Congrats Pregnant Mama! Since you are here, you must be contemplating having a “natural” or unmedicated labour and childbirth. Whether you are certain that’s the route you want to go, are just curious, or you want to be prepared for any possibility (let’s face it, birth can be unpredictable!), its a great idea to mentally prepare yourself.
Know that you can have a good birthing experience without the use of pain medication. I have had two natural childbirths attended by midwives, one in hospital and one in a birth center. I was really happy with how my labour experiences played out, and I want to help other moms achieve a similar outcome. In this article, I will give you my five best tips on ways that I mentally prepared myself for natural childbirth.
1. Educate yourself
Knowledge is power. My first recommendation is to start reading about the biological process of pregnancy, labour and childbirth. You should also learn about the common current medical interventions for childbirth. It is important to understand what is happening in your body in order to be an active participant in your own medical care. You’ll find below a few suggestions on resources that you can check out to learn more about pregnancy and childbirth.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
This is a classic, and arguably the most well-known pregnancy book. It has been around for 25 years and covers almost any question you might have about pregnancy and giving birth. If this is your first pregnancy, I would definitely recommend you read the latest edition of this “pregnancy bible” to demystify your pregnancy.
You can also visit the What to Expect online resources. I loved using the app, which has a ton of great features like weekly articles and videos to teach you about your current stage of pregnancy. An added bonus to the app is having access to an online community of new moms who are also expecting (sometimes it’s nice to just be able to chat with other moms who are going through the same thing as you).
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
A must-read for any woman planning a natural childbirth. This book was written by Ina May Gaskin, a famous American midwife, based on her 30 years of midwifery practice. I read this during each of my pregnancies, and found it very helpful to put myself in the mindset of trusting my body and the childbirth process.
The first part of the book is very educational in nature, and teaches about what the body goes through during labour, and what kinds of medical interventions may be recommended by health care providers during pregnancy and childbirth. The second part of the book includes several inspiring pregnancy and birth stories from Ina May’s midwife practice, as told in the mothers’ own words.
The Evidence Based Birth Podcast
If you are a podcast junkie like myself, you might enjoy this podcast by Dr. Rebecca Dekker and her team, which covers the latest research evidence on hot topics in pregnancy. I am passionate about science, so I really enjoyed listening to the episodes on various topics relating to pregnancy and childbirth, where they closely examine the latest research evidence to help listeners make informed decisions about their care.
2. Clear Your Fears
You may be like many women who experience some anxiety or fear at the prospect of going through labour and childbirth. Especially if this is your first pregnancy.
Childbirth is so often depicted in TV and movies as being a painful and tortuous experience. Most on-screen depictions of the birthing process show mothers screaming in agony while experiencing contractions and giving birth.
It’s no wonder that most women experience some fear surrounding pregnancy and labour. Some women even experience a strong fear about pregnancy and childbirth, called tokophobia.
During my first pregnancy, I learned about one key mindset shift that helped me to successfully have an unmedicated birth. I worked on clearing my fears/anxieties surrounding childbirth, using the Head Trash clearance method.
I learned about this method from the Fear Free Childbirth podcast, by Alexia Leachman. She explained that pain during childbirth is largely caused by the mother experiencing fear and anxiety, which leads to the fight-or-flight stress response, which works against the body’s natural labour and delivery process. That is when you may start to feel more pain or even slow down your labour.
Women who are feeling calm and stress-free during labour can actually naturally experience a pain-free childbirth, without the use of any pain medication!
Alexia teaches a unique fear clearance method, adapted specifically for childbirth fears, which is easy to use, and works quickly, allowing you to shift your mindset to feel confident and more positive about the prospect of giving birth.
I used her fear clearance techniques with great results (you can read about my experience on Alexia’s blog here).
3. Attend a Childbirth Prep Course
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Whether this is your first pregnancy, or you have been through labour and birth before, a childbirth prep course can be a great resource in helping you to mentally prepare and “plan” your birthing experience.
During my first pregnancy, my husband and I attended a labour and delivery course that was given by our local hospital. The course gave us a good introduction as to how labour begins, the whole delivery process, as well as some useful tips on taking care of a newborn.
These days, instead of attending classes in-person, you can conveniently do an online course, which is what I did for my second pregnancy.
I highly recommend Love Your Labour (LYL) (use code CONSCIOUSMAMA for 100$ off), by Corrine Brown, of Brownrootslove.com. This course is packed with everything you need to know in order to have your best natural childbirth experience. The course also includes valuable advice for your postpartum life, such as breastfeeding.
Corrine is a former naturopathic doctor and doula, she provides hours of instructional videos (broken down into digestible chunks), as well as print-outs, to walk you through all the important steps, from labour prep, birth partner prep, birth prep, breastfeeding and postpartum.
On top of the course itself, Corrine provides additional support via a membership site and live weekly Q&A’s in the LYL FB group. If you are interested in learning more about the program, check out my full review on Love your Labour, and if you decide to join, be sure to use my custom code CONSCIOUSMAMA for 100$ off.
