OMG. Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks! One more week until “Full-Term” and 4 more weeks until due date. I can’t believe it’s coming up so quick!
This last weekend my friend and neighbor threw me an adorable baby shower. I felt so much love from my friends and family who helped me celebrate. I really felt spoiled by all the stuff I received.
Here’s a picture with some of my family members who attended the shower:
As I get closer I feel less ready for the labor! I am sure all mom’s to be go through this… I thought I was ready – and I AM ready in a lot of ways. But goodness, the thoughts of labor can be overwhelming. I am taking a birthing class, that has been labeled as a Hypnobirthing class, but when I read descriptions of what Hypnobirthing is, I don’t think this class 100% fits the bill. I am under no delusions that I will be able to hypnotize myself into a trance during my labor that will allow me to not feel pain or experience my birth. I have only been to one class so far, but this class was really great. I love the instructor.
A few take aways from that class:
- She does not like the term “natural” to describe an un-medicated birth. It implies that if medicine is used, it somehow becomes an un-natural birth. So instead she chooses to just call it an un-medicated birth.
- She rejects the “birthing without fear” methods because she thinks it’s okay to acknowledge our fear and birth through it, not try to deny it is there.
- Women should follow their birthing instincts and not feel inhibited from using movement, vocalizations, etc… as they labor.
I still can’t help but wonder how I will handle it. You never really know how your labor/birth experience is going to be. I hope I can handle it without the medications, I am trying to have confidence in my abilities…but doubts are creeping in.
Any advice out there from mom’s? However you chose to birth (medicated or un-medicated) I am open to any assuring words you can offer me!
Long Days Journey 
I don’t know how far into my blog you went but basically I had an Emergency c-section with my first and due to compilations my epidural failed so I needed a general anaesthetic so was asleep for that birth. I was determined to try for a vaginal birth this last time. I knew going in that an epidural wasn’t an option so I read a lot about active birthing and other birthing strategies. My goal was to stay off the bed – even if you are induced and need constant monitoring my advice is stay off the bed. The monitors have cords, you don’t need to lay down!!
Try any trick you can. Water seems to work for many. I did shower which helped but bath was the best. I screamed and hated it most of the way through but something weird happened at around 7 cms where I finally accepted this is how it was going to be and I did go into a bit of a trance (the room was dark and we had electric candles around the bath) and between then and 10cms I almost dosed off. I felt no “transition” at all. So if you can find a way to surrender yourself to the process it can be quite good!! Ha!
From that experience though I would say take time to set up your room. If you are going to the hospital in full swing of labour then have your partner sorted to know what you want. I always pooed pooed the darkness being necessary blah blah but it did make a lot of difference. We tried music but I hated it. Turns out Injust wanted silence 🙂 I also did take gas and pethidine as drug options and they worked well for me. Good luck!!
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Thanks so much! I did read about your emergency C-section with your first delivery under general anesthesia, which sounds a bit terrible! I like the idea of surrendering and going into a trance, we will see how well that works out for me, haha! I will definitely make sure my husband knows how to arrange the room, since I am going to try to stay home with my doula as long as possible before being admitted. This is all great advice! Thanks!
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I’m 31 Weeks pregnant and I’ve just completed my 5 week Hypnobirthing course.
I’m also not under any delusion that it will be painless, but I think the concept behind Hypnobirthing is great.
What I’ve taken from it, is just to trust in my body and it’s ability to birth my baby, without the need for any medical intervention. Your body knows what to do, and can do it perfectly if you don’t fight against it and work with it. The less stressed you are, and the more mentally prepared you are to give birth, the better it will be.
That’s what I believe, anyway!
I’m going to try and just breathe, relax and allow. I’m going to try listen to relaxing music, read some birth affirmations, and remember that it’s such a natural process that I don’t need to worry about anything else. No active ‘pushing’, no stressful surroundings… Just me and my partner and my baby…
Good luck with the rest of your course and the birth of your baby! I’ll look out for a birth story in the near future! xx
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Thanks! I will look for your birth story coming up soon too! I still have a few more of the hypnobirthing classes to attend, but I think my class is similar to yours. Accept that it is a natural process and that your body knows what it is doing!
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