Here we are at 32 weeks of pregnancy and moving toward The Birth. This is definitely a time for increased self-reflection. ‘The Birth’ is right around the corner. Prior to all the modern neo-natal NICU units, were any baby to be born at 32 weeks there is a good chance it would survive and be fine … certainly undercooked but definitely a viable baby.
This is both good news and bad. The good news is that your baby is well developed and can survive if born now.
The bad news is simple. Were your pregnant partner to give birth today would you and she have developed the skills to work through your baby’s birth journey? Now you know why Birthing Better families said to start preparing the pregnant body to give as well as learn both birth and birth-coaching skills as close to 24 weeks. If you have then you’ll feel skilled … perhaps undercooked but you’d rise to the occasion.
By 32 weeks your baby’s head and butt and often knees are clearly felt inside the mother’s belly. Over the next two months your baby will put on weight and fill out the uterus but your baby’s head size is almost as big as a full-term baby. The amount of fluid surrounding the baby is reduced relative to the amount of baby.
You can now see the baby moving around and often identify a foot or elbow.
Feeling more confident
If you’ve been learning birth and coaching skills from 24 weeks you are already becoming more confident about the birth. You’re able to create space inside your partner’s body and help her soften inside. You’ve probably begun to learn birth and birth-coaching skills such as breathing, non-verbal and verbal communication and deep touch relaxation.
You’ve been developing your Birth Plan and developing your Skills-based Birth Plan. You’re beginning to see how what you want and don’t want fit with becoming skilled.
At 32 weeks begin doing the internal work … preparing the birth canal to let out what is becoming obviously a big object. Yes, now is the time when you realize this baby is not the size of a golf ball.
This is when the skill of clarity comes to the fore. You are becoming more comfortable with how you will be able to help this 3-dimensional process be effective. You can also see that within a few weeks you will be a father. It’s almost as though everything starts to come into sharp and clear focus. And it will continue from now on.
Clarity is a quality that will always help you in your role as a dad. So, let’s move into this Phase #4 and learn how these 10 skills of ‘becoming’ a father reach their peak all the way through the birth of your baby.
Your bottom line
There are other skills-based resources besides Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Course such as Lamaze, The Bradley Method, Active Birth, Hypno-birthing and Hypno-babies. Check them all out learn as many skills with you during your baby’s birth … and use them!
Head to Udemy for all the Fathers-to-be Pregnancy Academy courses. Then at 24 weeks of pregnancy, come back here for the online birth class and start with the birth preparation and birth-coaching skills … all developed by hundreds of dads and moms.
Birthing Better skills are housed in Common Knowledge Trust.