Something happens at 24 weeks of pregnancy to both the mother and father-to-be/other. The Birth becomes more real and 16 weeks doesn’t seem very long into the future. Also your baby is now moving and you feel him/her.
THE FIRST STEP to becoming a birthing woman and coaching dad/other is to prepare the pregnant body to become a birthing body. Please hear this clearly. You are growing a big object inside you. That big object has to come out of you one way or another. No matter how thoroughly you research the pros/cons of birth options and create a thoughtful Birth Plan … that is NO guarantee that the birth you ‘want’ will be the birth you ‘have’. No matter how thoroughly you respect your birth professional and are willing to follow all their suggestions you still will be the one giving birth.
There are several reasons to prepare your pregnant body to become a birthing body:
- It’s ENJOYABLE and part of the excitement of having a baby. This is true for all pregnant women no matter what type of birth will unfold.
- You get to learn how to open your body to let this big object out. This is true for all pregnant women no matter what type of birth will unfold because your body is always preparing for a labor/vaginal birth EVEN if you want, need or feel pressured to have a non-laboring Caesarean! Never miss an opportunity to enjoy preparing for your baby’s birthing journey.
- You gain confidence in how your body will birth a big object. This is true for all pregnant women no matter what type of birth will unfold. Even if you’re planning, need or are pressured to have a non-laboring Caesarean you want the confidence to work through your baby’s birth journey. The day of a Caesarean is your baby’s birth. You can use the skills on the way to hospital, while being prepped and during surgery and feel incredibly satisfied that you have truly become a birthing woman and coaching dad/other.
- In the privacy of your own home you get to build your family as a well-working team.
- Preparing your pregnant body leads the way to learning birth and coaching skills.
SECOND STEP is to learn birth and coaching skills. Can you now see the connection between preparing your body to give birth and the skills to cope, manage and work through the birthing journey YOU will go on not far in the future? 100% of pregnant women will give birth. You cannot get out of pregnancy without giving birth. Giving birth is the natural conclusion to pregnancy.
What does giving birth means?
- The birth journey will start and stop and you cannot replay it. If you skillfully work through this journey you will have a life time of memories about what you ‘did’ no matter what ‘happened’ to or around you.
- The birthing journey takes time even if you’re driving to hospital, being prepped and having a surgical birth. During that time you can and should use your skills as a commitment to your baby’s journey. Can you see how this matters to you and the family into which you’re welcoming your baby?
- The birth journey happens so infrequently in your life. This should motivate you more to become skilled to do such an important, life transformative Rite of Passage.
- The birth of your baby moves you and your partner from ‘becoming’ a mother or father/other to ‘being’ a mother or father/other. Are you now able to see yourself moving through this birth journey with or without skills? Which image do you prefer?
GROUPS
- You are pregnant and looking down the calendar toward your birth journey. Don’t waste another day … get one or more of the skills-based resources available. Make certain the ones you choose have a clear set of skills to prepare your pregnant body.
- You know a woman or man who is pregnant now. Giving them a Baby Shower gift of a skills-based resource should be your first thought. What will they remember more? A beautiful gift or a gift of skills they can use?
- You are a birth professional and have clients. If you don’t start to educate each and every one the importance of developing a Skills-based Birth Plan then you are actively working against what you want … empowered births. And DO NOT teach your clients. Why? For goodness sake you are already doing a great deal. Shouldn’t pregnant families take on some of the responsibility for their behavior, how they act, what they do and how they work through their baby’s birth journey?
- You are a WAHM or WAHD and want to add to your income … think about selling one or more Skills-based resources. After all you either birthed or adopted in order to be a work-at-home parent.
The US has a previous history of a Skills-based childbirth trend and it was directly due to millions upon millions upon millions of skilled mothers and fathers showing birth professionals that birth and coaching skills matter. ALL of the positive ‘choices’ available to families today come directly from that Skills-based childbirth trend. We just need to bring it back. Let’s build a Movement.
Here’s a link. This link will be put on all the posts. Kristen has 6 kids, the last 3 are PK babies. She KNOWS about birth and is one of our affiliates. That means if you purchase The Pink Kit through her she gets a commission. Her husband Scott’s first baby was her first Pink Kit experience. He’ll explain how The Pink Kit made certain he was able to become a skilled birth coach to a woman who had previously had three great births! You can find their interviews on our YouTube channel.
Kristen’s written a time-line calendar for use of The Pink Kit. You just need to sign up to her mail list (we don’t keep a mail list) and she’ll send you the Time Line. She’s worked through both Edition #2 and #3 of The PInk Kit so she knows all it’s imperfections and la-dee-dahs past them to the skills she wants to improve for each birth. Can women and men have better births each time? Sure can! The more skilled, the more we master the experience.
http://blog.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/pink-kit-timeline-from-natural-birth-and-baby-care-com/
Please join the Movement to grow a Skills-based childbirth trend. Don’t’ let another birth go by without that family being skilled