We are, unfortunately, living in a time when owning a keyboard seems to randomly permit people to relentlessly subject others to their own opinions and judgments, especially when it comes to childbirth. Why the debate surrounding how a woman chooses to give birth is a "thing," is beyond me, but having been subjected to countless unfair assumptions myself, I'm here to tell you that this particular debate doesn't appear to be cooling off any time soon. I used an epidural during both my labors and, as a result, I heard all the things women who got epidurals are tired of hearing.
For a lot of women, myself included, pain is one of the biggest fears about giving birth. I consider myself to have a pretty high pain tolerance, but when I was coming up with a birth plan, I never even hesitated in telling my doctor that I wanted an epidural. I'm not sure if it was because of how the movies depict unmedicated births, portraying them as a miserable experience, or if it was just because I didn't want to have to bother with having to cope with pain on the day when I would meet my son. Either way, I was confident in my decision to get an epidural and, to this day, have no regrets for how I chose to birth both of my babies.
You would think that how I decided to carry out my own delivery wouldn't merit such ridicule from others, but alas, here we are and here I am; about to tell you all the things women who got epidurals would love to never, ever hear again.