Spiritual or philosophical customs at your birth?

[LibertyBelle]

Hi Mamas,

I just had my first midwife appointment and it went really well. We were so excited to hear baby's heartbeat with the doppler. 150 bpms!

Anyways, I'm filling out the standard questionnaire and I'm not sure what to answer to this question:

"Are there any spiritual or philosophical customs, traditions, or beliefs which you would like us to observe or support at your birth?"

I don't feel I'm ready to answer this question yet because I have barely begun to do any research on birthing, and I'm not sure what I want.

Are any of you ready to answer this type of question? First time mamas? I'd love to hear from experienced mamas too, because I'm curious about the types of things you would include.

[kismetbaby]

Congrats on hearing the heartbeat! I can't wait. . .

Can't say I can think of anything for that question--at this point my concern is just to get through labor not worrying about any customs or traditions. But it sounds like a nice idea. I know friends who would bake a birthday cake close to their due date then freeze it. When they went into labor they would take it out of the freezer and after the baby was born have a 0 birthday party.

Honestly though, I think I will first be in concentrating on not screaming mode and second in exhauted "I can't believe I just had a baby" mode, and not be wanting to think about anything else.

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

that wasn't a question on mine- it was more like "do you have any religious beliefs etc that would prevent blah, blah, blah" of which my answer was no.

as we're Christian, there will likely be at least one prayer said during my stay at the birth center, but i don't necessarily feel that anyone else *has* to participate if it is outside their beliefs etc.

[LibertyBelle]

I think I've misinterpreted this question, because I thought it had to do with things like delayed cord cutting, etc. I guess I can easily just answer "no" then?

Pregnancy brain I guess!

[dislocator3972]

I'm crashing here from the August DDC.

I've read about a Jewish tradition that I would LOVE to include with our birth, and DH really likes the idea but we haven't looked up the details yet. Apparently a lot of Jewish babies are born into a very quiet room, and the parents whisper a prayer (a scripted prayer, I haven't yet found a copy or translation) into the ears of the baby (and, I suppose, the ears of God) so that the first thing the little one hears are these words of love and faith and good will. It just sounds so beautiful!

You could try looking into your ethnic roots and old traditions that may or may not have been used generations ago in your family, or check with your extended family and see if anyone has a tradition they haven't yet mentioned. Or maybe your DH (or your partner) has an idea for your family.

Good luck!