected to be a large baby.
So Neeleman had an epidural.
It was an amazing experience, Neeleman tells theSundayTimes, in a whisper.
It was kinda great.
Marsh, Anna et al.
The perfect birth: a content analysis of midwives posts about birth on Instagram.BMC pregnancy and childbirthvol.
2023, doi:10.1186/s12884-023-05706-2
Kearns, Rachel J et al.
Epidural analgesia during labour and severe maternal morbidity: population based study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.)vol.
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