Being 24 weeks pregnant is a uniquely exciting and crucial time for you and your baby. Your baby is moving around more and more, and you’re able to feel this development. You look and feel pregnant. You also know you are probably more than halfway through your pregnancy. Not very many women get to 44 weeks before they birth, so this time is absolutely vital in ensuring a positive birthing experience for you and your baby.
Here are two great links for you to go to that discuss very different aspects of 24 weeks pregnant. HOWEVER … neither of these articles tells you that 24 weeks in pregnancy is when you now need to start to prepare your pregnant body for The Birth.
As mentioned above, you are more than halfway through your pregnancy. This means you may have 16 weeks to prepare your body to birth your baby no matter the birth you have. This means you also may have 16 weeks to learn birth and birth-coaching skills. All this has to happen while Life is going on. Lots of things to do between now and when your baby is born.
Birthing Better families want to add at 24 weeks pregnant:
- Look at The Birth like The Wedding
Did your wedding (or would your wedding) be something you plan, spend time thinking about and wanting it to be perfect? You’re now being asked to create a Birth Plan (good). You’re seeing an obstetrician or midwife, perhaps hiring a doula. You’re probably reading some books, doing research about birth stuff, and maybe thinking about or going to a childbirth education/preparation class. You’re loaded with so much information!
When you plan a wedding, you show up on the day and hopefully totally enjoy the experience. You might be tired and dance until your feet or sore.
What happens when The Birth unfolds?
- Birth is NOTHING like The Wedding
Giving birth is nothing like a wedding day.
- You cannot plan what birth you have no matter how carefully you make detailed choices.
- Birth can be SO alien that you don’t know who you are!
- If you labor you may very well find labor contractions very intense for some time.
- You’ll most likely be surrounded by professionals and maybe in a hospital.
- If you’re having a home birth with a midwife or not, you probably feel your experience will be very different from a woman having a hospital birth. Yes and No. Physically the environment will be very different, however, if you don’t cope with the naturally occurring pain of contractions, the experience will be the same for all women. If your labor stalls for an extended period of time you might find yourself transferring to a hospital.
- Unlike at your wedding, your partner might really let you down!
24 weeks pregnant start begin Birthing Better skills
These are the resources in 24 weeks pregnant LESSON ONE. The resources in lesson one will help you understand both your unique individuality and our commonality as pregnant/birthing human beings.
READ: Our commonality is so much more fundamental than our individuality during pregnancy and birth. If you’re pregnant, you’re in an exclusive group and both you and your partner are moving from ‘becoming’ to ‘being’ a parent. All pregnant women will give birth. Explore how both work together. PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT INTERESTS YOU. Mothers and fathers may want to learn separate skills at first. That’s normal.
- PDF: Before pregnancy – 12 pages
- PDF: Mother-to-be – 7 pages
- PDF: Father-to-be – 14 pages
- PDF: First Pregnancy – 7 pages
- PDF: Childbirth – 28 pages
- PDF: Positive Birth – 15 pages
- PDF: After the Birth – 6 pages
Birthing Better skills were developed by moms and dads in the early 1970s in the US and used by many thousands globally in all types of birth. Birthing Better online birthing classes are housed in Common Knowledge Trust.