The Secret to Getting Even More Magic Out of Your Birth Experience

Imagine this: you buy a brand new professional grade camera. You’re not a professional

photographer. Which person are you – are you the person who doesn’t read the directions when

you open up your new device? Or are you the one who reads all the instructions and takes all

the training courses to learn how to optimize its use? Maybe you are somewhere in between?

There are many examples in life where we buy something new or try something new where

there will be a learning curve for how to use the thing or do the activity. Right? When it comes to

birthing a baby it’s really no different. This is a brand new experience for you — especially if this

is your first baby.

When it comes to birth, there are those who decide that they want to just wing it – those people

who don’t bother reading the instructions. They know the baby has to come out of their body

one way or another and they trust that on the other side of the birth experience it’ll be okay. On

the opposite end of the spectrum, there is the person who has taken all the classes, hired all the

support people, done all the prenatal exercise and eaten all the nutritious prenatal things. And

of course there’s everyone in between.

When it comes to birth – you get to choose where on the spectrum you fall. You are the only one

who gets to remember this pregnancy and this birth and postpartum experience for the rest of

your life. No pressure 🙂

So let’s go back to the camera example. I want you to think about opening up your proverbial

new fancy camera and just figuring out how to use it through trial and error. Sure you could

probably figure out how to zoom in and out, how to change the picture from color to black and

white; but it’s unlikely that you will be able to unlock how to use the more advanced features to

get a really special shot all on your own. Your picture will be okay — it could be pretty cool even!

You will definitely take a digital image that’s nicer than an iPhone picture — but would it have

maximized the potential of the camera? I don’t think so.

“How much more rich will the experience be if you actually have a sense of
what’s to come and how to navigate it?”

Now think about if you had read the manual or maybe taken an online training course for how to

use the camera. Imagine if you had a friend who was a professional photographer who gave

you an hour of their time to show you the ins and outs of how to make the most of your camera.

As I write this, I feel a sigh of relief at how much time and energy I would have saved myself by

educating myself and reaching out for help. Your picture will certainly be more advanced and

more special than if you hadn’t received that guidance.

Now let’s take this analogy to the birth experience. You absolutely can go in with no prior

knowledge, but how much more rich will the experience be if you actually have a sense of

what’s to come and how to navigate it? What if you had a professional, experienced person or

team guiding you from pregnancy, through birth and postpartum? How different could the

experience be?

When you take time to learn and integrate information, you will be more equipped to handle the

experience of labor. You will be better prepared to navigate the “expected” as well as the

unexpected twists and turns of the labor journey. You will be able to respond to the pain/intensity

more positively than if you hadn’t done the preparation beforehand or lack the support that you

truly need and deserve.

I worry that those hoping to wing it will not just get a less pretty picture — they actually may find

themselves on the other side of their birth experience learning some lessons the hard way.

Labor may have been harder than it needed to be. A person may be left second guessing

certain decisions because they didn’t have a sounding board that they trusted to guide them. At

a minimum, there is certainly untapped potential that will be missed. Akin to wasting time,

battery life, and mental energy on figuring out your camera solo but 1000x more important.

So when it comes to the birth experience, I want you to know that there are those “manuals”,

classes, and guides out there waiting for you. Birthing a baby is an enormous life event,

something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. You owe it to yourself to educate

yourself and enlist professional support so that you can maximize the truly transformative power

of the birth experience.