Preparing For Birth: A Practical Guide

There are many things that you can do while preparing for birth while addressing both your body and your mind. This list may seem a-typical, or at least something that may not be much talked about but it’s a topic that brings me a lot of joy to speak of.

I will touch on how you can address your fears of birth, what is involved in birth, what kind of supplies you may need and like and a final discussion on who you should allow in your birth space. 

Part of preparing the body for pregnancy includes preparing the mind for birth. It’s all connected at the end of the day! So let’s dive into it, shall we? 

Preparing for Birth Requires You To Ask Hard Questions Like: “Why am I afraid of giving birth?”

A large part of preparing for birth is to ask yourself that question! “Why do I have a fear of birth?” Having a fear of birth can have the potential to be your biggest downfall when it comes to having an easy and successful birth. Your fear of birth likely comes from a fear of being in pain, a fear of danger, distress, possibly even death… Your fear of birth comes from the way it has been depicted in film, how it’s been represented and honestly, how it’s been handled for the last century. 

Understanding the mechanics of your body, what a physiological birth is and how your brain will change through birth will be your greatest asset. That and understanding your rights as a mother.

Understanding and education = empowerment.

So the point of this blog? To encourage you to empower yourself and get educated. Whether you’ve already done a lot of the preliminary nutritional work prior to conceiving or not, I think it’s time we dive into it, don’t you think?

Preparing for Birth by Understanding Physiological Birth

We have been birthing babies since our existence and I think it’s safe to say that we have succeeded in doing so all on our own, without interventions. If you think of an animal giving birth in the wild, you always witness them birthing when they are in an environment that is safe for them. There are animals that can be in full-blown labor and if they sense danger, they are able to delay the birth of their kid until they feel safe again. We humans are no different. We birth our babies when they are ready, and when we feel safe. This is why it’s so important to discuss the fear we hold when we are in the midst of preparing for birth.

Physiological birth is natural process in which birth unfolds. When we feel like we are in a safe space to do so, our hormones function in perfect harmony to help your baby move down your canal and enter this world. The key here is that we *must* *feel* *safe*.

So, if we’re going to talk about preparing for birth, we must first understand the basics of physiological birth (natural, uninterrupted, magical birth). I will break down the 4 stages of birth for you briefly, below.

Step 1 in Phases of Birth (Ripening of Your Cervix)

– In this stage, your cervix is slowly opening and your body is slowly preparing for birth, for your baby to pass through.

– Contractions are starting, spaced apart and relatively mild. You can still think and move freely during contractions.

– At this point, you may loose your mucus plug and may notice your water breaking (this sometimes does not happen in the early stages of labor) Some babies are born without the water breaking, this is called an en caul birth and this is perfectly normal.

– Between this period and the birth of your baby, contractions will increase in frequency and intensity.

Step 2 in Phases of Birth (The birth of your baby)

– Your baby will continue to descend and put pressure on your cervix

– Contractions will continue to strengthen as your baby and body prepares to birth your baby. You will “loose control” in this phase of birth – all outside thoughts become blurred and your focus tends to turn inward. Moving between contractions and resting is highly welcomed.

– Your babies head, bum or feet may emerge first, all of which are variations of normal

– Out comes the rest of your babies body, now’s the time to bring them to your chest!

Step 3 in Phases of Birth (The birth of your placenta)

– In this phase, your baby has emerged and you are bonding with your little one – while they are still attached to the placenta.

– This phase can happen within the golden hour or afterwards depending on who you ask.

– When baby is born, being brought straight to moms chest helps with bonding. Baby will crawl to the breast in search of nourishment, moms colostrum. This bonding period releases your love hormone (oxytocin) and this helps release the placenta from the uterine lining.

– You will then birth your placenta, ideally while baby is still connected by the umbilical cord.

Step 4 in Phases of Birth (The golden hour, postpartum period)

– This period should be left uninterrupted so mom and baby can get to know each other.

– This period is sacred and is important in order to help baby feel more comfortable in this new world.

– This bonding period sets the stage to your postpartum experience.

– The umbilical cord can be cut, ideally once the pulse stops.

Preparing your body and mind prior to birth

The best thing you can do when preparing for birth is, as I’ve touched on, learning about physiological, undisturbed birth! When you find a resource that breaks it down for you in a way that resonates with you, take the time to truly dive into it and become comfortable with the different variations of what is normal. 

Birth is not one size fits all, there are many ways to birth in a safe and effective manner. This understanding alone can be highly reassuring and comforting. 

