22 Favorite Birth Quotes and Affirmations

November 29, 2010

Pregnacy, birth, baby

“Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear.” ~ Jane Weideman

“When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change.” ~Marie Mongan, Hypnobirthing

‎”If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any.” ~ Diana Korte

“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” – Mary Manin Morrissey

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. “~Marie Curie

“The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you.” ~ Unknown

‎”Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So also, pain is only pain; unless we resist it, then it becomes torment.” ~ the I Ching

“The same movements that get the baby in, get the baby out.” ~ From Birthing From Within

“A healthy woman who delivers spontaneously performs a job that cannot be improved upon.” ~Aidan MacFarlane author of The Psychology of Childbirth

“All natural birth has a purpose and a plan; who would think of tearing open the chrysalis as the butterfly is emerging? Who would break the shell to pull the chick out?” ~ Marie Mongon, Hypnobirthing

“It seems that many health professionals involved in antenatal care have not realized that one of their roles should be to protect the emotional state of pregnant women.” ~Michael Odent, M.D.

“The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power.” ~Heather McCue

“The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women.” ~Mary Rucklos Hampton

“No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception”. ~Grantley Dick-Read, M.D.

“Fear can be overcome only by Faith.” ~Grantly Dick-Read, M.D.

“Muscles send messages to each other. Clenched fists, a tight mouth, a furrowed brow, all send signals to the birth-passage muscles, the very ones that need to be loosened. Opening up to relax these upper-body parts relaxes the lower ones.” ~William and Martha Sears

‎”The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.” ~Stephen Gaskin

‎”Part of birthing without fear is trusting your instincts!” ~Brande Holm, BWF mama

‎”My OB put it in perspective for me. He’s seen 1 uterine rupture in 29 years…and she had not previously had a c-section.” ~Vanessa Spahan (a BWF mama)

“It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.” ~Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, 1953

“When you have come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly” ~Patrick Overton

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18 Comments

  • New Mama

    November 30, 2010 at 5:47 pm Reply

    Thank you for all the encouraging quotes Mama BFW! The one that God gave me at the beginning of my pregnancy is:

    “I will not worry about this pregnancy. Because I cannot control that which only God can control.”

    Another one God gave me today after my 39week Ob appointment is:

    “Lord – My baby and my body belong to You. I am the vessel for your new life. May Your perfect will be done.”

  • Keri

    February 22, 2011 at 9:49 pm Reply

    I like something that Marsden Wagner said “So having a highly trained surgeon obstetrician assist at your birth is about as sensible as hiring a pediatric surgeon as a baby sitter for your healthy 2 year old when you go out in the evening.”

  • Soshanna

    April 13, 2011 at 6:04 pm Reply

    Love this! I have most of these printed out and up on the walls during my HypnoBirthing classes as discussion points during breaks.

    I now have a few more to add 🙂

    As always, thanks for sharing.

  • Melanie

    April 14, 2011 at 5:54 pm Reply

    I like a lot of these quotes, my favourite is ”If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any.” by Diana Korte. However I think some of the quotes can be read a couple of ways depending on where a woman is at in her life, especially if she is dealing the with effects of a traumatic birth.

    This article sums up how some of these quotes can be unintentionally hurtful (http://birthtraumatruths.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/there-is-a-secret-in-our-culture-but-it-is-not-that-women-are-strong-why-some-birth-quotes-may-be-damaging-to-women/)

    Mrs BWF – I think you do an amazing job and this is not a criticism of your work, rather another side to how these quotes can be taken.

    • Mrs. BWF

      April 15, 2011 at 9:04 am Reply

      I understand what you are saying, however, I can not worry about what people ‘might’ think and how a few people ‘may’ take things out of context. I can’t control that. I have and always will be sensitive to those that have had traumatic births. I have experienced them myself and have written about this subject and we support women who have gone through traumatic births on our FB page. I do my best to support women coming from all different experiences and backgrounds, but I will never please everyone. Thank you for the feedback!

      • Melanie

        April 15, 2011 at 4:58 pm Reply

        I too have had a traumatic birth and know how much support your FB page offers. You are so generous with your time in helping other women to birth without fear, to understand their options to make truly informed choices regarding their care.

        I just want the world in general to know how a traumatic birth affects a women, and for the world to support a women to heal from her experience.

  • Dan

    July 18, 2011 at 3:59 pm Reply

    After my wife (8+ months pregnant) goes to sleep I post a new one of the quotes up somewhere in the house that she will find it as she gets ready for work in the morning.

  • Loraine

    August 27, 2011 at 12:28 am Reply

    I love, love, love these quotes!!!! I have just printed this off. There is another quote I remember seeing and I swear it was on your page but can’t find it now. It was something like, “We are empowering, we are……….” I can’t remember the rest? Help?! 🙂

  • Angela K

    February 3, 2012 at 3:22 pm Reply

    Where were these when I needed them? I’ve had five children and two miscarriages, so seven pregnancies…and I’ve never heard these. I had two children in a hospital before I even heard of anything else. Our culture is very effective at propaganda, and at stifling truth and empowerment. So sad. But…now I can share these with others! Yeah!

  • Janette

    October 29, 2012 at 9:48 am Reply

    Love these quotes! So much inspiration here. I’ve had three natural births, but they happen SO fast that they are too intense for me to really focus and be in the moment so I’m not as calm as I know I can be. With this one due in roughly 8 weeks, and another home birth (this time in the water), I’m looking for sources of inspiration, things I can focus on during my fast and intense labour (or long, if it happens that way), so that it can all happen more calmly and peacefully, and so I can really open up and give in to the whole process. Thank you!

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