When we found out we were pregnant, we both knew we wanted a natural and peaceful birth for our child. We did not like the thought of our baby being born into a room with bright lights and people bustling about; we wanted a calm, more intimate environment in which to meet our child.
Although this was our hope, I was nervous. What if I can’t achieve this ideal birth? After all, we’re often told of mothers who scream, shout and swear their way through each contraction. To accompany this terrifying thought, the father’s account of events is often equally as traumatic, with feelings of helplessness as they see their wives/girlfriends/partners in a lot of pain but are unable to do anything about it. Their only option, to offer the woman a hand to hold while being subjected to a torrent of abuse about how this was all their fault!
I felt it didn’t need to be this way, but had no idea on how to avoid falling into that same labour cliché!
Embarking on our own journey we chanced upon a birthing method which promised to help us achieve our wants and hopes for a peaceful birth without intervention.
Although at a ‘Baby and Toddler Show’, finding a birthing method was the last thing I was thinking about. I was dreaming of buying clothes, bedding sets, toys, teddies and much more! Now I look back on it none of these things mattered, my baby certainly wasn’t going to notice or care about any of these things so why should I?
A few weeks after our baby was born we attended another Baby and Toddler Show. This time around desperate to see our antenatal teacher and show her our happy little boy who had been so peaceful and content since his calm birth. While chatting to her it was apparent that pregnant women would look in the direction of her area, see what she was promoting or ‘selling’ and promptly walk by. It quickly became obvious that many women were there for the same reasons I had first attended the show for. I have to say this made me quite sad, I wanted to call out to women ‘Hey, come and chat to these ladies, it could be the best decision you’ll make today!’.
Thinking about all the things you want for your baby, how many women will stop and think about the first thing you ever give them. . . their birth day.
To me now it seems so obvious, this should always be the mothers first focus, after all it’s the start of a new chapter, a new journey; quite literally a new life.
On reflection I am very thankful for that first day at the show, without it our baby’s journey into this world could have been so different.
-B