I’ve recently found out my wife is pregnant shortly after my fathers passing. It’s great but it’s a lot. One of the painful things my mother went through was my birth via C section, saying it was worse than my brothers natural, drug less, birth. My wife is pretty adamant about getting an epidural and attempts to pull the “I’m a woman so shut up” card on me (which doesn’t work, pregnant =/= right). But I’m nudging her to the natural birth side. I’m not some hippy but I see that the epidural increases chances of needing a C section, longer labor, blood dilation, and stifling hormones. And each “side effect” just includes, guess what, MORE drugs. Generally, it seems to me the drug business is a self licking ice cream cone model. I understand God gave woman the pain of childbirth, but I think it’s a gift, and I don’t subscribe to media implying God does anything to curse people “just because.” I’ve read about these “advantages” to a natural childbirth and I’d like to avoid the pitfalls that come about from a drugful one. What’s your experience with this? I’m open to hearing from either side. I’ve read unsubstantiated things like drug less birth/ sex after birth decreasing chances of postpartum depression and it’s easy to get off track with everything going on in life.