NCB

Natural child birth is seen as a badge of honor for many women. Some do it very well. They quietly moan and sigh. When it's time to push they push with all their might.

One woman I heard about had a small twitch in her cheek with really bad contractions. Quietly, without fanfare, she went through her entire labour with minimal noise. Suddenly, she looked at her nurse and said "baby is here". When she looked, the nurse saw that yes, the baby's head was ready to emerge.

We don't have many NCBs at this hospital. As much as many women come in thinking they'll go through labour without medication, they are very happy when we ask them if they'd like to change their minds. Then they go on and on about how much they love the drugs.

Some nurses as well act as though they are better nurses for encouraging her patient to go without an epidural. That's an argument for another day.

We have several tours of pregnant moms and dads who come through the L&D. One weekend, a NCB patient was being encouraged by her partner to moan through her contractions. These were loud moans. Very very loud moans.

You see where I'm going I'm sure.

The group of soon to be parents clustered together in the hallway giggling and swearing to use meds. Which made me giggle.




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