How do you Want to Birth?
A few weeks ago, you learned why you should write a birth plan. A birth plan is a written document of how you want to give birth. This is what you show your midwife or hospital caretaker and is simply an easy to read one-paged bullet list of your wishes.
A Birth Plan lays the foundation for your Birth Story.
A Birth Story is your personal idea of how you want to experience birth. It’s all about your feelings. In your birth story, you’ll write how you want to feel and experience your birth. It can be 1 page or 100. This is for you, not your caretaker.
You may have read several birth stories and are now thinking: ‚Why do I write it BEFORE I give birth? Doesn’t this come afterwards?‘
Good question: YES, you should also write your birth story after you give birth, if you want! It’s extremely fulfilling to let others know that birth can really be a wonderful, gentle and positive experience.
But, by writing your birth story beforehand, you’re preparing yourself of what’s going to come. It may not be 100% accurate to the real deal later on, but as long as you remain calm and open to the unexpected, achieving a pleasant birth is easier than you may think.
How Accurate is Your Prepared Birth Story to the Real Thing?
Please read my 4th birth story that I wrote in the 25th week. Amazingly enough, 70% of it actually happened!
What helped me achieve my ideal birth 4x was that I used HypnoBirthing tools and techniques and rehearsed my story in my mind just a few minutes every day. When my baby was ready, I was prepared and my mind and body worked together in perfect harmony.
This is not uncommon either. Watch this video and hear for yourself!
I firmly believe every mother needs to be ready for birth. It takes a commitment to work on your birth story everyday through visualization, breathing, relaxation techniques. It’s not difficult to make it a part of your daily routine though. We’re talking a few minutes each day of focusing on what you want!
„We believe that every woman has within her the power to call upon her natural instincts to bring about the best possible birthing for her baby and herself.“
Think Positively
It may seem a bit strange to start writing a birth story when you have no clue what it’s like. Sure, you’ve seen dramatized births in movies or heard about your friend’s or relative’s birth, but you never experienced it yourself. But that’s okay. That’s why you’re here, to learn.
First of all, clear your mind of negative things. Are you thinking about how painful it’ll be? Well, think about this: If you think about pain and HOW that will feel, what do you think your mind is going to do? Preprogram you to experience pain. You’ll visualize yourself experiencing pain and because you know visualization techniques work, you’re going to expect pain and therefore, will actually experience pain once the big day comes.
Did you know that the Laws of Attraction is a form of hypnosis? Fixating on something is too.
Thinking about negative outcomes is so much easier for some reason, but it’s not healthy for your mind, body or soul. SO, clear your mind of those Hollywood horror birth experiences because that’s not your experience. That’s not your reality! Remember, you don’t need to sell movie tickets.
Imagine what you WANT to experience, not what you’re afraid of or don’t want. Nothing more, nothing less!
A Birth Plan lays the foundation for your Birth Story.
How to Write a Birth Story With No Experience
Start from the beginning and just go with the flow. Use positive language, e.g. Contractions in HypnoBirthing are called ’surges‘ or ‚waves‘. We also do not speak of pain. Pain has a very negative connotation, so use words like ‚pressure‘ or ‚pulling up‘ instead. Or maybe you’d prefer to feel ’numbness‘? Whatever speaks to you most, use it every day. This is your party and you can serve whatever you like.
Write what you want your partner to do during this time as well. Also, don’t forget to let him read your birth story, so that he clearly knows what you want from him.
For example: ‚As I felt the next surge coming on, I started concentrating on the lyrics to my favorite song that was playing, ** insert name of song here **. My husband started rubbing my back and I started humming to the music while rocking back and forth in the tub of warm water. I didn’t even notice how long that surge lasted.‘
Here are a few After birth stories from MyGentleBorn mommies to give you a few more ideas of what to imagine.
I go into more detail about what to include in your birth story in the MyGentleBorn Childbirth Course and would love to have you join other mothers-to-be wanting to experience a pleasant birth. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Warmly,
