You may be asking yourself "Can I do this?" "What if you can't do this?" "How much is this going to hurt?"
These are all common things to wonder and worry about, but rest assured that it is normal to be scared to give birth, it is also very normal to be excited and scared at the same time.
Today I want to talk about why it is so important to have confidence during birth and confidence after birth as a parent. It is not always easy, but it is always worth it.
When I talk about confidence during birth, I am talking about confidence in yourself, confidence in what your body can do, and having the confidence in letting your body do what it naturally and instinctively knows how/what to do. One of my favorite quotes is "Increase confidence decrease fear." This is one of my favorites because I have never known it to not be true. It has been tried and true in all aspects of my life. If you have a specific fear you need to find a way to get more confident about it by reading, talking to someone you trust, or talk a professional in the area that you have fears. I encourage all of my clients and all pregnant people to tell themselves at least once a day "I am confident I will be able to birth my baby!"
Confidence is so important during birth because your fear hormone Adrenaline blocks your body's ability to produce your love hormone Serotonin. Having lower serotonin levels has been linked to longer and more painful birth experiences. Having confidence and the knowledge to combat your fears in going to be a key to a successful and confident birth. Having a doula also helps with this as a doula can help you walk through your fears and help you and your partner stay calm.
Confidence is also important after birth and into parenthood. Being responsible for a tiny human being is a big responsibility to be taken on with confidence and courage. Bringing home feelings of confidence, and joy from the birth experience strengthens the instinctive bond you create with your baby. This bond will last a lifetime between you and baby as well as your partner and baby.
Pain during labor is not something to be feared. Something I like to share is that pain is
Purposeful
Anticipated
Intermittent
Normal