6 Ways Birth Will Rock
Your World
Birth is a completely new and unknown experience. There’s
one thing we can reassure you, it will be one wild ride! One of the best ways
to embrace the unpredictable nature of birth is to realize that when it comes
to having a baby, you’re gonna have to do the opposite of what you’re used to.
Instead of Holding It
In, Let It OUT.
From a very early age as little girls we are taught to cross
our legs. When we’re in the middle of a grocery store and we have to pee, we
hold it. If we’re feeling sad but we’re in the middle of a busy day, we push
our feelings deep inside (hello dark sunglasses).
Welcome to birth – where you’ve got to let it all hang out. With birth, your bodily needs are front and center. If you have to pee, you pee. When your waters break, they’re gonna flow all over the floor like a waterfall. When you have to push, it will be the strangest, most undeniable, most uncontrollable sensation you’ve ever felt.
Start practicing this now ~ when you are sad, let yourself
cry. When you’re hungry, stop what you’re doing and feed yourself. During
pregnancy and birth, everything that happens revolves around you and your
baby’s needs. And that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Instead of Thinking
It, Start Feeling It
By the time you show up to the hospital or birth center (or
take another fateful lap around your living room) you’ll have had 10 months to
plan, and analyze, and anticipate what’s going to happen during birth. You will
have assembled your team and packed your labor snacks, considered waterbirth
vs. epidural, and figured out every
possible logistic.
In the last days of pregnancy, you’re going to have to let
your rational mind take a little vacation. Send her off to the Mayan Riviera.
Meanwhile, you’re going to stop thinking with your mind, and start feeling with
your heart. Your body and your heart are the ones who will help you get through
the rollercoaster ride that is birth. Trust me, your mind will return to you
when it’s said and done … and she will be nice and rested so she can help
figure out the best sushi place that delivers in the middle of the night.
Don’t Plan Ahead
Yes, write your birth plan and give it to your birth team or
doula. But once you’re in labor, you should ask someone to tape something over
the clock so you can’t see what time it is. TIME DOESN’T MATTER. WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT DOESN’T MATTER. All that matters is what you are doing in this very
second, during this very contraction, or in the space between when you get that
sweet break.
Be Here Now. Does
that expression make you want to throw a chai tea latte at someone? Ok. Go with
that feeling. Figure out what about it makes you crazy. Because when push comes
to shove, you’re gonna have to learn to live there.
Trust, Completely
I know you are a smart cookie. I know you have the right to
change your mind. But realize that during labor you will be another version of
yourself – Labor You. Labor You will have to trust that Pregnant You made great decisions for Labor You ahead of time – that she chose
an awesome doctor or midwife, chose a great hospital, made a reasonable birth
plan and chose a great doula. While it might seem a lot to ask that you trust
all of those people completely … try doing this instead. TRUST YOURSELF. Trust
that you made the best decisions you could at the time you made them. And then
let it go. Be vulnerable. Let it hang out. Give in. Let GO.
Repeat After Me …
This makes me giggle. But do it.
Learn to Love Someone
Before You Ever Meet Them
You are doing all of this for a little person whose little
nose you don’t even know the shape of yet. You may feel like you know this
little person intimately already. Or you might not be convinced that you aren’t
giving birth to a cat or a fish (don’t look at me that way – true story).
Sister friend, the love for your baby is the craziest thing
you will ever experience in life. And it’s a gift that you can’t open yet, not
till its time. It’s like Christmas morning that could happen at any moment … at
3 pm on a Tuesday, in the middle of a thunderstorm, or at 2 o’clock in the
morning under a gorgeous full moon. No worries … your soft, squishy little baby
is the most delicious thing you will ever experience in your whole life. And
that love you’ll feel --- you’ll be completely unprepared for it. J
Trust me, I’m right.
Love, Kate
