Birth anxiety!

[kidsareok]

I'm 26 weeks pregnant and the birth anxiety is creeping in! I knew it would - I've always thought of giving birth as terrifying and as a FTM can't believe I'm going to have to do it 🙈😂. Anyone else feeling the same? Any positive tips?

This is a totally normal way to feel :)

Get yourself over to some hypnobirthing training - it will change the game for you, I promise

I was mega sceptical for my first DC, but my best friend swore by it so I gave it a try. It’s totally non wanky, and rooted in good science.

There’s some daft myths attached to it - that if you do hypnobirthing ‘properly’ you won’t feel any pain. That’s nonsense sadly! But what it did for me was educated me, make me confident and excited for the challenge. I was lucky to have a great labour in a pool, but even people who have used hypnobirthing who then go on to need a C section or other interventions, usually say it helped.

Ok enough of the sales pitch - I hope you give it a try :)

There’s lots to choose from, but lots of folks swear by the positive birth company x

Recommend the positive birth company course!

I gave birth in June, as a FTM, I never bothered with hypnobirthing or anything like that as it's all just a bit too airy fairy for me, breathe your baby out - yeah right haha. I spent time looking into all the different pain relief available and prepared myself for the worst pain imaginable. Honestly though labour itself is not that bad, contractions are horrible towards the end but that's what pain relief is for and I found morphine made it all totally manageable. Morphine had wore off for pushing but I didn't find that painful I just followed the instructions of the midwives.

A contraction feels like someone with massive hands reaching up your vagina and ripping your womb out... every few minutes for a minute FOR DAYS.

Read up on all the pain relief available before hand so you don’t make and rushed decision when in actual labour.

With my first someone told me imagine the worst pain you possibly can and it’ll either match that or be not as bad.

Also check out the bump to baby chapter, they have a Facebook page, it’s a hypnobirthing course but not hippie dippie imagine your vagina is a flower stuff. It’s more to do with you feeling in control during the birth, I wish I knew a lot of it at my first birth

Not Gona lie contractions were bloody awful. Pain relief is there for a reason, if you need it take it x

Thank you for the helpful answers! X

Yes! 30 weeks with number 2 and the fear has crept in. It’s so so worth it though.

I tried to focus less on how I wanted the birth to go and more on how I wanted to feel. The only instruction I gave my partner was to support me in making decisions that helped to keep me as calm as possible. Whether that was more pain relief or feeling that I understood the reasons behind any interventions that were necessary. I was expecting to have it give birth in the doctor led unit and for some reason I could only imagine a quite medical birth. As it turned out, I had a water birth in the midwife led unit but if I hadn't listened to my partner I would have had a home birth/side of the road birth - he did a good job of reassuring me to call triage again and not waiting when I was starting to struggle at home. I arrived fully dilated.

A birth partner that can read your subtle cues and support you in making the right decisions at the time is key in my opinion. Never before have I had to make so many crucial decisions in 12h when full of self doubt and anxiety!