Yup. Three planned (and successful!) home births under my belt, with one planned in a few months, and I still feel a wave of "scared" or anxiety every once in a while.
I find it nature's way of helping us prepare for the mental and emotional work of labor, to bring those worries and fears to the surface so we can have the opportunity to address them. This is in order to enhance the physicality of labor to its maximum potential. When our hearts and minds can release fear, we open our bodies up to working to their full potential in giving birth. Our bodies/minds/hearts understand this is best done during pregnancy.
In short, it's normal to have fears and anxieties prior to birth, and it happens for most women, no matter how many children they've given birth to!
To deal, I listen to
Coming Contractions, a guided relaxation and hypnosis to prepare for birth, and another hypnosis CD,
Journey into Childbirth by Sheri Menelli. I alternate between those two, listening to whichever one I gravitate towards.
Those help me to center, focus, and feel more confident. I also like to do (very relaxed!) yoga with Colette Crawford's DVD,
Yoga for Pregnancy, Labor and Birth.
If I still feel blocked by my fears, or a recurring specific fear, I have a small journal I write in. I go through a mental checklist of what is bugging me, then turn that fear into a positive affirmations. The especially good ones, I write on 3x5 cards and hang in in my bathroom where I see them regularly and can remind myself of their truth for me.
So, say I have had a thought keep coming into my mind, like fear of the cord having knots and the baby not getting oxygen or nourishment. I would write, "My baby receives all she needs perfectly through the umbilical cord". If a nagging doubts arises about my cervix dilating on its own (worrying if I will go into labor naturally, etc), I write the converse belief, "My body knows instinctively just the right time to give birth." "I patiently await the time of my baby's arrival". "My body is wise and my cervix dilates just how it needs to when labor is here." You get the idea.
Writing these down and reading over them a few times works. I have found it a way to help me release my fears and move on to positive outlook and trust and I credit the good birth outcomes for me and my babies partially due to this technique that I learned myself.
These statements I shared may not hold much power to you or someone else as you read them here. But that's okay, because they came from me and are meant for me in just the ways I need. If you take the chance to write your own positive affirmations based on your own fears and needs, they will fit you and be perfect
for you because they came from you and address just what you need.
Sending many blessings your way
) I was able to make it through and loved my birth experience, and I think it was a great learning experience for this next birth. I think knowing now how it feels is going to help me accept it and relax.
) so having these ideas and thoughts in my head is really helpfull.
