Tips From a Midwife: 10 Ways to Mentally Prepare for Labor
When your goal is an unmedicated birth, your mindset in labor is pivotal. There is often a lot of focus on preparing for birth physically - building strength, increasing flexibility, practicing positions - and sometimes mental preparation can be neglected.
Birth is mental challenge as much as a physical challenge, so to help you prepare for the task ahead, our Director of Midwifery, Carrie Duncan, has shared her tips for how to mentally prepare for birth.
Photo by Natalie Broders
10 Ways to Mentally Prepare for Labor
Written by Carrie Duncan, CPM, LDM
Photo from Etsy
Take a good childbirth education course. We offer several at Andaluz and there are many others offered both online and in person. Education about what to expect helps negate fear and helps you feel more resourced heading into birth. Classes also open the conversation between you and your birth support people so everyone can be on the same page when the big day arrives.
Practice reframing and pay attention to language. The mind is the lens with which we perceive sensations and create our own reality. Using words like “power” and “intensity” rather than “pain” actually helps your mind reframe what you are feeling so that you can equate the sensations with progress and purpose rather than suffering.
Stop negative self talk and use affirmations. Tell your self that you are powerful and capable of birthing your baby. Come up with some mantras that resonate with you and say them to your self daily, write them down and say them out loud when the doubts creep in. Eventually you will start to believe in yourself and your abilities.
Have clear communication with your support people. Tell them about the strategies you are using to prepare and ask them to join in. Come up with some key words that you would like to hear in labor and practice them with your partner, such as “You were made to birth your baby,” or “You are safe.”
Practice intentional relaxation. Listen to meditations, soothing music, hypnobirthing tracts or guided visualizations in the evening before bed and fall asleep to them. Have your partner listen as well, these tools can help set the tone for relaxation and are particularly helpful in early labor when the name of the game is relaxing into the sensations and rhythm of your labor.
Write out your hopes for the birth, or create birth art. These are both ways to visualize what you want for your birth and tools for manifesting a positive experience.
Stay flexible! There are so many unknowns in birth, and there are many ways to have a fulfilling experience. Allow yourself to explore having a positive experience even if your well-laid plans take a detour. What would it look like for you if your birth had to happen in a hospital setting? Or if labor was longer than you had hoped it would be? Don’t be afraid to talk this out with your birth team or support people. Talking through these scenarios is another way of processing fears.
Create some boundaries around consuming social media and online content. We have all fallen down the “Dr. Google” rabbit hole at times. Try to limit late night google searching and find some positive folks who align with your values to follow online.
Only allow positive, supportive people into your birth plan bubble. For example your distant relatives or even some of your friends may not understand your choices, and that’s ok. You don’t need everyone’s approval to carry out your birth plan. Decide who you would like to share the details of your birth choices with and be ok with the fact that birth at a birthing center will be a new concept for some.
Trust the process! Biological birth means that we will trust the timing (before 42 weeks please and thank you!) of your birth, trust your baby and trust your ability to cope with labor. At some point you have to stop studying and let it unfold. You are gonna do just fine, come what may!
