I’ll start by briefly talking about the birth of my first son. Everything is fine, he was born healthy, but in hindsight I realized there were things I wish had gone differently. I went into my pregnancy and birth with the mindset, “Women do this everyday, so why do I need to take classes or read books about it?” I wanted to try to do things naturally, but didn’t take issue with possible interventions. I would do what the doctor recommended. I ended up with pitocin, an epidural, and an episiotomy.

Afterwards, I started to have some questions about my birth experience. I remember thinking while my doctor was giving me the episiotomy, “I haven’t done much research but I’m pretty sure these aren’t a ‘thing’ anymore….” But I was crowning, so I wasn’t exactly in a position to bring it up for discussion…