Labor mantras and visualizations

[Erinz]

So a different thread got me thinking about this --

What are the mantras and visualizations you plan on using/have used in the past?


I have a few I really like and would love to add to my list!

-Meet whatever comes with an open heart
-I'm HUGE (Ina May thing about having a wide open birth canal)
-I'm a sea cave with powerful surges of water washing in and out
-Walking into the fire (the one I like from a different thread I read here!)
-The concept of filling a ballon in my belly with each breath in during a contractions, and then releasing it and watching it float away as I exhale.

Darn there are more but I can't remember right now! I want to make a list and have it available to be read to me because I'm sure I'll need reminders!

[beachcomber]

I like a lot of nature visualizations.

• Waves rolling onto the shore. Getting bigger and bigger as the contractions get stronger.
• Waterfalls roaring over the cliff and plunging into the pool below
• A tree with roots planted deep in the earth, stretching up to the sun with each contraction
• The wind roaring over the mountains. Blowing up one side and down the other with each surge of contraction

[groovynaturemama]

i have these written down and taped up ALL OVER my house. i literally can't go anywhere in my house without seeing an affirmation i feel like this worked really well for my birth last time. i used some of the same things, but also wrote some new ones as well.

it feels good to be wide open
make it strong, make it fast
my baby is so present for his birth
loose, relaxed and open
bring it on
walk into the fire
allow, welcome and let go
we are so safe at home
my baby will be born pink and screaming
my body was made to do work like this
my baby and i are a perfect team
we are going to have a beautiful birth
i stretch perfectly to birth my baby
i am so strong

[myfairbabies]

I recently got a fortune cookie that says "You will soon witness a miracle". I love it! It helps to remember what it all is for!

[herwitsend]

"God is not a careless designer"
"I was made for this"
"Open and loose"
"I *am* doing this"
"I am strong"
"The battle belongs to the LORD"
"Perfect love casts out fear"

[phrogger]

I have never really done any visualization or anything like this, and for this delivery, it is so sterile and surgical that I just keep praying that god will guide my OB's hands, however, I do remember when I was having my first two (my two natural deliveries) that each contraction was just one less to deal with. Each one was one minute closer to meeting my baby and I kept asking for more of them.

It kept me distracted.

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

I have a sheela na gig. Google it if you don't know what that is, but I'm hoping it'll help.

[sarahwg]

A friend loaned me the Gentle Birth method book so lately I have been trying to visualize my cervix opening and softening and my uterus as a soft jelly bed for the baby to rest its head on.

During labor last time I remembered Ina May Gaskin's ideas and tried to keep everything open - my mouth, my cervix - I practice it even now while I am going poo on the toilet. Open, open, open...

Visualizing things opening up and the a flowing movement really helped (waves, rivers, etc). I didn't think too much about what exactly what I was going to do before going into labor but I think this thread is a great idea. I'd like to have some ideas ahead of time and share them with my husband so he can remind me in the moment!