Preparing For A Natural Birth

Hello everyone!

After a bit of a sabbatical I have returned to my writing. Many will know, my absence was due to the recent arrival of our new baby. I took some needed time to recover physically and mentally after the birth. Getting into a new rhythm and learning all about our new family member now takes precedence, but not to worry! I Intend to keep writing regularly. It is an outlet for me to share my thoughts and experiences in ways I might not otherwise. Natural birth is something that I have been aspiring to since finding out I was pregnant. As women, we are designed to be able labor and birth babies. It is a work of love, and one of the most rewarding experiences of life. While natural labor isn't always an option, more often than not, it is a method that a woman can prepare for. While the following things are, in my opinion important for any type of birth, they especially apply to someone working towards having a natural birth. Disclaimer about the information in this blog, I am not a doctor or midwife. I am a mom however, who has experienced pregnancy and labor and has learned a lot along the way. These are things that I would recommend to anyone wanting to have a natural birth, because they are things I myself have experienced.

Staying Healthy

In my experience and personal opinion, health is a critical factor to how a birth goes. While women's bodies are made to be able to birth babies, that doesn't mean staying healthy is void. There are several aspects to staying healthy. One is staying active. Because of my lifestyle, being active was easier for me. My husband and I are doing physical labor every day, so it wasn't something that I needed to schedule for myself. However, there is something to be said for doing an exercise routine of some sort to help condition and train your body. Squats, lunges, sit ups and push ups are things you can easily do at the beginning of pregnancy to help keep your muscles physically fit. As pregnancy progresses, your activities shift. I would encourage each woman to do her own research on what is safe. Personally, I did most things I wanted to, and if it felt like too much, I wouldn't do it. While it can vary from pregnancy to pregnancy (especially if you have a high risk pregnancy), overall it's not rocket science. Don't overthink it, just do your best and think for yourself.

Another aspect to staying healthy during pregnancy is eating well. Some people say to eat as much as 100 grams of protein everyday, to grow a healthy baby. I'll be completely honest, I didn't make this number hardly ever, and my baby is perfectly healthy. However, I believe that actively thinking and being purposeful about what you eat is important. Doing your best to stay away from highly processed and sugary foods is good for you anytime, but particularly in pregnancy. I do understand that cravings sometimes overpower reason (I had quite a few fried cheese curds during pregnancy). A really good substitute that worked for me when avoiding artificially sugared foods and just a lot of sugar overall was fruit. Fruit has healthy sugars in it that your body can process better, and will be better for your baby. I'm not saying it's never okay to treat yourself, but I do encourage self control on some level. It's not just for you, it's for your baby also.

Leading a healthy lifestyle with your activities and food, will give you both strength and energy to be able to have a natural birth. Sometimes labor lasts a long time, and in order to succeed, you need to be able to withstand the work of labor for a long period of time. Not preparing yourself physically would be like trying to run an Olympic marathon with no practice, you can't even begin to expect yourself to succeed let alone win. If food or exercise is something you struggle with, look into meal plans and workouts tailored to pregnancy. There is a host of resources online and in book stores if you look for them.

Getting Over The Idea Of Pain

Lets talk about pain. While every pregnancy, labor and birth are different from woman to woman, there is often pain experienced. There are fears associated with tearing, interventions, the pain of contractions and other things. I had my own personal nervous ideas about giving birth prior to being pregnant and especially during the beginning of pregnancy. And even though, as I am writing this, I am looking at my son, wondering how he possibly came out of me, don't panic, because he did, and I am alive and well. To some extent, pain is a mind over matter ordeal. You can train yourself mentally and physically to be relaxed and let the contractions work. I personally think that with practice, this does ease the intensity of labor contractions and the pain perceived. It's like any stressful situation, if you let yourself get so worked up because you expect something to be awful, your body is naturally going to be tense and rigid. You will most likely perceive yourself to be experiencing borderline unbearable pain. If, however, you remain calm and composed. The pain experienced and perceived will be bearable. Most of us have experienced some level of pain at some point in our lives. Some birth pain/intensity is normal, it's good, and it's not something to fear.

