If you’re pregnant now is the time to learn birth and coaching skills. Start 24 weeks onward. If you’re 2 days from your due date and seeking birth and coaching skills then cram! Any skill is better than none. The use of any skill is better than not using any.
If you’ve been traumatised in a previous birth and plan on getting pregnant again, now is the time to learn birth and coaching skills before you get pregnant!
If you’ve been traumatised in a previous birth and do not plan on having another baby, learn, practice and use the skills in your mind to replay your traumatised birth experience.
Does the ‘you’ in those sentences apply only to women? Nope! If you’re a man, father-to-be, partner you absolutely must become a skilled birth coaching dad. Why? Duh! If you want to feel skilled then learn skills. If you want to feel useful and know your skills have had a positive impact on your birthing partner’s experience then learn skills. If you want to wow your birth professional, learn skills. If you believe skilled men are essential, then learn skills!
And if you’re another important person who will be present at a baby’s birth, become skilled right now.
There is absolutely NO birth professional who will stop you from using birth and coaching skills no matter how much assessments, monitoring and procedures they do. In fact midwives and obstetricians would like to see you feeling relaxed and focused on working together.
Learn birth and coaching skills right now because if you’re bored sitting in a doctor’s office practice them! Even if you use birth and coaching skills to fill time, you’ll be doing something and you’ll feel more actively participating and less passive.
Learn birth and coaching skills right now because this makes common sense as you look down the calendar to The Birth!
Learn birth and coaching skills right now because skilled families always birth better whether you want a medical birth or not, whether you need a more medical birth or not or whether you are being pressured to have a more medical birth or achieving the natural birth you want.