Celebrities were once notorious for being "too posh to push" and going for planned C-sections. In recent months it seems all that has changed and now celebs like Evangeline Lilly are going for natural, epidural free births. Some are even skipping the hospital altogether. It's a huge step for natural birth advocates. 

Over the years, the way we birth has changed significantly and it seems most women just do whatever is in vogue. My mom had two drug-free natural births because in the late 1970's and early 1980's, that was what all of her friends did. Meanwhile my grandmother had "twilight sleep" births where she was put to sleep and woke up with the baby. Most recently, most women opted for he epidural, which sometimes brings with it a string of interventions that lead to C-sections.

Obviously, it is not the only cause of the higher C-section rate, but it certainly plays a role. So celebrities are really setting the bar and I am so glad they are going back to basics.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a C-section, but the recovery from a drug-free vaginal birth is an eighth of the time it takes to recover from major surgery. It is just an easier, more natural way to birth. It was the way our bodies were intended to birth and most of us are capable of doing it.

This whole notion that birth is painful and awful is media driven, so the more celebrities who say how empowering it can be and who do it at home or in a hospital sans drugs, the more real-life women will do so as well.

It would be incredible to move away from the highly medical birth culture we have here and become more like other countries where homebirth is more normal than a hospital one and midwives are the norm.

Obviously not everyone can have a homebirth, but most if us could. I know I could have, but opted not to for a few reasons. I did have two drug-free births, though. They were fast and easy and totally empowering.

It is the latter feeling that I wish more women had. When you are in charge of your birth, you feel empowered, like you could conquer the world. When you are not, you don't. It would be nice if all women felt like they were making their own birth choices and following their own bodies rather than being led by their doctors.

The celebrity trend toward this is clearly a sign that the rest of us will follow.

Did you have a homebirth? Did you want one?


Image via goldberg/Flickr