“Natural” has become a dirty word in the birth world.

It’s a term that can instill a feeling of shame in people - many who wanted this type of birth, but didn’t experience it.

Whether your birth can be described as natural is NOT A JUDGEMENT ON YOU AND YOUR CHOICES. The word “natural” is simply a descriptive word meaning “from nature; not involving anything made or caused by people.” But, for some, this word can hurt.

Some recommend that “natural” be replaced by “unmedicated”. To me, these two words are far from synonymous.

A natural birth, to me, is a lot more than a birth without drugs. It means that my body went into labor spontaneously - that the hormones in my body were created by my body - that I wasn’t strapped to machines or trapped in bed - that I wasn’t numbed or given drugs - that my baby emerged from my vagina and on its own timeline (and so much more). No one word, besides “natural”, can encompass all of that.

INTERVENTIONS & SURGERY during birth, though not present in nature, are NOT INHERENTLY WRONG OR BAD. They are useful tools, sometimes life-saving, when they are truly indicated.

But when those same interventions are overutilized on people who don’t need them, they can create more problems than they solve. The PTSD, depression & anxiety I experienced after my unnecessary c-section are a perfect example of this.

My opinion is that we NEED the term “natural” in our birth vocabulary. Removing it may help some people feel better about their experience, but it also does us all a HUGE DISSERVICE by allowing INTERVENTIONS AND SURGERY to be COMMONPLACE AND NORMALIZED, rather than a rare, fringe occurrence. And this means that providers who are misusing these treatments are NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE, and that this practice won't change.

So "natural" will remain in my vocabulary. Will it stay in yours?