Granted the hospital staff probably didn't need my begging but I am sure they had heard it before my visit.

When the Duchess has little George, there was a bevy of too much information shared.  My favorite "breaking news headline" from CNN was that Prince William never left her side and she delivered vaginally.  I didn't need to know this especially as I was eating.  A few days ago, the news was shared that she gave birth sans any drugs.  With that, I thought it was a prime opportunity to makes this about me and educate you on the difference of having a baby with and without an epidural.

When I had Laurel, I was administered an epidural about 90 minutes prior to her birth.  I wasn't afraid of the procedure as they could have put the needle in my eye. And quite frankly, I went into the hospital knowing that I wanted the drugs.  I didn't feel shame with this notion at all---with this whole experience I wanted an opportunity to gather my thoughts and appreciate the moment.  I wasn't into huffing, puffing or focusing.  Getting the epidural didn't feel like I was weak.  I was quite scared because the pain was overwhelming and I didn't want to feel what it going to be like right at the end.  If I didn't get the epidural, I knew that my hospital bill wasn't going to be cheaper and I certainly wasn't going to get a reward.  Granted the hospital staff probably didn't need my begging but I am sure they had heard it before my visit.  And being in pain like childbirth is like a beer goggling scenario because the anesthesiologist was very attractive when I got the drugs but the next day, not so much.

When Laurel was born, she was healthy but didn't make a lot of noise.  She was feeling the effects of the epidural like me.  I was trying to breastfeed her and she had a hard time latching on to me.  (Again, I was also a novice.)  While I wasn't in pain, I did feel like my body was trying to work the drug out of me like a drank a bottle and a half of wine.  I didn't want to eat that much which didn't seem weird until I thought about the amount of strength I just experience pushing a small Thanksgiving turkey out of my who-ha.  I should have started to eat just to consume calories to make milk.  I had no idea that I was going to be a milking machine multiple times a day.

I had no bad side effects with the epidural with Laurel so my intention was to do the same with Rachel.  I had a very short labor with Rachel and she was coming out faster than any bad food than I have ever consumed.  I had no choice with her about any sort of pain medicine--there was no time.  Rachel's birth was going to be au natural.  I was petrified because Laurel was a very large baby--if Rachel was the same size and this was going to happen with out drugs, I thought I wasn't going to have feeling for months.

After I had Rachel (who luckily was quite a bit smaller than Laurel), I felt like a super hero that just lifted a car over my head.  I was euphoric and ravenous with hunger.  Rachel screamed her head off for about an hour and latched on right away.  My body had no chemical to work through and I could walk right away.  Honestly, I felt like I could have gone right home (after I grabbed that lovely Percoset to stave the soreness away.)

Going drug free the second time around was easy because I had no choice.  Also, my labor was quite short so I wasn't exhausted prior to her birth.  Again, my hospital bill wasn't cheaper, there was no ribbon rewarding me but I will brag about my drug free birth.  It was a personal best.