An empowering birth without fear. What does that mean? It does not mean there are never any fears, it doesn’t only take place at home and it is different for each women. A birth without fear can take place…
When asked what an empowered ‘birth without fear‘ is, here is how women respond…
“Being educated on my options.”
“A healthy mother and a healthy baby and a happy family!”
“If you feel like you could do it 100 times over! I feel like it was so amazing I could do it again and again. No fear.”
“Trusting my body and giving in to my primal birthing state of mind! Our bodies so know what to do, and if we allow them to work and labour without getting in the way, it happens perfectly and beautifully….. ♥”
“Being educated on choices and options. Having support, being grateful, and bringing that little life into the world the best way you can.”
“Freedom.”
“Doing what my body tells me to, not what a white coat says I “need” to. Knowing I have a choice and not being afraid to explore them.”
“Being educated and allowing my body to do birth the way it was designed to do before medical intervention. Birthing the way it was done when the only attendance was that of a midwife who relied solely on experience and nature.”
“Being the decision maker in your baby’s birth! Whether is be an unassisted childbirth or a scheduled c-section! Nothing is done to your body without your consent! You give into your animal power and that includes being able to say no! Not asking permission to birth the way God intended! Also, having the strength to accept when your baby chooses a different path then you planned! I think to me it means confidence, strength, love, education, consent, respect, flexibility and faith! Fear has no place in it!”
“Knowing you are not at the mercy of your healthcare provider, and you are capable of giving birth! You were born to do it!”
*Picture by Nikki Williams Birth Doula and Photographer. Picture of Christy, her husband and newborn with Gorgeous and Green.
Recommended Reading
Birth Story of Ace {Homebirth Transfer to Cesarean}
Faith and Healing: A ‘Post Dates’ Home Birth After a Cesarean
C-Section Without Fear {Baby Reaches His Hand Out from the Womb}
Vaginal Hospital Birth of TRIPLETS
Compassionate Elective Cesarean Birth {Photographer’s Point of View}
The Long Journey Home: An HBA2C Story, {Part V}
The Long Journey Home: An HBA2C Story, {Part II}- Home Birth After 2 Cesareans (HBA2C), Baby Born in the Caul
An Unplanned Home VBAC!
15 Helpful Tips For A Cesarean Birth
One Comment
Andrea
At my 40 week appointment, my midwife offered to do an internal exam if I wanted. I stopped and thought a moment, “No, I trust birth. It will happen how it happens.” (My midwife got excited and wrote that in my chart. 🙂 And it did!
I learned a LOT through my last birth. One thing I realized is that all the tests, the multiple ultrasounds, the internal exams, etc. etc. are all trying for more control over a situation that we really cannot control. Birth is still a miracle. We still do not know how to perfectly replicate the amazing things that happen to mother and baby during birth. Testing a mother and baby to excess, using artificial labor stimulants, then cutting the baby out of the mother are all forms of trying to control something that for MOST people is very scary (for practitioners too!).
Truly letting go of control (with whatever safety nets you want to have in place) can take you to a whole new place in birthing. I truly had no fear when birthing our last baby in a surprise unassisted birth. My only fear during the whole labor was that I might be in labor for days, and even then, I believed my body knew what it was doing. My midwife, of course disappointed at missing the birth and a little stressed by the whole experience of walking into the aftermath and playing catch up a bit, believes that I NEEDED that birth. Truly it was cathartic for me!
For me, the only way I could truly get there was by trusting in God and giving all my fears over to Him. Accepting that whatever happened, He would be taking care of us in His perfect will. Bad things DO happen in birth, but I believe that going with the way the body was designed to work, things are much less likely to go wrong.