ASK: I just found out I’m pregnant! Am I alone in my fear of facing labor?

[TRANSCRIPT OF ANSWER]

You are Not Alone

You’re not alone in your fear of pain. Every woman fears the pain of labor. It is our job to educate you on the process. It is our job to stand beside you to analyze what your experiences with fear. How you cope with fear in your life, and to utilize those tools. And maybe we can add to them with some of our own ideas, relaxation techniques, environment, supporting people around you. Those are the things that you use to alleviate fear, any type of fear, in your life. And the fear of childbirth is no different. And women have felt this since biblical times. It’s okay.

Understand the Process

If you understand the process and you understand why your body may be experiencing fear and the fact that with anxiety, with the fear process, the normal physiological process of being afraid can exacerbate the pain that you are feeling and can actually interfere with the labor and birth process. You have a choice as to how you will handle your fear. There are different options as far as handling the fear of pain and labor and the first we start with is understanding the birth process and that the fear may interfere with that.

There are different means that we can use to alleviate those fears. At the birth center. We utilize every aspect that we can, whether that just be holding your hand, talking to you, environment, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, ambulation. You’re not put in a bed. You’re not restricted. You follow what your body is telling you to do. Your body knows what to do. If you look, if you’ve ever experienced watching a dog or a cat give birth, they don’t go to classes. They don’t have anyone with them. Their body knows what to do.

If you embrace the process, you understand the process. If you embrace the process and understand that there are going to be challenges to you physically and mentally during the process, it allows the process to proceed much more efficiently and much more quickly in many cases.

Prepare for the Big Game

As a professional football player, a professional athlete prepares for a big game, you have to look at this as your big game. This is your Olympic event, and mentally and physically you must prepare and have the mindset on the end result, not the process itself.

I have yet to be in a birth where the mom is holding the baby in her arms that nature doesn’t kick in at some point in time and you forget some of the process. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard, ‘I’m never gonna do this again’. And by the time they come back a couple of days later, it’s like, ‘It was glorious. It was empowering. Just to know that I did this.’ Just like somebody who cheers and being proud of themselves for accomplishing anything physically, academically, it is that pride and that accomplishment. And you should be proud of the accomplishment that you, your body, and your mind came together to do.