Ch.13/ Building self confidence before your birth
Tapping into yourself and your community is an incredible comfort measure in birth.
If you know me, you know that my number one comfort measure I recommend to people is confidence. We can be doing hip squeezes and aromatherapy and playing calming music all day and all night but if you don’t believe in yourself then it’s going to be a lot harder.
But how do we build up our confidence?
Here are 5 simple ways to generate more confidence in yourself and your ability to birth your baby:
Surround yourself with positive birth stories. This is not the time to hear horrific stories that will have you convinced that your birth will not go well at all. Gently tell family and friends that you only want positive birth stories while you’re pregnant. Listen to podcasts about uplifting birth stories like Happy Homebirth and The Birth Hour.
Cultivate a meditation practice. There are a million videos on Youtube on positive pregnancy and birth meditations. Do a little digging and find some that resonate with you. Visualization is a powerful tool – let it guide and anchor you.
Take a childbirth education class. Knowledge is power. When you really start to analyze your fears or concerns, most of them will stem back to fear of the unknown. Cut down on the what if’s by taking a class outside of the hospital system that shows you what’s possible and how to birth in your power.
Lean on your support team. Whether this is your partner, parent, friend, doula, or care provider, they are there for you. Let them bolster you and remind you that you can do this.
Build up your community. Friends are great but parent friends are going to be crucial during this time of transition. It makes such a difference to have people who have recently gone through this journey or are going through it alongside you. Join a group in person or virtually and reach out. We weren’t meant to do this alone.
You may never feel one hundred and ten percent confident about giving birth and that’s okay. Give yourself grace to feel what you need to feel but protect your peace. Your mental state going into your birth is something that should be nurtured and comforted.
Need some guidance through these steps? Reach out to me! I’d love to chat more about my favorite comfort measure.
