Not every woman desires a natural childbirth.
Sadly, not every woman who desires a natural childbirth achieves her goal.
This may leave you wondering if it is worth your time to consider or prepare for natural childbirth as an option.
You are the only person who can decide what is best for you and your baby.
Natural childbirth can be a great choice because it includes the least amount of risk for a healthy mom and baby.
However, it does take time to prepare for natural childbirth.
If you are drawn to the idea of natural childbirth, but not sure you are ready to make a decision, here are a few things to think about to help you consider your options.

1. Women who achieve a natural childbirth tend to have more confidence in their abilities before labor begins, have plenty of support and have educated themselves about a wide variety of options available to them during labor.
   If you already have these three key factors you may be well on your way to a natural childbirth.
   If you do not, you may want to consider how you can realistically improve your confidence, support or knowledge of options.
   Taking a natural childbirth class with a loved one, hiring a doula or reading about natural childbirth techniques are all ways you can help improve these areas.
   
2. Your overall health has a big impact on the options available to you during labor.
   Ensuring you eat a healthy diet and get adequate exercise are the best way to keep your body healthy during pregnancy and avoid problems during childbirth.
   Some health conditions will affect the options you have for childbirth, either requiring certain interventions or making it unsafe to use some interventions.
   Be sure you understand how your health history may affect your options so you can plan accordingly.
   
3. Preparing for a natural childbirth is not a guarantee you will give birth without medication, and it does not restrict you from receiving medications if you decide you need them during labor.
   However, without preparing by learning about the normal process of labor and ways to work with your body your likelihood of natural childbirth greatly decreases.
   By learning as much as possible and preparing for a natural childbirth you allow yourself the freedom to choose natural childbirth or medication during labor depending on how your labor goes.
   
4. Other women who have already given birth can be a great source of information, or a terrible source of information.
   Just because someone has gone through labor does not mean she understands what was happening or what factors influenced the events of her labor.
   Be careful whose opinions you accept as ultimate authority.
   Talk to a wide variety of women and learn from their experiences.
   Find out what women liked and didn't like.
   More importantly find out why they made the decisions they did, how those decisions affected their labor and what they might do differently the next time.
   It is interesting to note that in general, women who considered natural childbirth and used medication for labor plan to try for natural childbirth again with their second child.
   
5. Obviously, something about natural childbirth appeals to you.
   Try to figure out what it is and then challenge yourself to determine if there is another way to achieve it.
   Is it the health of your baby, comfort of being at home, the confidence natural childbirth mothers seem to have?Decide what it is that attracts you and look into all the ways you could achieve it.
   You may discover the only way to achieve your goal is with natural childbirth, or you may find other decisions are better for you.
   

By thinking through these points you should be better able to decide what labor preparations would most benefit your family.
If you desire more information, find a doula or childbirth educator in your area who can help you talk to families with experience in natural childbirth.
You may also enjoy talking to the mothers at a local La Leche League meeting.