🌿 How to Have a Natural, Unmedicated Birth - A Guide For Empowered Mamas

By Dr. Alyssa McPeak, DC, CFMP

For many women, the desire to have a natural, unmedicated birth comes from a deep, intuitive knowing: “My body was designed for this.”

And it's true. Birth is a powerful, primal, physiologically intelligent process — not a medical emergency waiting to happen. For thousands of years, women birthed without epidurals, Pitocin, bright lights, and machines. Today, even with the rise in medical interventions, natural, unmedicated birth is absolutely still possible (and safe).

But here’s the secret most mothers don’t hear until it’s too late:

👉 A successful unmedicated birth doesn’t start on birth day. It starts during pregnancy.

The more you prepare your body, mind, environment, and support system, the more confident and capable you’ll feel when it’s time to meet your baby.

This guide walks you through the 10 most important things you can do during pregnancy to increase your chances of having a calm, empowered, unmedicated birth.

⭐ Why Choose a Natural, Unmedicated Birth?

Women choose unmedicated birth for many reasons:

✔ Faster recovery

Without medication, your body moves through labor naturally and recovers more effectively.

✔ Increased mobility during labor

Freedom to walk, squat, sway, or get in water — all of which reduce pain and help your baby descend.

✔ Lower risk of unnecessary interventions

Epidurals can sometimes lead to a cascade of interventions. Natural birth reduces this risk.

✔ A more connected, intuitive experience

You feel your body’s cues, rhythms, and instincts more clearly.

✔ Higher oxytocin levels

The “love hormone” helps with bonding, breastfeeding, and healing.

✔ Baby transitions more smoothly

No medication exposure, no numbing of fetal alertness, and an easier start to life.

Natural birth isn’t about toughness. It’s about support, preparation, trust, and physiology.

🌿 Top 10 Things to Include During Pregnancy to Help You Achieve an Unmedicated, Natural Birth

These are the foundations of a birth experience rooted in confidence, empowerment, and informed choice.

1. Choose the Right Birth Provider (This is EVERYTHING)

Your provider should support:

• Physiological birth

• Minimal intervention

• Freedom to move

• Your birth plan

• Your autonomy

If they say things like: “Most women get the epidural,”or “We’ll just see how it goes,”or “You don’t need a birth plan,”→ This is not your provider.

Look for midwives, birth centers, OBs with low-intervention philosophies, or hospital-based midwife groups.

You deserve a provider who actually believes in your ability to birth naturally.

2. Decide WHERE You Want to Give Birth

Your birth location impacts your birth environment.

Options include:

• Hospital

• Birth Center

• Home

Birth centers and home births typically offer:

• A calmer environment

• More freedom to move

• Water birth or hydrotherapy

• Less pressure toward interventions

Hospitals can work beautifully too — if you have the right provider and support team.

3. Start Chiropractic Care in the First Trimester

Prenatal chiropractic care supports:

• Pelvic alignment

• Optimal fetal positioning

• Nerve flow

• Reduced pain

• Easier, safer labor

• Shorter labor times

• Lower risk of interventions

• Better birth outcomes

The Webster Technique used at Roots Wholistic Health helps ensure your pelvis is balanced and ready for birth.

A well-aligned pelvis = more room for baby = smoother labor.

4. Add Prenatal Massage Therapy to Release Tension and Reduce Pain

Muscle tension, stress, and fascial tightness can make labor longer and more painful.

Prenatal massage helps:

• Reduce hip and back pain

• Relax muscles

• Improve circulation

• Prepare the body for labor positions

• Calm your nervous system

Relaxed muscles = relaxed cervix = more effective contractions.

5. Practice Prenatal Yoga

Yoga helps your body:

• Open

• Stretch

• Strengthen

• Create space

• Improve breathing

• Train for endurance

It also trains your mind to stay present — a HUGE skill for unmedicated birth.

6. Learn Hypnobirthing or Another Relaxation Technique

Hypnobirthing teaches:

• Deep relaxation

• Mind–body connection

• Visualization

• Breath work

• Trust in your body

• How to release fear

Fear leads to tension.

Tension leads to pain.

Pain leads to intervention.

Hypnobirthing breaks the cycle.

7. Nourish Your Body Properly Throughout Pregnancy

Your uterus is a muscle.

Muscles need:

• Hydration

• Minerals

• Electrolytes

• Protein

• Healthy fats

Eating well supports:

• Hormone balance

• Blood sugar stability

• Placental health

• Strong, efficient contractions

Nutrition is birth preparation at the cellular level.

8. Build a Strong Support Team (You Are Not Meant to Birth Alone)

Your birth team may include:

• Your partner

• A doula

• A midwife

• A supportive OB

• A chiropractor

• A childbirth educator

Your team should advocate FOR you when you’re focused on laboring, not fighting for your preferences.

Supportive energy = safer, calmer birth.

9. Move Your Body Daily

Walking, squatting, pelvic tilts, stretching, stair climbing — all encourage baby into a great position.

Better positioning = shorter, easier, less painful labor.

You can’t control everything about birth, but you CAN influence biomechanics.

10. Educate Yourself About Birth Physiology

Understanding:

• What contractions do

• Why they intensify

• How to surrender/relax into them

• How your cervix opens

• How to move with your body

• How to breathe

• What normal labor looks and sounds like

…gives you confidence instead of fear.

When you know what your http://birth.Youbody is supposed to do, you stop fighting it — and start working with it.

🌿 Natural Birth Is Possible — And You Deserve the Experience You Dream Of

Unmedicated birth isn’t about being “brave enough” or “strong enough.”

It’s about preparation, support, and trust in your body.

At Roots Wholistic Health, we help women prepare for birth physically, emotionally, and holistically through:

✨ Chiropractic care starting in the first trimester

✨ Pelvic alignment & Webster Technique

✨ Functional medicine to support hormone balance

✨ Whole-body wellness support for pregnancy

Your body was designed for birth.

You deserve a provider who trusts that — and a care team who supports your natural birth goals every step of the way.

👉 Ready to prepare your body for a calm, confident, unmedicated birth?

Schedule your prenatal chiropractic appointment today.