How I Prepared for Birth

When I was on the run up to birth, I spent some time preparing myself for what was to come. I wanted to go into it with my best foot forward. I wanted to be mentally and physically ready for what was going to happen. Whatever that may be.

So, I read up and learned from other people about what their advice was for preparing for the marathon that was birth. In this post I am going to share with you how I prepared for birth. The small things that I did to ensure that I was ready to jump into the new adventure of motherhood.

 

 

Give your body time.

The main thing that I did to get prepared for birth was by giving myself time. Throughout my entire pregnancy, I was incredibly active. I ran every day, did more spin classes than I care to mention and did pilates most evenings. My intention was to keep my body moving right to the very end of my pregnancy, but I felt like my body was giving me cues to try and tell me to slow down and rest. So, I listened to my body, rested up and I feel like this was really one of the biggest ways that I prepared for birth.

 

Spend time doing what you love.

I knew that following the birth of our baby, life was going to change immeasurably. Before my life did change forever, I wanted to spend some time doing the things that I love. But mainly the things that I may struggle to do in the early days of post-partum once I had my baby here. I went for amazingly long walks, went and had my hair done, my eyebrows laminated, visited the coast to see some friends. We packed our weeks out with all of the things that we love.

 

Ensure that your bags are packed and ready to go.

One of the final nesting things that I did before going into hospital was packing our hospital bags. To be honest, it was a really wonderful time. My husband and I played some music, got out the suitcase and began going through babies’ things and thinking about what we may need in hospital. It was the final thing that we did at home that made the whole thing seem incredibly real to us. Plus, when it was done it was like something mentally checked off in my mind and my body began to look ahead for the birth.

 

Make time to make your home your haven.

In the very immediate run up to having a baby and the time following the birth, I knew that I would be stuck inside my home. My house is my comfort at the best of times, so when something so big is going to happen to me, it was undoubted that I would be glued to my sofa for the foreseeable. In that time stuck inside I wanted to make the most of my home and ensure that it had everything set up and ready for when I got home with our new bundle of joy.

 

Let your family know how to control the news.

I knew that after the birth, I didn’t want to be headline news on my parents Facebook accounts. Our parents are in their mid-fifties, so they are of the generation where every exciting news goes on Facebook for their cronies to see. I don’t want that to happen. I wanted to enjoy some time in my wonderful little bubble with my new family. Then when we did want to begin telling other people, we wanted the news to come from us, not my dad uploading it onto his Facebook page!

 

Focus on your breathing.

One thing that I learnt during hypnobirthing was that breathing is everything. Think about how you are breathing. Be considered in your actions and how you are using and expelling your oxygen. In the run up to the birth, I spent more time thinking about breathing techniques that I will be implementing during birth. For me, the aim was to ensure that there was no panic in my breathing and that I was able to get through thing cool and calmly.

 

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post about how I prepared for birth. The things listed above are all small, but they made a huge difference to me mentally and physically. I felt calm, prepared and ready to take on whatever was to come next. My body was strong. I was focused, and I felt like I had the tools that I needed to get the job done. By doing these things, I feel like I went into the birth space with the best foot forward to deliver our baby. I would love to hear from you guys if you think there is anything that I have missed from the list. Leave me a comment below and share it with us!