.

Subsequently, one may also ask, what is considered natural labor?

Natural birth to some women means a labourwithout any medical pain relief, leading to a vaginal birth, andpossibly third stage, without any interventions at all. They tendto talk about “normal birth”, rather than“natural birth”, although they may use eitherterm.

Also, is natural birth better than epidural? The greatest benefit of an epidural is thepotential for a painless delivery. While you may still feelcontractions, the pain is decreased significantly. During a vaginaldelivery, you're still aware of the birth and can movearound. Vaginal birth after cesarean section is possible,but not for all women.

Similarly, you may ask, is natural childbirth safer?

The “natural” childbirthmovement would have us believe that vaginal birth is inherentlysuperior. It's not. A birth that results in a live, healthy babyand live, healthy mother is inherently superior, and for asignificant proportion of women, that birth is a cesareansection.

How long is natural childbirth?

If you're a first-time mum, active labour maytake about eight hours. This is an average, though, and itcould be much shorter or longer than that. It's unlikely to lastmore than 18 hours. Once your cervix has dilated to 10cm, it couldtake you an hour or two hours of pushing before your baby isborn.