As a mother & doula, I have a strong belief that fear has the ability to interfere with or prevent labor. Why? In labor, catecholamines (the stress hormones) have the potential to stop labor. When a woman is very frightened labor fails to progress. I'm not just refering to fear of labor or birth. It could be fear of parenting, fear of the unknown or past traumas resurfacing.
Of my 4 full term births, I have only gone into labor on my own once & I truly feel that it is because I trusted (didn't fear) my providers, so I felt secure enough for my body to work the way it was meant to. This was for the birth of my 3rd daughter, after being induced with my 1st daughter & having a c-section without labor with my 2nd daughter. For the birth of my 4th daughter, I expected it to be similar to what I experienced with my 3rd.
Unfortunately, at 38 or 39 weeks, one of the midwives in the practice started bringing up meeting with an OB to schedule a cesarean. This struck me as odd that she would bring this up before I was even 40 weeks, but I felt secure in knowing that my body could do it, just as it had the last time. However, she had untentionally planted a seed of doubt & that seed of doubt quickly grew into fear. I actually scheduled a repeat c-section for 41 weeks & 3 days, which sent me into panic mode. Another midwife in the group realized the day before, that I had a c-section scheduled for the following day. I planned to not show up. She convinced me to come in & be induced instead. I was able to have a beautiful birth experience with a great supportive group of people that I trusted surrounding me, but my body never did take over completely on it's own.
If you've never heard of Ina May Gaskin, I highly recommend reading some of her books. My favorite book of hers is called 'Ina May's Guide To Childbirth'. Aside from the inspiring birth stories in this book, there is a wonderful chapter in it called The Powerful Mind/Body Connection where Ina talks about how our thinking & emotions can affect our labor. In this chapter, she recalls women being unable to progress in labor until they have faced their fears, whatever they may be. Then she speaks of instances where a mother wills her body to open up. One instance in particular, Ina was checking a woman's dilation. The woman was at 4cm and as Ina was checking her the woman said that she just wanted her body to open up. When she spoke those words Ina felt the woman's cervix open another 2cm. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about how amazing that must have been!
Ina May Gaskin Quotes:
"True words spoken can sometimes relax the pelvic floor muscles by discharging emotions that effectively block further progress in labor."
"For a variety of reasons, a lot of women have also come to believe that nature made a serious mistake with their bodies."
"The Creator is not a careless mechanic."
"Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body"
Marie Mongan talks about the affects of fear in her book HypnoBirthing a Celebration of Life. Marie says, "It is believed that catecholamine is released in large concentration prior to and during labor when a woman approaches labor with unresolved fear.". So, how do we overcome our fears?
Here are a few suggestions:
- Read some positive birth stories.
- Make some birth affirmation cards that you can read whenever that fear starts to creep in and make it a daily practice to read them aloud.
- Do something that relaxes you. Read, swim, take a walk, get a massage, meditate.... whatever helps & is in your means to do.
- Pray. I believe in the power of prayer. Sometime we can't fight battles on our own, nor should we. You can even get creative & make a prayer flag.
- Try a fear release exercise. There's a great one here: http://www.transitiontoparenthood.com/ttp/foreducators/handouts/Tigers.pdf
I had been meaning to write this blog for over a month now, but I felt that now was the right time, with a very special client in mind. I hope this will help her and many other women to face their fears & conquer them. We were made for this.
With Love,
Andrea
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