Luck Won't Cut it, You have to Put in the Work

This may make some people a tad uncomfortable, but that’s kind of the point so here goes!

If you want an ideal birth and postpartum experience, you need to put in some work to achieve that.

That’s more than reading What to Expect When your Expecting, that’s more than attending your hospital’s childbirth education class, that’s more than relying on just doing whatever your provider suggests. Not that all of those things can’t be helpful in their individual ways, BUT, we are talking about having a birth and postpartum that you have NO regrets about.

And I know you may be thinking:

“But Holly, you always talk about not being able to control birth, so what’s the point?”

It is a valid point that during life, and birth in particular, there are MANY variables you cannot control. There are even times that you do all the right things, and bad or unwanted things occur. That does not take away the importance of SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS.

This can look a little different for everyone. For me, it was reading countless books about birth, listening to birth stories and birth related podcasts 24/7, childbirth education class, breastfeeding class, attending prenatal yoga classes, exercising and staying active. Then later adding to that with a childbirth doula training and pre/postnatal yoga teacher training.

My goal from day 1 for my first birth was for an unmedicated, vaginal delivery in a hospital birth center. A lot of people stop right there, or first-time moms say “well if I can I will go unmedicated, but I’m okay with getting an epidural too…”. FAN-TASTIC. That is a perfectly fine plan.. BUT.. if that is your plan I want you to fully understand what comes along with getting an epidural…( i.e. risks, and possible complications) before letting that be a part of your plan.

DO.👏 YOUR. 👏RESEARCH.👏

Know what you are agreeing to and feel 100% confident that is the way you want to go.

Back to my goal; unmedicated, vaginal delivery in a hospital birth center. I knew if I wanted to make this happen, I needed to first mentally prepare for an unmedicated birth, as when you choose the birth center you do not have access to the pain medications offered in regular labor and delivery. I HYPED myself up that I was going to rock this birth unmedicated. I listened to and read SO many positive birth stories. I let go of the traditional idea that childbirth was unbearably painful and embraced the physiological birth process. Using medications was not an option in my mind. I also physically prepared; walking every day, prenatal yoga weekly, strength training, and practicing breathing exercises.

I won’t dive fully into the details of that first birth (you can read about it more in blog post #1 😉) but it ended in an unmedicated, vaginal delivery in a birth tub in regular labor and delivery at the hospital. Essentially, I got my ✨ideal birth✨. Even with being induced with Pitocin, even with having extra monitoring that I wasn’t planning on, I was able to hang on to my mindset that I was made to do this and was doing it. That being said, there are still things I 100% would have done differently and I think could have improved my overall experience, so what did I do my second pregnancy?

I read some more, I prepared some more, I learned more and set myself up for success. 💪

Birth 2 – Labored at home, less than an hour at the hospital, birthed in the hospital birth center on the bed because they couldn’t get the tub filled up fast enough.

Pregnancy 3, took more time to mentally & physically prepare. I knew what normal labor was like (not Pitocin induced labor 😝) and felt even more confidence in my abilities to birth unmedicated.

Birth 3 – Labored at home, less than an hour at the hospital, birthed in the hospital birth center in the water (because I called ahead and told them to fill that tub up! 😅)

Pregnancy 4, I realized this was my last pregnancy and although I had good hospital birthing experiences the idea of a home birth had always lingered in the back of my mind. Now was the time if I wanted to try it, to do it. I found a homebirth midwife and began my journey of preparation in a different way. Still taking time to learn and know all my options and be prepared for different situations that I would possibly need to address.

Birth 4 – Labored at home, midwives were at the house for about 30 minutes, birthed the baby in an inflatable birth tub in my basement that my husband filled up just in time.

So take the time mama, to think about your birth vision and what it is going to take to set yourself up for the best chance to get there!

Feeling a bit lost or stuck with this idea? Or maybe like, “I’m not a nerd about birth like you!”

Let me help you! Let me coach you through this process and set you up for success! Head over to my offerings page for more info TODAY!