by Kara Spencer, Maia Healing Arts

Do you believe in birth? Do you believe that women's bodies have the knowledge within them to give birth? Do you believe babies have innate wisdom and an instinct to be born?

The hormonal symphony of birth is very delicate and flows best when a woman is undisturbed and surrounded by nurturing chosen companions who trust in instinctive birth. It is vital before attending a birth as a support person or attendant to honestly address your feelings about birth. Attendants in the birthing room who feel fear or anxiety about birth can inhibit a women's labor by causing psychological dystocia.

Yet, what to do if you are an expecting mother and you are afraid of birth? You have to give birth to the baby eventually, and you want it to be the best experience it can be.You can learn to trust birth. Here are suggestions for cultivating faith in birth.

1) Turn off the television! In the US today, most women seem to learn  about birth from television. The sitcoms of the past showed women screaming and doctors pulling out babies, which appeared to be wearing clothes and peculiarly unattached to an umbilical cord or placenta.  Now, many women watch "reality" birth story television shows in which highly medicalized births are edited for drama to seem like emergency events.  

2) Immerse yourself in positive birth stories.  Read books with positive natural birth stories, such as Spiritual Midwifery and Journey Into Motherhood: Inspirational Stories of Natural Birth. Ask homebirth midwives in your community if they know of a mother's group you can join to hear the stories of other women who have experienced empowered births.

3) Attend an independent childbirth education class.  Find a teacher in your community who is not hired by a hospital or OB/GYN practice. Instructors who work for hospitals are almost universally limited in their time and scope of topics. Hospitals are more interest in teaching people to be good patients than to birth optimally. An independent teacher will give you the real information about your community, birth options, and strategies for gentle birth and parenting.

4) Hire a doula.  Having a female labor support companion at your birth greatly reduces your chance of having unnecessary medical interventions, such as Cesarean surgery, induction, pitocin-augmentation of labor, and pain relief via narcotics or epidural. A doula provides on-going emotional support and continuous attendance throughout your labor, birth, and early postpartum. Having a companion who is knowledgeable, experienced, and trusting in birth is statistically shown to reduce the average length of labor as well as influencing mothers to feel more satisfied and happy with their birth experience reflectively.

5) Hire a midwife.  Midwives have been the guardians of instinctive birth for thousands of years. Midwives work with the forces of nature to help you facilitate normal healthy birth. Having a midwife as your primary attendant at birth greatly increases your chance of having a healthy vaginal delivery and successful breastfeeding. The countries in the world with the lowest perinatal and infant mortality rates all have the majority of pregnant women in the care of midwives. If you don't want a homebirth, or don't have a home you feel comfortable  birthing in, find a birth center with homebirth midwives, or nurse-midwives who deliver at a birth center or hospital.

6) Connect with your baby. Your love for your baby is a unlimited source of positive power for you in learning to trust birth. Every day take five minutes to sit down, put your hands on your belly, and send your baby love. Imagine your heart sending warm rays of loving energy down your arms, through the palms of your hands, and into your belly, enveloping your unborn child. Cultivate your connection with your baby, and learn to trust your instinct. Listen to yourself, your intuition, and your baby when making decisions about your health care. Listen within, before your look outward at technology and culture. Trust yourself, trust your baby, and trust in birth.