No Fear

Posted by mamas

Posted: August 17, 2008 - 12:02 am

Studies have shown that women who were educated in the birth process as a productive, empowering, positive journey; experienced shorter labor with less complications and pain. While those who went into labor afraid and expecting a traumatizing experience had up to 50% longer labors that seemed to be more difficult to manage. Expectation plays a huge role in your birth experience.

Dr. Grantley Dick-Read recognized that a woman in the Fear-Tension-Pain cycle will not only have more pain, but can hinder her own labor even moving backwards in dilation or stalling the birth process. A good resource on this subject is the book by Carl Jones called “Mind Over Labor”. Labor is much like other physical or athletic feats. There is an end goal that must be reached, and you must fully cooperate with your uterus as your body works toward this goal. However, where your mind is at during this time will directly affect your ability to surrender to the process and to open and dilate.

Anxiety in labor will cause the nervous system to have a “fight or flight” response. However, relaxation in labor will cause the body to produce good hormones and release endorphins. Everything from environment to who is in the birth room can affect a mother’s ability to truly relax during labor and birth. Fears about parenthood, modesty/body image, past abuse, negative birth stories or experiences, pain, worry over the baby, self-abilities, etc…. can all come into play during labor and therefore you must break out of the fear-tension-pain cycle by moving into choice. Women in this cycle may not recognize that it is fear that is causing the problem, so it often takes a strong labor support team to emotionally uphold a woman in labor and to offer the encouragement and strength that she needs at that moment.

Every birth journey will be different. No two women experience labor sensations the same way. Currently, our society has a trend toward treating birth as a medical illness or something that you need to be rescued from, instead of recognizing the amazing process that it is and the need for women to make birth choices that help them to be relaxed and feel empowered during the birth.

So if you’ve heard too many horror stories from friends or strangers, spend some time re-training your mind to expect something different. “Journey Into Motherhood” by Sheri Menelli and “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth” by Ina May Gaskin are two books that have positive normal birth stories. Or go on-line to read about enjoyable birth experiences. One such collection of stories has been made into a film called Orgasmic Birth and the website also features positive birth stories. Thanks to the world wide web, there is a plethora of sites that feature positive birth stories at your fingertips. Sites such as pregnancybirthandbabies.com will display stories from hospital to homebirth to VBACs. Women are now helping other women by sharing their stories that serve to counter fears prior to birth.

Prepare for the work ahead that will come with labor, but don’t fear it. If possible, isolate your fears prior to birth and work through them one at a time. Trust your body and your baby and learn what different methods help you to relax. It’s normal to fear the unknown to some extent, but by educating yourself and speaking to others who have had positive birth stories, you can change the way that you view birth. Therefore, paving the way for a better labor and birthing experience.

Do you have a positive birth story to share? Are you pregnant, how do you cope with those who want to tell you negative birth experiences?

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