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Overcoming fear of childbirth
When you are pregnant for the first time it is a wonderful experience. The only problem is that you are surrounded by everybody else’s birthing stories.
Some of these stories can make you feel intimidated or even scared for your first-time labor experience. A great way to take the fear out of giving birth is to feel prepared and positive about the experience.
If you are looking for more birth education to help you feel more confident and less fearful about giving birth, you will love this online birth class.
Here are some great ways to take the fear out of giving birth for the first time.
Look Up Positive Birth Stories on YouTube
When you are scared of something there is nothing better to cheer you up than a positive story.
The same goes for fear about childbirth.
A lot of the positive birth stories that you find on YouTube will not only cheer you up but they might even excite you about your soon to be an exciting experience.
Watching other people’s positive birthing stories on YouTube is a great way to take the fear out of giving birth.
Take a Birth Class
Birthing classes like these here are another great way to take the fear out of giving birth.
This is because birthing classes give you all the knowledge you need to know to feel more confident and prepared to go into labor.
You can find inexpensive birthing classes online or even in your own community.
Taking a birthing class is always good to try and help you feel less afraid and more prepared.
Get Childbirth Books off of Amazon
Reading a childbirth book not only keeps your mind busy but it also teaches you different aspects about childbirth.
This is another way to make you feel more confident and prepared which can result in feeling less afraid of childbirth.
By reading childbirth books that you get off of Amazon you will feel better overall when it is time to give birth to your baby.
Try HypnoBirthing
HypnoBirthing is something a lot of woman swear by.
It is basically just learning how to do self-hypnosis techniques to fight off fear and even pain during labor.
It’s a great skill to learn if you plan on having a natural birthing experience.
Join Facebook Groups Dedicated to Birth and Pregnancy
Lots of women have babies and there is a support group in every community.
Joining a Facebook group that is dedicated to birth and pregnancy is a great way to talk to lots of different women who have given birth just like you are about to do.
Having a support group is great to help you not be so afraid of the labor that is about to come
Listen to Labor and Delivery Podcasts
There are so many different podcasts out there and the same goes for labor and delivery podcasts.
These podcasts can give great advice and tell you real-life stories to help you feel a little more prepared.
Tuning into one of these podcasts can help you feel a lot less afraid.
Check out The Birth Hour – Birth Story Podcast
Share Your Fears with Your Partner
Your partner during this time is a helpful recourse.
If you are having any fears or anxiety about your labor, talk with your partner about them first and foremost.
It is a wonderful opportunity to bring the two of you closer together and build a stronger relationship.
Creating a birth plan, early on in your pregnancy, or even before when thinking about conception, can offer you the security of eliminating some of the anticipations of your labor.
Setting goals and making plans for a comfortable environment during your pregnancy and greatly eliminate anxiety about birth.
Externalizing, or speaking your thoughts and fears out loud to another human, has proven benefits and is part of the basis of success to therapy.
Even without a professional to lend you suggestions, having anyone to talk to that will listen lets you hear your thoughts out loud, making them easier for you to process.
Write it Down
Journaling has long been considered an amazing tool for self therapy, and anxiety relief.
Like speaking with your partner, journaling allows you to externalize your anxieties and fears.
Journaling however provides you with more privacy and therefore may allow you to be more honest with yourself.
Educate Yourself
Information is power! Looking into the statistics could greatly help calm your nerves.
Childbirth in the US is extremely safe and successful. 85% of women are able to birth healthy babies naturally.
The other 15% have usually had underlying health conditions that make natural birth improbable usually resulting in induction or Cesarean Section.
Also, getting as much education on depression and anxiety and natural ways to combat symptoms.
Finding out as much as you can about your family history and genealogy may help ease you as well.
Get a Midwife or Doula
Midwives and Doulas not only provide you with professional and safe birthing practices, they are also versed extensively in performing natural births effectively.
Many midwife practices have libraries of informational books on how to prepare you for the kind of birth you want to have.
Having the support and advocacy of someone else who is educated in birth can greatly take the fear of birth away.
Don’t Listen to Negative Birth Stories
Moms love to share their birth stories, no matter how the experience was for them.
It’s an accomplishment and many are very proud of the challenges they overcame.
While their intentions are in no way malicious, every woman has a different idea of what they wanted their birth to look like.
Some have longer labors than they’d like or in some way their birth plan didn’t go exactly as planned so they tend to exaggerate these parts of their stories, and can often be unsettling to upcoming mothers.
DON’T LISTEN!
Humans have what’s called a negativity bias meaning our brains are 3 times more likely to remember bad things than good.
This originally was a survival technique used to keep us safe from harmful situations, but in modern times is much more debilitating than helpful.
It is often what causes depression and anxiety to spiral.
So when describing their pregnancy, if anything didn’t go as planned, this can be the only thing the brain stores, forgetting all the wonderful and positive things that happened during the journey.
Try to only seek out positivity in any situation during this time. Your brain and body will thank you.
Learn About Pain Relief Techniques
Becoming versed in pain relief techniques, such as Lamaze, self- hypnosis, or meditation, before you give birth, or even before conceiving, can help prepare you mentally and physically for the journey ahead of you.
You can also learn a ton of pain relief techniques in the birth it up series here.
Final Thoughts
Labor can be an intimidating and scary thing to go through.
The good news is that there a lot of people and resources out there to help you feel more confident, prepared, and less afraid about the labor you are about to go through.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to these resources for a little advice and support.
Related birth posts
- What not to do after giving birth for the first time
- Do guys even go to birth classes?
- Important things your delivery nurses want you to know
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