Educating Yourself

While I promote education for anything in life, I will go over why I think it is especially good for preparing yourself for a successful natural childbirth. Firstly, in my experience, a lot of people have different opinions regarding just about every area of birth. This comes partially from peoples varying experiences. The nice thing about this is, you can take the different opinions and learn something from it all. It might be that you don't want to use a certain birth style, and that you prefer another. It may also help you realize something you hadn't previously known, that you will be able to use in your pregnancy and or birth. There is a wealth of information about birthing. Educating yourself, is important so that you are more prepared on what to expect, less surprised or worried by common birth things and you understand different interventions that can happen in the event of a hospital transfer. The biggest reason that educating yourself is important is that you become capable of making the best decisions for your family. It protects you from having to take anyone and everyone at their word in regards to what is best simply because you have no idea. Some incredible books to go through just to begin growing your knowledge broadly of birth and pregnancy include but are definitely not limited to - What To Expect When You're Expecting, Natural Birth The Bradley Way and Ina Mays guide to Childbirth (also on Spotify). My cousin introduced me to the last two and they were incredibly educational. If books aren't your thing try podcasts. A podcast I went through and loved was the Homebirth Midwife Podcast, on Spotify. It is hosted by two practicing midwives who talk about several different areas of pregnancy and labor. There are several other podcasts on Spotify that I haven't yet listened to yet but are on my list including Peaceful Homebirth Podcast, Happy Homebirth, The Homebirth after Cesarean podcast, and Built to Birth. The point is that there are plenty of resources for good and reliable education.

Being Prepared For Your Perfect Plan To Not Go As Planned

This is something I sympathize with especially, because it happened to me. The reality is, sometimes things go just as planned and that is so exciting and great! The other side of that is that sometimes things go sideways. Although that isn't what I wish on anyone, it also isn't something to be discouraged about. For one, it's not always something you could have avoided. You're identity in how your birth went isn't what matters most. What's important is having your baby arrive healthy and having you come out the other side, able to recover. Therefore, I highly encourage all women who want a natural childbirth, to be prepared that something could change at any point during the labor process. I was blessed to be able to have a natural childbirth, even with things not going as planned, however it was danger close a couple times. In those moments, when it could go a totally different direction than you anticipated, don't let your mind run wild and hysteric. Focus on the labor and let the rest take care of itself in time. If you let yourself get worked up, it will likely only cause the plan to change even quicker. If an emergency is required, medical professionals will make things happen when necessary.

Before you ever go into labor, practice relaxing your mind and body. This will help you later, when you can't be trying to figure out how to relax during labor.

Have A Support Person

Whether it's your husband, mom, midwife, sister or someone else, find a support person. Someone who will encourage you during labor and help be both a comfort and a steady voice of reason. The beauty about having a support person is that they are outside the pain. They can help be a voice of reason and drive, when you need it. During labor, it is very easy for your mind to get so focused or crowded, from the work, pain and or just tiredness. You need an outside voice to remind you of little things. My husband, helped remind me to relax in between pushing contractions when he saw that I was more tense than I should be. My mom told me to keep pushing when I was on my last push and had to push after the contraction was over (It's really hard). My cousin was the voice of affirmation I needed and kept telling me I was doing a good job, which after hours of back labor helps you mentally way more than you might expect. Also, even though we ended up in the hospital, they let my midwife be there. She was a gentle voice of reality. Not once did she try to make me think something was more promising than it was, however she encouraged me along and talked me through it, which helped me reason through in my head that things were ok and I could keep going, even though I was tired.

If family isn't a pool you can pull from for support, there are birth doulas for hire and some for free. A doula is there solely as a support and advocate person for the laboring mother. They encourage a mom in the ways my family and midwife encouraged me. They also, often help you speak up for yourself in a hospital, regarding your desires and wishes for birth. They are a great resource for moms to look into. The point of all of this, is to find someone. It takes a village to raise a child, and I think its takes a village to truly successfully go through pregnancy and labor.

In the end, natural birth or not, hopefully you have done the steps needed to make your birthing experience good. The baby waiting for you on the other side is always, one hundred percent of the time worth it.