4. Stay Positive
Seek out positive birth stories
Your thoughts and beliefs on the subject of childbirth can play a huge part in how your own experience plays out. If you have any fear or stress surrounding labour and giving birth, that can negatively affect your body while you are going through this process.
To counteract this, you should try to change your beliefs about childbirth. One way to start is by seeking out positive, natural birth stories. This will help you to believe and expect that you can have a good, positive natural childbirth experience.
The Fear Free Childbirth podcast, was a great source of positive birth stories, as Alexia frequently had guest speakers on to discuss their experiences.
There are also great videos on youtube, such as Bridget Teyler’s channel (she is a Lamaze Childbirth educator and Dona Doula). Check out her positive birth story on youtube here.
Have you ever heard of an orgasmic birth? Some mothers have described actually having orgasmic feelings during birth, rather than pain. Wouldn’t that be nice!? I encourage you to read up on this phenomenon, to learn how a natural birth can not only be pain-free, it can actually be a pleasurable one! See the Orgasmic Birth book here.
On the flip side, I encourage you to avoid listening to any negative birth stories. People tend to like drama. Some people want to discuss either their own personal negative experiences or those of someone they know. It is in your best interest to avoid these stories. Similarly, try to avoid conversations about your plans for a natural birth with ‘the doubters’ (my own mother was one of them!), you don’t need the negative vibes!
Create your Vision
You can take control of your experience by focusing your attention only on the positive birth experience that you want. One great tip I received during my second pregnancy is to create a vision board.
Using a physical poster or an online program such as Canva, make a collage of photos, pictures and quotes that represent the birthing experience that you would like to have. The sky is the limit, go for your ideal birth!
When you look at your vision board, try to feel the emotions that you want to experience and visualize the outcome that you want. Imagine yourself holding your baby in your arms, feeling incredibly happy. Feel the rush of love for your baby.
Just as athletes use visualization to achieve their goals, you can use this to help achieve your ideal birth.
Another powerful tool is journaling. Get yourself a beautiful journal and write down your thoughts and your desires about your birth experience. I have had great success in manifesting my desires by writing down or “scripting” my ideal future life. Its simple, but it works!
Meditate
Meditation is another great tool to help get you into the best mindset for going through labour and childbirth.
I recommend meditating daily (15-20min, if possible) during your pregnancy. A daily meditation allows you to practice getting into the meditative state, which will be really useful during your contractions.
This practice will not only relax you, but also help keep your stress levels down during pregnancy, which is important for both you and your baby.
There are lots of pregnancy meditations available (I had found some on spotify and youtube, and apps such as from Freya, the positive birth company).
When your labour starts and you start feeling contractions, meditation can help you to stay calm and get through the contractions without trying to fight the sensation. You want to avoid feeling anxious during the contractions, and avoid going into “fight or flight” mode.
Use Affirmations
Using positive affirmations during labour and childbirth can help you to stay in the positive mindset, feel confident and powerful.
I used affirmation cards during both my labours and they really helped me to stay strong and calm.
Repeating the affirmations during the some of the most intense parts of the labour can be a great way to focus your mind on breathing, remind you to trust your body, and let the contractions happen without trying to fight them.
5. Get your hospital bag and birth partner ready
Make a list and assemble together everything that can help you to feel safe and comfortable in your chosen birth environment. It is important for you to feel calm, safe and comfortable in order to have your best experience.
Think candles, music, lighting, vision board, affirmation cards, any entertainment you might like to have in case of a long labour, comfortable clothing.
We brought a portable speaker and played a labour playlist on spotify during both of my births, and I found it both calming and inspiring to listen to while giving birth.
Having soothing and inspiring music playing is a must. You don’t want to be stuck listening to the hallway sounds of the hospital!
Decide on what types of natural pain relievers you might want to use (such as acupressure points, TENS machine, partner massage, etc. )
I also highly recommend that you ensure that your birth partner is ready to support you during your labour, in the best ways for you. It would be helpful for them to know and be able to recognize the different stages of labour and what types of things they can do to help you at each stage.
As I mentioned in tip 3, the Love your Labour program (use my code consciousmama for 100$ off the course price) has an awesome section on birth partner prep, complete with videos, printables and step-by-step instructions on acupressure points that can help relieve various types of labour pains that can arise.
Have your dream birth experience!
I sincerely hope that my tips help you to achieve the natural birth experience that you desire. Remember that women have been giving birth without pain medication for millennia, and you can do it as well. On the other hand, if you do decide to use pain medication, that’s ok too! Don’t give yourself a hard time if things don’t go exactly as you planned, the most important and wonderful part of the experience is the beautiful baby that you will hold in your arms once its all done.
Please let me know if you’ve enjoyed this post, have found the tips useful, or if you have some great tips of your own to share!