Moms, don't let your epidural be a source of shame! Here's why, after a long pregnancy, you don't need to apologize or be embarrassed that you chose a medicated childbirth.

Don’t let your epidural be a source of shame

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It happened again. I spoke to someone about my birth experience, and when it came to the part of the epidural, the conversation got…well, awkward.

And it was because of me, not her.

Once again, I found myself scrambling for words as I explained about my epidural.

 

Moms, don't let your epidural be a source of shame! Here's why, after a long pregnancy, you don't need to apologize or be embarrassed that you chose a medicated childbirth.

 

Why? Why as moms do we feel ashamed that we made use of medical conveniences to alleviate some of the pain of childbirth?

Why do we feel the need to criticize and excuse ourselves? And why do we think that suffering more would have been better for our children, or for us?

 

Now, before I go on, I want to explain that I am a mostly natural-minded mother. I encourage healthy eating as much as possible. I aim to use non-disposables, and regularly choose the healthier, greener options.

I value doing things with nature in mind. And I respect and admire my fellow mothers who went through the height of the pain with no medication.

 

But at the same time, I shouldn’t need to feel an overwhelming need to constantly apologize for my epidural. I shouldn’t need to explain away for the sake of averting “epidural-shame”.

 

As mothers, we regularly make decisions whether or not to prioritize our needs. For the most part, we unequivocally prioritize our children. But occasionally, we need to decide to put our own comfort ahead, with little to no compromise coming from our children.

 

It’s those five minutes you take to drink a coffee so that you can have the presence of mind to be there for your children, after staying up the whole night with them. You don’t need to apologize for that.

 

It’s that half hour you take at night to catch up on a single episode on Netflix, while the dishes are still undone, to regain your sanity so that you can go on with the routine. You don’t need to apologize for that.

 

It’s those two hours you took to hang with your  girlfriends so that you could be socially fulfilled, happier, and a better mother. Again, you simply don’t need to be ashamed or apologetic.

 

It’s a small, tiny-risk compromise that we took to minimize our risk of post-partum depression, to give us a slightly better memory of those wondrous moments when we first met our treasures. It’s those few minutes of slightly diminished pain that might even be giving us more energy for the pushing phase (as is what happened in my case.)

And the same way that we didn’t need to apologize when we had that cup of coffee, we don’t need to apologize for making this decision. We don’t need feel ashamed in the least, like we cheated, or took the easy road. There is NOTHING easy about a medicated childbirth!

 

So, why am I writing this? 

I am sure that I am not the only one. I write this for my fellow moms who feel the “shame” of the epidural when we talk about childbirth. I want to make it a standard amongst ourselves that we do NOT need to apologize for decisions we made that were really okay.

 

While I still struggle with apologizing every time I speak about it, I know that I shouldn’t. I know that it doesn’t make me any less of a mother. But most of all, I know what I’m going to say the next time I talk with a fellow mother who begins apologizing to avoid “epidural shame”.

I’m going to tell her that she did the most amazing thing in the world, by creating a new life. I’m going to commiserate with the pain she did feel, and I’m going to tell her that she did NOT compromise on motherhood by getting that epidural.

 

And I’ll hope that she tells me the same.

 

Did you have an epidural when your child was born? Do you also feel the need to apologize and explain sometimes?

 

Moms, don't let your epidural be a source of shame! Here's why, after a long pregnancy, you don't need to apologize or be embarrassed that you chose a medicated childbirth.

 

 

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4 Comments

  1. This is similar to how some moms feel guilty about having a C-section, like they didn’t have a “real” birth. There’s no one right way – and that goes for everything about parenting! Thanks for sharing your story; I bet a lot of moms will feel better after reading it!

  2. On the flip side, I did not have an epidural but what I get a lot is defensiveness from people who assume that, since I didn’t, I MUST be judging them for doing so. People get prickly and weird and start justifying and explaining immediately (or trying to convince me that I’m an idiot) and it’s not like I ask them first- I never ask anyone about their birth story first and only share if someone asks me because it’s not anyone’s business otherwise. I truly honestly didn’t skip the epidural because I think it’s inherently bad or that people are bad for doing it, it just was not right for ME. End of story. People do a lot of things that aren’t right for me and vice versa. I don’t make ANY of my life choices with the purpose of invalidating other people’s choices. And anyone (male, female, doctor or not) who goes out of their way to comment on your birth choices or cast aspersions on them is an asshole.

    1. I think it’s great that you share this as it’s as you mentioned a perceived judgement – not one that’s necessarily there. And as you said, what’s right for one person might not be right for the next.

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