Childbirth Education: Your Body Knows How to Do This

I always start my natural childbirth education classes saying, “you already know everything you need to know to give birth.”  I really believe this. We are born with the instinct and innate knowledge, our bodies are designed to fulfill this process, we have the physical and mental strength to endure.  I also believe that our tendency as modern people to know it all, study it all, learn it all can actually get in the way of a straightforward birth.  Sometimes our heads are so active in labor – thinking, analyzing, even judging ourselves – that our bodies seize up, the contractions stall, our spirits lose trust and hope.  In this case, the best thing is to unlearn it all, take away all expectations, and let it unfold in its own time.

Still, we are curious beings! What is happening to our bodies? What will happen when we are in labor? What can we do to manage the discomfort? What positions? What support people? What terminology? What decisions will we be faced with that we should be prepared to make?

All of these fascinating questions add a twist to my assertion above. Isn’t it true that education is power? When we feel like we’ve educated ourselves and our support people, we are more likely to hold to our beliefs and vision.  Especially when we are going outside of the normal practice and, right now, natural birth is not the prevalent practice.

Simple understandings like:

·       “I want to have a natural birth and not be induced, because I know that it is normal to be pregnant until my due date and up until 2 weeks after.” 

·       “My body is telling me to get on my hands and knees right now and I know intellectually it is a perfect position for labor and birth.” 

·       “These contractions are so hard to deal with because I AM SO STRONG. These contractions my uterus helping my baby be BORN.”

Information can free us – and normalize labor and birth – so that when we are in it, we don’t question it.  Instead, we trust ourselves, our bodies, and the process. 

Last weekend, at the Mason Square library, in a Natural Childbirth Education Class, I led 5 pregnant women and their support people in this very dance between knowing and unknowing. We explored the topics of labor and birth.  We discussed and put together “tool kits” for their upcoming labors. Birth balls, essential oils, massage, pressure points, positions, and many more natural remedies for navigating the natural (and intense) process of bringing forth our babies into the world.  We practiced breathing and moving our hips together. At the end, we all laughed, as if to say, “Let’s forget it all now! and let our bodies’ wisdom – the wisdom passed to us by our grandmothers and their grandmothers - lead us!”