Here’s a short article about the various benefits of choosing to give birth without an epidural, because I feel that, unfortunately, we aren’t informed enough about the benefits of this choice.

LThe WHO considers hospitals with a C-section rate above 10% to intervene too often in the course of childbirth.

In France, for example, it is 24%, which is huge!

• Women who give birth without an epidural are freer to move during childbirth. They therefore have a lower risk of complications, a lower risk of hemorrhage and episiotomy, and a lower risk of babies being delivered with forceps.
• Having an epidural, an IV, or continuous electronic fetal monitoring generally means you’ll be on the bed, unable to walk or change positions, even though movement makes labor easier. Many moms don’t realize that once they have an epidural, their legs will be “paralyzed” and they’ll be hooked up to an IV.

• Laboring physiologically also makes it easier to deliver the placenta. 

•  Pushing is much easier (the body pushes on its own, in fact).

You should also know that an epidural will prevent you from eating and drinking during labor.

• Labor can certainly be painful, but it is easier to recover from the pain. The female body is well designed: the more the pain increases, the more the body produces endorphins, molecules that have the effect of a natural morphine. These endorphins have the same properties as drugs in the opiate family. They allow the neocortex (the rational brain) to be bypassed and activate the primitive brain (the reptilian brain).
  Many women compare this sensation to a trance: they are present, but their minds are completely elsewhere, disconnected, or focused on the “wave” of contractions.

Whatever you choose, don’t forget that the most important thing is your baby’s health and your own!
Listen to yourself, listen to your body, trust yourself. Nature has done a good job, and so has the female body.