Birth is often described as the most memorable and beautiful event in the life of expectant parents. And at the same time, fears and insecurities often play a major role, especially with the first baby. How much will childbirth hurt? What if there are complications?
In this situation, it helps to be positive about the birth, for example by reading positive birth reports instead of horror stories. But often the uncertainty about giving birth also comes from a lack of information. That's why today, together with Steffi and Janine from < /span>Hey Wow Mom 7 tips for you about the birth that can help you with your preparation!
1. Understand your body
What happens in your body during pregnancy? How big is your child, where exactly is it before birth? How exactly does the birth proceed, what are the phases and what happens in your body during this time? How does your child move through the pelvis and how can you support it from the outside? Understanding these things will take away a lot of your insecurities because you will have clarity about what exactly your body can actually do. You can provide ideal mental support by visualizing the birth and pregnancy positively and imagining your dream birth. Your mindset, your preparation and your resulting competence and self-determination influence about 80% of the birth process.
2. Trust in you and your baby!
You two may never have done this before - but you have everything you need within you. Connect with your child, trusting that you both intuitively know what to do. Try to keep listening to yourself during the birth and to understand what might be going on in your child. It can do so much mentally and will make you the strongest version of yourself because every minute of labour, every surge, every contraction brings you closer to your baby.
3.Birth is sport - you can prepare yourself!
If you can, keep moving during pregnancy - your fitness and strength are also of great benefit during childbirth. Even if you will outgrow yourself anyway with all the adrenaline, it will be easier for you to hold your preferred positions longer or to experience a possibly longer birth in full force. In addition, your body awareness, which you have trained very well through sport, can help you to specifically tense or relax certain muscle groups if this is necessary.
It's not about trying lots of crazy new sports while you're pregnant or building up as many muscles and condition as possible, but doing the sport that's good for you - whether it's jogging, swimming, yoga or something completely different.
4. Don't underestimate home remedies!
You can also prepare yourself for the birth with a few valuable home remedies. For example, you can use certain forms of nutrition - specifically by avoiding simple carbohydrates and sugar, the so-called Louwen diet - to ensure that your cervix becomes nice and soft and the cervix matures.
Many people are also familiar with the raspberry leaf tea for preparing and facilitating childbirth. After consulting your midwife, 1-2 cups a day from the 36th week of pregnancy can help loosen your pelvic floor tissue.
Acupuncture in preparation for childbirth can also be a great way to get in touch with your body, relax and set impulses that prepare your body for this unforgettable moment.
5. Hello, Dam!
You can also prepare your perineum for childbirth. Because when your child's head and shoulders push outwards, there is so much pressure on the perineal tissue that it often gives way.
You can prepare the tissue and make it nice and soft with targeted and regular perineal massages. Such a massage may seem uncomfortable to you at first, but at the same time it can be a great way to prepare yourself mentally and in connection with your baby for the birth to start soon.
Let your midwife show you what a perineal massage looks like. You don't need anything else but a suitable oil - this can either be a high-quality almond oil or a perineal massage oil specially mixed for it.
6. Mental birth preparation
Often the idea of birth is so closely linked to the image of fear and pain that very few women can hardly imagine a painless birth in deep peace.
Then targeted mental preparation for birth can work wonders. The main thing is to experience and shape your birth in a self-determined manner. This can happen, for example, under hypnosis (hypnobirthing) or through an actively induced state of deep relaxation.
This type of preparation complements the conventional birth preparation course, where the main aim is to understand the physiology of birth and to organize and prepare everything that is necessary around it. During the mental preparation, you will learn how to stay with yourself and your baby during the birth, how to deal with possible challenges and how you can make your birth as comfortable as possible, both internally and mentally. Because just like in professional sports, mental preparation and focus can make a huge difference during childbirth.
Absolute heart recommendation from Janine & Steffi: "The Peaceful Birth" - podcast and course by Kristin Graf.
7. My birth wish list
A birth wish list is a great idea for a number of reasons. On the one hand, it will help you with the exact analysis of your dream birth and with its visualization. It is also a great tool for a self-determined birth - because if you and your birth companion know what you want, this can be incredibly valuable for the entire course of the birth.
The birth wish list contains all your wishes for your birth, for example:
- What atmosphere you want (light, music or silence, etc.)
- What kind of research you want & which ones don't
- How you wish to communicate with the accompanying midwife (directly or through your companion if you want to give birth in hypnosis or meditation)
- Whether and if so, which painkillers you want
- If you want a water birth
- What you want for the postpartum phase (immediate bonding, draining the umbilical cord, etc.)
In the first step, you formulate this wish list for you and your companion - so you both know what your dream birth looks like and what you can do about it. But such a list is also of great value for the specialist staff who will accompany your birth. Ideally, discuss your wishes when registering the birth and leave the list in printed form on site.
Author: Jane-Lee Fromm
