Something that I learned as a newly pregnant mother 13 years ago was that no matter what I chose to do during my pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenting period, someone, somewhere was going to have something to say about it. I have always been a bit unconventional; from the start, I knew that I was going to birth my baby my way, and I had no intention of setting foot in a hospital if I could help it. In fact, I was rather opinionated about how birth should go, even though I had never experienced it myself. I was young, inexperienced, and a bit naive. Fast forward to 24 hours in labor, and if an epidural had been available in the freestanding birth center where I was delivering my daughter, I definitely would have been yelling for someone to get me an epidural — now. Looking back on my labor with my first child, I wished for different choices and a different outcome. An outcome that included less back labor and less of me crying and feeling completely helpl...