In Bloom Doula Services

We live in a culture of fear when it comes to pregnancy and birth. Although I love the internet, it does not help when one dives into black holes of pregnancy/birth horror stories that are all too commonly shared. When I became pregnant for the first time I was 100% excited. Fear was far away in my mind. I didn’t entertain many thoughts that anything bad could or would happen, but that isn’t the case for many women. Many women FEAR child birth. I feared the unknown, like the pain. I feared breastfeeding and assumed that wouldn’t work out. I feared the lasting impact on my body, but I didn’t fear birth. I truly 100% trusted the process. I believed that my body knew what to do. I believed that birth wasn’t something to fear. When I sat down to think about what made my pre-birth self so fearless about birth, I could only come up with one answer. Being empowered. But what made me so empowered? Especially in a realm that I’d never been in before. What made me so excited and the next woman so fearful?

For my entire life I’d been dreaming and preparing for this moment. The moment of birth. I knew I was knowledgeable, equipped to make the best decision and I knew that I had done everything in my power to get the best outcome. I knew I had little to fear. This confidence and this power came from years of education. I started my journey into birth work as a social worker with a focus in child development and reproductive health. I spent semesters learning and educating others on sexual health and pregnancy as a healthy sexuality peer educator, and a pregnancy resource counselor as an intern at a high school. I then worked as a nanny, and soon became a certified child development educator. I knew enough to know education was invaluable and that as a pregnant woman I had work to do. I had books to read and documentaries to watch, professionals to consult and most importantly child birth education to take!

When I think about my experiences and how they compare to other women’s so little of it has to do with factors like doing yoga, taking vitamins and drinking red raspberry leaf tea. Almost all of it has to do with my extensive education and the fact that I took a comprehensive child birth education class.

This is the most important thing you can do in order to be completely prepared for birth and it is something few women are doing. As time goes on fewer women are buying into the idea that a child birth education course is worth it. It’s something happening less and less. Women think the internet will answer all their questions. They think a blog, a YouTube video, their mom group or anecdotal comments from Sally Facts-ignorer will make them competently informed. That is not the case. The truth is your one time, two-hour hospital class is not enough. Watching The Business of Being Born, although fabulous, is not enough. A Pinterest board full of info graphics is not enough.

Knowledge really is power and we are allowing women to go into the delivery room powerless and without knowledge. Without that knowledge, of course we are fearful. And hospitals are capitalizing on that fear. Insurance companies are profiting from our fear. Formula companies are profiting from our fear.

Child birth education courses are the only legitimate way to become as informed as possible with well rounded information when it comes to preparing for child birth. This means at least a two hour, six week course. Taught by a birth professional like a certified child birth educator, a doula, a midwife. There isn’t enough time for your care provider to go over this information in your weekly/monthly appointments. The hospital courses do not cover everything or go as in depth and are relying on the moms who take that course to agree to the type of birth the hospital is expecting a new mom to have.

The best thing I did before having Holden was take a legitimate child birth course. I think the great outcomes I had in labor could be attributed to the combination of everything I did: evidence based research on my own, yoga, prenatal vitamins, red raspberry leaf tea, sitting on my yoga ball for positioning, hiring a doula, choosing a midwife and baby friendly hospital, and so much more. But none of that would have mattered if I didn’t understand the process of labor. If I wasn’t aware of the way interventions could impact my labor. If I didn’t understand the chain reaction of hormonal changes and responses. If I wasn’t informed about all of the procedures that would take place at the hospital and how I would handle them. I learned that all in my child birth education classes.

Not from Youtube. Not from anecdotal blogs. Not from the experiences of my mom or other women I spoke to.

If you are informed you are empowered. If you are empowered you will be able to beat the fear. We have lost the mentality that our bodies are incredible and powerful. Every human on this planet was birthed by a woman. We have to own that. We have to believe that we are apart of a powerful cycle of women who bring life into the world. We have to stop doubting that our bodies are capable. We have to stop buying into the idea that hospitals and doctors make birth safer and better, or know about our own bodies than we do. Surrendering that power and allowing fear to take its place is harming us as mothers and the United States has dismal birth rates to prove it.  We can change all that by being active participants in our education and birth workers are here to help. We can change that simply by entering the delivery room with information. If you are pregnant, or planning on a pregnancy soon, I urge you to get off of google and consider finding a great comprehensive child birth education class. It is something that will drastically change your birthing experience no matter what kind of birth you desire: a home birth, hospital birth, or birth center. With a midwife of an OB. With an epidural or without. Planned cesarean or unplanned. Knowledge is always power.

If you are in the greater Houston area and considering a child birth education course PLEASE check out my amazing doula’s Rebel Birth Course.