Other ways to prepare your body and mind prior to birth would be to learn breathing techniques, learning how to tune into your body so you can move with it and making sure you have a support team in place to help you through the process. 

It’s also to your benefit to feel good and comfortable in your body prior to birthing. Part of that may look like doing some digestive healing or other holistic pregnancy preparations. While I work with clients in Oakville & in West Grey, I also see clients virtually to support them with their nutrition goals, helping people feel good throughout pregnancy!

Preparing for Birth: Planning your Supplies

To birth your baby, all you really need is yourself, some clean towels and a floor, a bed, a shower, a garden maybe (I may have lost you at the thought of birthing in a garden, but it’s a totally valid place to birth, especially if you feel safe in that environment).

Everything listed below is optional and definitely not necessary, unless you think it may benefit you in some way.

Birth supplies (misc.):

– Snacks and beverages (water, juices, teas)

– A birthing pool

– A tens machine (not to be used in the pool or shower)

– An exercise ball for bouncing

– Calming music

– Calming essential oils 

– Comfortable clothing

– Massage tools

Preparing for Birth: Guests in Your Birth Space.

A great amount of thought needs to go into deciding who you want to have present in your birth space. This is an important one to consider because the person or people you allow in your birth space can help you find peace and comfort, helping you progress forward. If this person or people do not make you feel safe or if they cause you stress in any way, it has the potential to cause you to “fail to progress”. Failure to progress generally means that the mother is holding back, due to physical or emotional stressors. 

Those stressors can include things like: bright lights, loud noises, beeping, strangers entering a room, many people involved in your birth, people walking in and out of your safe space, orders being given that don’t feel aligned, constant monitoring and so much more.

Guests you wish to have in your room include, and are not limited to: your husband, your partner, your older children, other family members, doctors, nurses, doulas, birth attendants, other consultants. 

At the end of the day, you must feel safe and supported. You get to dictate how your birth unfolds, so it’s important to the people in your room make you feel as such. 

Understand the pros and cons to possible interventions

This ties into empowering yourself by understanding what is being discussed with you if you find yourself in a situation where you’re needing to make quick decisions… because sometimes you need to make quick decisions depending on what unfolds during your birth.

I won’t dive too deep in this one and simply state that there are many wonderful resources out there that share the pros and cons to all interventions that may present during birth. An account I’ve loved to follow is Birth-Ed in the UK. She has online programs that help break down what to expect and how you can advocate for yourself in any situation.

Meal Prepping For Birth

I will briefly touch on this topic and I will save this bit of content for another blog post in the future, but know that this is a very wonderful thing to take your time to focus on before baby arrives.

Once baby comes, I know it my case, the last thing I wanted to think about was what I was going to eat, how it was going to be prepared and who was going to clean up. I made sure that my postpartum period was as simple as possible so I could bond with my little as much as I could.

Seeing as this is a time for resting, healing and bonding, I also wanted to make sure that I had nourishing foods ready to go for that 1-2 week period following birth. 

In those last few weeks as baby grows exponentially faster, as mama gets a little bigger, heavier, slower… so does our energy and our desire to move around and do a thousand things. This right here, is the perfect time to plan out some nutritious meals, cook them in large batches and freeze them!

If you don’t have the means or the time to do so, you can arrange to have a meal train arranged between friends and family – where they bring food to you (with no strings attached!) so you can eat without the fuss.

You may also request gift cards for food delivery services or restaurants you like if this is something that works for you too.

Point is, there are options! Some of those options including seeking out nutrition support to help you through that process. 

To summarize, Prepping for birth looks like:

Preparing for birth can look like something different for every person, what works for one may not work for another and how your birth unfolds is largely determined by the situation that you find yourself in and how you choose to navigate birth. Taking the time to understanding the different phases of birth and they progress naturally and where your fear of birth may come from can be a game changer.

Take the time to do your research, investigate different options, ask questions and don’t be afraid of finding the right person to work with you – remember that you and you alone are in charge of who will support you in birth.

If you’d like to dive into some more information on the topic, I share a have a series of fertility workshops you can join and if you’d like some support with meal prepping, I’m here for you!

If you’ve read through this to the end and still have questions, I’d be happy to assist! You can schedule a free discovery call to chat, or send me an email, anytime! For Oakville and West Grey locals, I can set up in-person appointments and for those in Ontario or Canada wide, virtual appointments can also be arranged.

Happy healing and happy discoveries <3

Véronique,
your fertility nutritionist.