[SWTXBelle]

I went 12 hours without an epidural for my first labour. Finally had one (OH THANK YOU GOD FOR THE GIFT OF ANESTHESIA) and baby #1 was born about an hour and a half later.
Number #2 - no drugs, nursed her on the delivery table. Numbers 3 and 4 had to be induced - they were going to be HUGE (as it was, #3 was 9 lbs. 2 oz, #4 was 8 lbs. 8 oz.) Thank God I had #3 in the hospital - despite the fact that #2 was smooth, #3 caused massive (as in I lost 4 pints of blood) hemorrhaging. I shudder to think what could have happened had I tried a home birth.
Despite all the differences in their deliveries, the important thing is they are all healthy, intelligent children. My epidurals were perfect - I could still feel contractions, but didn't feel like the pain was going to rip my body in two. Seeing my sister-in-law right after her c-section shaking so violently that the hospital bed was rattling, and hearing of her recovery, made me even more grateful than I had been that I did not have a c-section. I can't imagine doing that electively.
My point? Every delivery is different, as each and every child. I support every woman in her right to her own decisions regarding childbirth and rearing provided they are made with the child's best interests in mind. I have a real problem with self-indulgent mothers who base their decisions on what is going to make THEM feel "better". There is no third grader whose best interests are served by continuing to nurse.