36 weeks pregnant here
Hi everyone!
It’s less than three weeks until my due date! Eek very exciting times! I can’t wait to hold my baby. I can’t wait to dress my baby in all the cute tiny clothes I have for it! I can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. I can’t wait to go for walks with the pram. And I can’t wait to not be pregnant anymore. But first, I have to get through labour. After reading extensively about all the side effects and risks associated with medical intervention and drugs, I am aiming for a drug-free, natural water birth in a birth centre, under the care of an experienced midwife. I understand that anything can happen during birth and things rarely go to plan or the way you imagine them, but as long as I end up with a healthy baby it’s all good! :)
However, you may as well aim for the ideal scenario right? So, one of the things that I am doing to help with managing the pain is using positive birth mantras. Some people call them affirmations. Your thoughts have a powerful affect on your body, from affecting hormones to heart rate. In the same way that during a long distance run I will tell myself positive thoughts to keep myself pumped, motivated and focused, I will be telling myself the following positive thoughts during labour. These are currently on my bathroom mirror so I can practice them and knock any anxiety about birth on the head.
- Globally 95% of births are uncomplicated.
- My body is perfectly designed to give birth naturally.
- Birth is a natural and normal process.
- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
- I have given 100% to making my baby healthy and will continue to do so.
- Don’t give up!
- I am a strong woman, I can do this.
- Every contraction is bringing me one step closer to meeting my baby.
- Don’t fight the pain, go with it. This is a good pain and will end eventually.
- Pain is temporary, quitting is forever.
- The fear of giving birth is the main cause of pain in labour. Take a deep breath, relax and stay calm.
- My mum had all three natural births, so it’s highly likely I’ll be able to, too.
- I can’t wait to be in labour. I’ve been training for this mentally and physically for ages. I’m prepared for this. I got this.
- “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24)
- The Lord gives strength to his people, the Lord blesses his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11)
- If God is for me, who then can be against me? (Romans 8:31)
- For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
- Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
- We will have a safe and positive birth.
If you had any birth mantras that helped you, feel free to share in the comments below! Thanks for sharing in my pregnancy journey with me, it’s lovely to have all the interest and support shared through this blog and on social media.
Holly x
Yay, so exciting! I had a natural water birth at the Birthing Centre and it went really well and was such an amazingly positive experience! You’re in great hands there! I’ll be praying your birth goes really smoothly!
Theses are the statements that I printed out and stuck around the room for Scott to tell me throughout labour.. It’s great if your partner can know to do this as once you’re in established labour it can be hard to remember to say these yourself and you just need someone encouraging you :-)
• Just get through this one next contraction.
• You can do this!
• God’s designed your body to do this, trust in Him, trust your body.
• Work with the contractions, not against them.
• We’re going to meet our baby girl, she’s nearly here!
• God won’t give you more than you can handle, let Him be your strength. (1 Cor 10:13)
• “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” (Philippians 4:13)
• “I am He who comforts you, I am the Lord your God, I have covered you with the shadow of My hand.” (Isaiah 51:12, 15-16)
• “Cast your burdens on the Lord, and He will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22)
• “You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” (Hebrews 10:36)
• “God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. You have God’s perfect love and that perfect love casts out fear.” (2 Timothy 1:7 / 1 John 4:18)
•“The Lord’s loving kindness indeed never ceases, his compassion never fails. They are new every morning, GREAT is His faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
They thing that helped me the most was just trusting that my body was doing what it was meant to be doing.. With each contraction I’d be praying and saying ‘thank-you for this contraction, thank-you that my body is working and doing what it needs to do to bring me my baby ‘ – it helped me to stay positive and trust the process :-)
I also diffused /applied essential oils and found them incredibly helpful! Breathing them in during contractions reminded me to focus on breathing and staying calm and have confidence that I could do it… And also helped me to focus on resting in between contractions. Highly recommend them! If you want more info, let me know.. I can tell you what ones I used and found helpful etc! :-) xo
Wow that’s awesome you had such a wonderful positive birth experience. I’ve only heard good things about birthing at the birth centre which is really encouraging!
Thanks so much for sharing your birth affirmations, some are very similar to mine! You have a few different ones too which I might add to my list. I think I will also suggest to my husband that during the really intense parts of labour he could read some of the statements allowed to me.
I have very little experience/ knowledge of essential oils but always hear such good things about them! I think down the track I will try to learn a bit more about them and use them but not before this birth. I’ve bought so many baby-related things recently I’m not keen to add a diffuser to the list! :P
Thanks Mel xxx