give birth like a mammal

The wonderful midwife, Ina May Gaskin (often referred to as the ‘mother of authentic midwifery’) famously said, “we are the only species of mammal that doubts our ability to give birth.” When I was pregnant with my first baby, that really hit home for me how my fear of birth was in my mind, not my body. 

Whether or not you are an animal love, I bet you know a bit about how they birth. They just get on with it. Usually taking themselves to a quiet, dark space they make noises of power rather than distress and let their bodies crack on with the job it was designed to do. Whereas, human birth is often associated with distress and problems. Why, then, do other mammals make it look so easy? Are we faulty? 

I don’t think we are. I think our clever minds let us overthink our own abilities. I think we fear birth and place distrust in it because we are conditioned to do so. When I first became pregnant, my experience of birth was solely from hearing horror stories and watching TV and films. Phoebe and Rachel’s births in FRIENDS stand out to me. Neither of which were particularly traumatic for the characters but they were both shown in a hospital bed, on their backs, in pain and shouting (arguably hysterically!). This is all I knew of birth. Sound familiar?

If we go back to Gaskin’s quote and remind ourselves that we too are mammals are our incredible bodies have been designed to birth our babies, we can approach birth with a feeling of pride in our bodies and empowerment in what we know they are capable of doing. You are growing human life. You are nurturing your baby already and are already putting their needs above your own. You are incredible and you with birth incredibly too, however that looks for you. 

And to overcome your association with Phoebe and Rachel’s bedridden, noisy births (or, dare I even mention, your ‘One Born Every Minute’ associations)? Read/watch positive birth stories. This is hugely powerful and cannot be underestimated as a way to alter your feelings and perceptions of birth. Have a look at my IG page, google them, connect with other women who have had positive births. I promise you, you won’t regret it. 

You have got this. Your birth will be beYOUtiful.

Yours,

Rhi