Before I went into the hospital to give birth, I wanted to learn from my friends and family. I spent a few weeks doing the rounds. For me, I didn’t want them to sugar-coat anything. I wanted to understand what I was getting myself into. That way, when it was time for me to go into hospital, I could do it with a level of confidence because there wasn’t much that would be unexpected.

So many different people told me that it was all about mindset. Being in a positive frame of mind where you are determined, clear on what you need to do and optimistic. From there, I set about making my own plan and that is what I am going to share with you today.

 

 

Read up.

Before I do anything, I like to be in the know. What is going to happen to me? What happens in most standard births? What is the process after you begin to go into labour? I wanted to learn everything about what may happen from start to finish. It can be scary to open your eyes to every potential possibility, but the knowledge helps you understand what is happening and helps to take away some of the fear.

 

Speak to other people.

Even though people are pretty quick to tell you their horror stories, I still recommend that you speak to people. After learning what happened to other people, I quickly realised that they were withholding the positives. Then every now and again, you will come across that one person that had a wonderful and positive birth experience. You need to take the good with the bad. People with everything, not just birth, tends to only speak about negativity. Learn to see through that!

 

Learned about meditation.

I openly speak about my issues with anxiety and OCD. Because of that I knew that my birth experience wouldn’t be the same as other peoples. I can very quickly get caught up in obsessive thoughts and that wasn’t good for me or the baby. So, I opted to delve into the realms of mediation after failing epically at CBT. Just the basics of meditation changed my life completely.

 

Made a killer playlist.

Music is my biggest friend. At different periods of my life, I have turned to music, and it has got me through. Because of that, I knew that I wanted to create a playlist of amazing songs that would be high energy and upbeat enough to get me through the task in hand. I packed it with songs that I adore and when we were labouring before the birth, my husband and I had a good giggle. It set the mood for my happy birth.

 

Recognised the worst-case scenarios.

Even though the aim was to get me to a positive place, I also wanted to understand what could happen. If X happens, then Y will occur. It isn’t about scaring yourself, it is about realising that your pregnancy has been normal, the chances of these outcomes happening are low and that the medical professionals can handle any eventuality. Knowledge is always key in these situations.

 

Kept my focus sharp.

More than anything else, the one thing that kept me positive throughout my birth was recognising the end goal. Whatever happened, my job was to do one thing, get my baby here with us. Nothing else mattered along the way. It didn’t matter how much it hurt, what drugs were required or anything else. The only aim of the job is to get the baby delivered as safely as possible. Thinking like that allowed me to put so many other stressors in a box. I had a job to do and I was going to do it.

 

After experiencing birth first-hand, I can completely agree with what people said. There is absolutely something to be said for your mentality when you go into the hospital. You will naturally be a little scared, but make sure that you go into the hospital completely clued up. Know everything that you can know, understand the different possibilities and educate yourself.

With that knowledge, the birth experience will be much more positive than if you were to be frantic, panicked and scared. Take the nine months in the run up to birth, to ensure that you are prepared, not just in body, but also in mind.