No matter how you choose to give birth, it will be a beautiful experience. There are few things as intense and exciting as bringing a new person into the world. How you decide to give birth is a big question. While most Western women today opt to use an epidural, there are many reasons not to do so. The experience of natural childbirth is a beautiful and meaningful one, and one that can heighten your already intense experience of childbirth. Here are a number of important reasons to consider natural childbirth.

Keep Your Control

Obviously, you are not in control while giving birth. The baby will arrive when and how it wants to, and there isn't always that much that you can do to control the situation. This is a very difficult realization for many women, especially those who like to feel a sense of control and predictability. One thing that natural childbirth does allow is for an increased sense of control. Natural childbirth allows you to work through each contraction and to keep your labor progressing as it needs to. Often, when you take an epidural, it doesn't work as well as you had hoped. There can be a feeling of disappointment and frustration. Similarly, it often slows down labor, requiring more intervention and potentially a longer birthing process.

Keep Moving!

When you labor naturally, you have a great deal of freedom of movement. You can walk around, go to the bathroom on your own, use a birthing ball, take a shower, and move positions. With pain medication, in contrast, you are usually kept in one place on the birthing table and lose your ability to move about. While some women don't mind laying and waiting to give birth, many would prefer to be up and about, and to work with their contractions through movement.

Keep That Baby Safe

Natural labor guarantees that there are no drugs in the baby's system when it's born. Babies who are born through natural means are more alert and responsive when they are born. They have an easier time latching on and nursing after birth. Natural childbirth allows the baby to be born naturally -without anything in its system.

Get On Your Feet

Women find that they recover more easily, in general, from natural childbirth than they do from medicated births. As soon as the doctor allows you to, you can get up, shower, and move around when you've delivered naturally. You have no medication in your system, you haven't received a catheter, and you don't need to wait for an epidural to wear off. You're ready to go and can recover at your own pace, without side effects from medication or its results. Women who use medication are also more likely to tear, hemorrhage, have postpartum infections and have more complications than are women who deliver naturally.

This is your birth. You have to decide, for yourself, how you want to deliver your baby. Often, women don't even know how they will truly react to the pain of childbirth until they are in the situation. A woman who definitely wanted to do natural childbirth may find the pain unbearable, while someone who wanted the epidural may be pleasantly surprised by her tolerance level. You should know all of your options going into delivery so that you can make the most educated choice that will benefit both you and your new baby.