What do you picture when you hear the phrase "natural childbirth"? Towels, hot water, and a log cabin? Not these days. Today you can have the natural childbirth experience in the comfort and safety of a fully-equipped hospital, with your doctor, midwife, or even a doula present. All you need is the desire to go natural and the belief that you can do so. Oh, and a detailed birth plan is helpful too.
Effective Birthing Classes
The first step to having a successful natural labor and birth is to find a birthing class that teaches and encourages natural childbirth. One popular method taught at natural birthing classes is called "The Bradley Method". Under the Bradley Method, expectant mothers and their coaches learn numerous visualization and breathing techniques to work through each individual contraction. You see, getting through one contraction at a time is much more feasible than focusing on the hours of hard labor ahead, although some mothers are lucky enough to give birth relatively quickly. An effective birthing class will not only address birthing issues but pregnancy nutrition, postpartum care, and breastfeeding, just to name a few. To cover this wealth of information, the birthing class should be taught over a series of classes, preferably during your third trimester so you will have ample time to practice the techniques but will still have them fresh in your mind when the big day arrives.
Visualization and Breathing Techniques
This brings us to the second step: practice. It is crucial to practice the visualization and breathing techniques you learn at your birthing classes on a regular basis so that when you are in the throes of labor, relaxation and focus will come naturally. Visualizing your labor and birth naturally, without the aid of pain-relieving drugs, prepares your body for how it will handle natural childbirth. Having a positive, natural childbirth pictured in your mind prior to actually experiencing it will help the body do what it does naturally.
Breathing techniques are crucial to relaxation. Through well-taught birthing classes, you and your coach will learn various types of breathing exercises that are meant to help you relax. Practicing the variety of breathing strategies helps you decide which one is most effective for you, which one helps you relax the most and which one works for the birth plan you have created.
A Detailed Birth Plan
Once you have visualized exactly how you want your labor and birth to proceed, write it down. Having a detailed birth plan in writing will ensure that your wishes are respected by all involved. Make copies of your birth plan and give them to your birthing coach and health practitioner (this could be a doctor, midwife, or doula). You will also want to keep a copy of your birth plan in your hospital bag.
Many pregnancy and parenting websites offer free downloadable birth plans. Using one of these as a guide will ensure your plan covers all key components but by all means, use them as a guide. Your birth plan should be just that, yours. Tailor the birth plan to your needs, wants, and desires. Include such categories as labor, pain relief, birth, and post partum care.
Childbirth is a Celebration, not a Disease
If you have no desire to experience childbirth and labor naturally, there are many options for you: c-section, epidurals, and other pain-relieving drugs. If, however, you do not want to expose your unborn baby to drugs and their possible side effects, then "au natural" is the way to go. Being equipped with the techniques you learn from birthing classes combined with your detailed birth plan will give you the confidence and conviction to experience your labor and birth naturally. Childbirth is a beautiful miraculous experience that should be celebrated, not treated like a disease in need of diagnosis and treatment.
Sara Renae Mattson - I am a 39-year young former elementary school teacher. I recently gave birth to my first child, a son. After having him, I realized I did ...
