why are other people’s birth stories so important?
One of the things I recommend all my clients do is read lots of positive birth stories. But why?
First, hello! I’m Rhi, founder of Birth BeYOUtifully With Rhi, and I help women go into their births feeling confident, calm and empowered so they have beYOUtiful births.
The mind-body connection is really important in birth. Your unconscious mind controls your body’s reactions to stimuli. Most of us, sadly, have been conditioned to fear birth and view it as a terrible, painful ordeal. This is NOT helpful. Our bodies are wired to avoid pain to keep us safe. If our bodies perceive a threat, they go into fight or flight mode and release adrenaline. This is a hormone. Birth is powered by hormones.
Oxytocin fuels contractions (or surges, as I prefer to call them). It’s the love hormone and we need to it be flowing freely for surges to stay strong and effective. Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers and we want them to be flowing freely to make powerful surges as comfortable as possible. Adrenaline, however, decreases the body’s ability to produce the hormones we want. It therefore slows labour down. This is obviously not what you want.
There are lots of ways to increase oxytocin and endorphins in labour (see my Instagram page for lots of tips!) but how do we deal with the small (or rather large) matter of those negative associations we hold about birth? Reading positive birth stories is a brilliant way to do this! Why? Because the more you read stories about birth being fantastic, the more you will believe that it can be so. There are lots of positive birth stories on my Instagram page and you’ll find even more with a quick google search.
There are also lots of amazing positive birth videos. Just have a google and you’ll find videos of lots of different types of birth out there to help you build those positive associations.
Coming on one of my courses will arm you with even more positive stories, affirmations and associations, as well as ways to best increase your oxytocin and keep adrenaline at bay so if you’re ready to book, click here!
Enjoy!
Yours,
Rhi x
