You’re having your first baby, now you are pregnant and looking toward the future – ‘the birth’ and becoming a parent.
Not many things in Life are so dynamic and full of the unknown and also full of everyone’s opinion.
This article is really about how to prepare for the birth of your first baby. Once you’ve gone past the first 3 months of pregnancy, moved into the 2nd trimester (2nd three months), you begin to not only think about ‘the birth’, you have already begun to research the possibilities.
Preparing for childbirth is not dependent on the choices (or lack of), your health issues, the Doctors or Midwives available, your living or financial situation or even how you feel about becoming a parent.
The reality of pregnancy is the same for all women. Once you are pregnant you will give birth, one way or another. You’ll have to sort out the practical things such as where or with whom you’ll birth. You’ll have to make decisions about what you would like at your birth such as pain relief, the ability to move around or a cesarean delivery.
You’ll also have to fit your whole life’s situation into the plans you make for the birth of your baby. All of this sounds like an awful lot to be doing and it is. Often all the choices, things to think about, the information to gather, the process of birth, what your Doctor or Midwife expects of you, or is offering, take a lot of time and sorting out.
No wonder so many first time mothers either feel they have to have a firm belief about ‘the birth’ or else decide to go along with their birth professionals’ recommendations. This period of pregnancy, usually from about 24 weeks on, is often filled with confusion.
Believe it or not confusion is good. Being in a state of confusion leads us to want to sort things out so we feel more comfortable.
So, let’s look at one door that can open to lead to confidence and a deep sense of being ready to give birth. That one door is your ability to prepare your birthing body and to learn birth skills such as breathing, relaxation, communicating well with your partner and keeping your body open to let your baby out.
Any birth, including a first birth, is actually an exercise in plumbing. Your body is a ‘container’ for your baby and during ‘the birth’ this object has to come out of your ‘container’. You can make that passage much easier, no matter whether you follow all the suggestions of your Doctor or Midwife or make your unique Birth Plans.
By learning birth skills such as Directed Breathing, the Pelvic Clock or Deep Touch Relaxation, you take charge of what you can do for yourself during your first birth. You’ll still have to breathe. Your body will still be in some posture or position.
By learning birth skills, you’ll feel capable, confident and ready to meet the challenge of birth. More importantly, this sense of capability moves you out of confusion into a sense of being in control and being in control is all about having appropriate skills for any specific task.
This is all good because being skilled during ‘the birth’ can work with and around, all the assessments, monitoring and procedures that occur in birth. Not only that, but you will feel more ready to parent when you have worked with your baby’s efforts to come out of your body rather than feel at the mercy of the experience.