How Will You Show Up At Your Birth?

Here’s the thing about preparing for birth: you can read all the books, take all the classes, listen to all the podcasts, set up a dream birth team, but no amount of preparation will get the birthing done for you. Shalome Stone tells Adriana why pregnancy is the ideal time for doing the inner work that will allow you to step up and own your birth and how that may look for you.

What we talked about:

• What does it mean to own your birth? Why does it this matter?
• What can you do to prepare to truly show up at your birth?
• Pregnancy period as an opportunity to prepare for birth. Will you use it wisely?
• “Going with the flow is not a birth plan”
• The benefit for inner work during pregnancy
• Reflecting on how you want to feel during birth
• The benefit for outer work during pregnancy
• Where and with whom will you birth?
• Watching out for red flags
• Identifying our “birth bouncers” and “birth cheerleaders”
• Being okay with the “woo”
• Letting your body’s reactions guide you during pregnancy and birth
• Facing and embracing your fears
• Surrendering is not the same as giving up control
• Learning from birth stories
• What if you have a cesarean? The possibility of positive cesarean births!

Related resources*:

• The Performance YouTube video (a fabulous & hilarious YouTube video!)
• Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing: Evidence and Implications for Women, Babies, and Maternity Care, Dr. Sarah Buckley
• Sarah Buckley’s “Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing: Evidence and Implications for Women, Babies, and Maternity Care”… by Penny Simkin, for Lamaze
• Maternity Care (crucial things to consider during pregnancy), National Partnership for Women & Families
• The natural caesarean: a woman-centred technique, BJOG
• Tips for a “Gentle” Cesarean or “Family-Centered” Cesarean, by Sharon Muza, for Lamaze
• Planning for a Gentle Cesarean Birth, Healthline

Places where you can find a doula:

• Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings
• Queer Doula Network
• Black Doula Directory
• National Black Doulas Association
• Doula Match
• Birthing from Within
• DONA International
• The International Childbirth Education Association

Related Birthful episodes:

• Birth Principles: Enhance Your Birth Plan!
• Going Into Birth Intuitively
• Pleasure & Joy During Birth
• Helping Your Mammalian Body (And Baby!) Have An Easier And More Connected Birth
• Family-Centered Cesareans

Image descirption: Shalome Stone, a white-presenting woman with medium-length brown hair and brown eyes, is wearing dangly earrings and a shirt with a bold swirly design, and smiling at the camera

About Shalome Stone