On this A to Z journey through birth I’m excited to start out with affirmations! Affirmations are a great tool for pregnancy, birth, and even postpartum! Affirmations work by helping us change our self talk. When we confront our fears about birth with positive affirmations over time we can change our emotional and physical reactions when we think about labour and birth.
Some positive affirmations you can use leading to labour and during are:
I trust my body and my baby to birth safely
My contractions can not be stronger than me because they ARE me
Each contraction (or surge) brings my baby closer to me
It’s not pain it is POWER it is STRENGTH
My body was is perfectly designed to birth
Birth is normal and safe
Affirmations are a powerful tool to have in your birth tool box. They are a way to break the fear—-> tension —-> pain cycle.
That pain and tension can actually slow down or stall progress in birth. A tense body is a body that is not going to be very interested in opening up. We need our bodies to open up in birth! If we start changing our ideas about birth early on we can start to break that cycle before it increases our discomfort and slows our progress.
Reminding yourself that:
Your body is not injured it is just the discomfort of a muscle hard at work and a body making room for a baby to come to your arms.
That breathing is as important for your baby as it is for you. Holding your breath will impact your baby as well. We are more inclined to overcome the challenge of breathing slow and steady through contractions if we remember it’s importance to our baby.
That you are surrounded by love and support. Feel confident leaning on those around you and soaking all that love up as you labour.
Some women will actually create posters to put up in their hospital rooms or home if they are having a home birth. That way they can look around the room and focus on positive affirmations while they labour. Another option is to create cards that you can hold or read through your labour. You can also print a sheet of affirmations for your support people to have on hand to read to you during your labour. We provide each of our clients with a list of positive phrases and affirmations for their labour.
Did you use affirmations during your labour or do you plan to use them with an upcoming birth? We would love to hear your favourite affirmations!
