You’re not alone. There are heaps and heaps of us who want to have a much better 2nd baby delivery. Really, when we fell pregnant with our first we just fell totally into the old and true adage: ‘There’s no way to know what your birth will be like’. Being pregnant the first time just doubled our sense of ignorance about birth. Now we’re pregnant and facing the second baby delivery.
What happened at your last birth?
- Did you make a Birth Plan? How did that work? Well, OK, so-so, not so well or threw it out the window.
- Did you have any philosophy about your first birth? Did your first birth live up to that philosophy? Do you have a philosophy for your 2nd labour and delivery?
- Make a list of 10 words that explain your first birth experience. Also, make a list of 10 words that explain how you view your coming 2nd labour and delivery.
- What were your feelings after your first birth? Did you feel great, relieved, pissed off, traumatized? How do you want to feel after your 2nd labour and delivery?
You want your second child’s delivery to be better
I’ve had two kids … twelve years apart. One born in 1970 when the childbirth trend was for families to take either Lamaze or Bradley classes where we learned some breathing and relaxation techniques that either worked or didn’t. We had no choices. I gave birth again in 1982 when the childbirth trend was all about making a Birth Plan but skills were totally dismissed. Both trends were focused on achieving natural births, pain-free labour, and less medical care.
Guess what? Did you achieve those three goals? Great if you did. You might be hoping that your 2nd labour and delivery are as good or better! You too know the truth of that old adage … you never know!
If you are like most of us, the birth was anywhere from ‘not bad’ to ‘HORRIBLE!’ Now you’re looking down the calendar at your 2nd labour and delivery.
We can help you have a better second baby delivery
We want to share with you all the phenomenal skills that hundreds of mothers and fathers developed with me between my first and last birth! That was neat for me because Lamaze techniques did not work well in my induced labour. Between births, I had been with many families use the Birthing Better skills that could be refined and improved. I was then able to use those skills when I gave birth in 1982 to an 8-week premature baby while in a strange town, unfamiliar hospital, obstetrician I had never met. I birthed on my own with everyone watching me! Birthing Better skills are real but I had to learn them and use them.
The skills are more refined now! They’ve matured over 45 years:
- Prepare your pregnant body to give birth from 24 weeks pregnant onward … to create space inside your body so your baby has an easier time coming down, through and out your birthing body
- From 32 weeks pregnant do the internal work … soften inside your birth canal which helps dilate your cervix and prevents a delay in 2nd stage.
- Birth and birth-coaching skills … these skills can be learned comfortably during those last 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Throw away all your lists
Honestly, what did we as Birthing Better families learn about any of our births … including our 2nd labour and delivery is simple. Because we became skilled we used our skills to fill the Time it took to move from labour starting to delivery finished. We just want you to really ‘get this’.
99% of all the feelings we have about our first birth takes place in the context of not having prepared our pregnant body for birth (including our birth canal) and a lack of very effective birth and birth-coaching skills. This is a bold statement.
Sure there are many Birthing Better families who used lots of other skills-based methods … some successfully and others not so much. Yet, Birthing Better skills filled in the gaps that these methods exposed. Breathing, relaxation, thinking positively, self-hypnosis, pregnancy yoga or making choices for a home birth and midwifery care … has proven not to be enough or exactly right. That’s a bold statement too.
It’s all about gaps!
- If the breathing/relaxation skills didn’t really work well … you experienced a gap.
- If your baby got stuck that led to more interventions … you experienced a gap.
- You didn’t cope well with the natural occurring pain during contractions … gaps, gaps and gaps
- Your partner had no clue how to help … more gaps
- You felt disrespected by your X, Y or Z … gaps as well
Write your own sentence or more. What gaps did you experience? We can guarantee that your gap will be filled by one or more Birthing Better skills. We can’t change what happens to or around you. We can change how you respond to both the internal sensations and your responses to what happens to and around you. Being more in control means you will birth better in your 2nd labour and delivery.
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.