Step #1 occurs between conception to 12 weeks. Every woman who becomes pregnant takes her Heroine Journey through pregnancy and giving birth. There are 12 steps in this Journey not 1 step per week. This means the time frame through each step will vary to some degree. Such a Journey isn’t new to any of us. From the Beginning of Time, the very best stories involve these 12 steps through which the lessons of life are taught. We are, therefore, inspired, encouraged, frightened, angry, full of hope, disappointed and enthralled whenever an ordinary person faces challenges and eventually overcomes.
No one has connected these 12 steps through Pregnancy and The Birth before. Our Trust opens the gateway to a remarkable time in your life. In other words, this is your Heroine’s Journey … only yours!
Circumstances in life push us on to this Journey. Pregnancy is one of those circumstances. Your baby’s birth is above all else the culmination of this journey. No matter how fast you move along this journey, it ends with the birth of your baby.
Characteristics of Step #1 … Conception to birth
You and your partner both take this Journey but each of you do it alone yet it weaves together. You are ‘becoming a mother’ and your partner is ‘becoming a father’ on this 12 Step Journey. We are going to show you how to take this Journey yourself and come together as a family! Keep in mind that this Journey is primarily inside yourself. This is where the transformation really takes place
Especially relevant …
- You exist in your ‘ordinary world’ yet you know that your Life will never be the same.
- As a result, you have ‘limited awareness of the issues’ that you will face through your pregnancy and baby’s birth.
- You might come into this pregnancy with very clear ideas and hopes. All of those will be challenged.
If you are pregnant for the first time, this ‘limited awareness’ is heightened. Yet, while this may be your 20th pregnancy you know that each pregnancy and birth is different. This means you begin these 12 steps all over again. In fact, this is one of the major reasons women get pregnant again. A Heroine’s Journey is always invigorating! Limited awareness falls into our Conscious Incompetency. We know (conscious) that we don’t know (Incompetency). Curiously, becoming skilled to birthing our baby falls into the Unconscious Incompetency … we don’t know therefore we’re not looking for anything other than what is common knowledge about pregnancy and birth (Just search ‘google’ and you’ll find heaps and heaps of information but NO skills!).
Our goal is to bring Conscious Competency to you through this Heroine’s Journey … to become a skilled birthing woman no matter where you birth, with whom or what is happening.
In your ‘limited awareness’ of Step #1, you are aware that you don’t know what’s about to happen. This produces a small or big degree of ‘lack of control’. We feel uncertain coupled with excitement, coupled with ‘how will this change me/us?’
This limited awareness actually comes from a worldwide human truth known in every culture across the globe and throughout time. ‘There is no way to know what your birth will be like’. If you’ve had 10 births you know each one will be very different because you also feel this truth in your bones. This highlights our individuality.
Conception to 12 weeks
Before modern pregnancy tests, women often didn’t know they were pregnant until about 12 weeks. Even when the strip turns ‘green’ we don’t feel pregnant. Even when our breasts get sore, we miss a period and feel nauseous, we deny, question, wonder and try to figure out ‘Am I pregnant?‘ Even not really knowing, feeling or believing we are pregnant is part of our ‘limited awareness’.
Limited awareness isn’t always bad!
Pregnancy always shifts things, therefore it impacts every aspect of your life. As a result, everything in your life impacts your pregnancy. Let’s say you:
- find out you’re pregnant just as you’ve been offered a new and exciting job?
- are planning a holiday. Should you really go if you’re vomiting all the time?
- wanted to get pregnant for years and now you’re thinking ‘OMG!’
- have been here before and thought you could control everything but discovered you couldn’t and are so you are just going to go with the flow this time.
Limited awareness can be scary
- I didn’t plan this.
- Do I want to go through with this pregnancy?
- What will my partner think, feel and react?
- I didn’t have great parents and I’m scared I won’t be a good one either
Your Life is unique and as a result, you’re faced with all these spinning emotions and thoughts. You’re alone!
Yet, you are pregnant
You are an individual … your life, circumstances, beliefs, choices, situation and ultimately you’ll make a Birth Plan about the birth you, uniquely, want. Each of us is unique. Our uniqueness highlights our Individuality. Your uniqueness can lead you into a deep sense of being alone. Yet you’ve now joined an exclusive group.
Every pregnant woman in this group will give birth one way or another. This highlights our commonality. Because of our fundamental commonality, you are not alone. You are now part of an exclusive group.
This exclusive group of Women shares openly (thank goodness). In fact, you’re about to be swamped by every other pregnant woman’s thoughts, feelings, ideas, suggestions and stories. Just google anything about where you are in your pregnancy and you’ll be into Information Overload.
Don’t lose your Individuality or Commonality
We’ll let Google, friends, libraries, TV, books, classes be your individual support during Step #1 … conception to 12 weeks.
Birthing Better online birthing classes is especially relevant… learning about our commonality and the common body language of pregnancy and giving birth. All the skills were developed by hundreds of diverse fathers and mothers. Under our diversity, we all blink, cough and can tighten up our rectum. In the ‘ordinary world’ of Step #1 … we are all One Humanity.
In conclusion … as you start on this Step #1 of your Heroine’s Journey you need to know that having ‘limited awareness’ is the very first step to your personal transformation. We can become frightened by the Unknown and Unknowable. Our emotions will go up and down. We want to reach out and get support yet we also know deep down inside we are ALONE on this Journey … ‘I am the Heroine’ Every pregnant/birthing woman throughout time and place has taken this Heroine’s Journey by herself! Welcome, feel embraced, be loved and nurtured. We honor your Journey.
While you Journey, all the tens of thousands of Birthing Better families will walk with you.
We hope you’ll invite Birthing Better skills along because preparing your pregnant body for birth and learning birth/birth-coaching skills can be your strongest ally through this Journey. These skills will belong to you!
Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation online courses are found in Common Knowledge Trust