Coping With Pain in Labour by Jessica Ord
Something which really worried me during my first pregnancy was whether and how I would cope with pain during labour. A notorious 'wimp' when it comes to physical pain (I passed out in Claire's Accessories whilst getting my ears pierced...!) - and although I had done a basic hypnobirthing course, I still wasn't entirely convinced I could hack it.
You see, I didn't have the relationship with my body back then that I do now.
On the surface, all I could find 'evidence' of, so far as my body's capabilities went, was that it had never quite been 'good' enough. Never quite slim enough. Never quite strong enough. Never fit enough, beautiful enough...
I had spent my 20's trying to squeeze, distort and punish my body into submission. Always dieting, always 'rage running' (!), always left disappointed.
In fact, it wasn't until I had actually experienced birth, that my relationship with my body and myself shifted. I now have genuine love and respect for this incredible home I get to call my body. I feel gratitude for it each and every day... not only for the amazing feat of birthing my babies in autonomy and power... but for every other little thing that my body does for me.
It's been a long(ish) process over the past 5 years... but that huge shift in how I viewed myself felt pretty instantaneous for me. I remember it was a few hours after our son had been born, and I had tentatively just had my first shower post birth. I'd glanced in the mirror at my flushed face, crazy 'birth bun hair' and just paused. I DID IT.
Part of me couldn't quite believe that I had actually just given birth - but the majority of me COULD. It felt like an awakening of what, deep down, I had always known to be true but had been blocking for so many years. I was a powerful, capable woman who could trust herself again.
This feeling and belief in myself has grown over the years, and is no doubt what led me to birth our daughter Primrose 3 years later at home, in a beautiful 'free birth' supported by my husband and doula.
Want to re-build your self trust and begin to heal your relationship with your body ahead of birth? Try these exercises:
Think back to a time where you 'achieved' something, or accomplished something that either YOU or other people thought you couldn't. Maybe an academic achievement, a job interview or perhaps a physical feat. Close your eyes, breathe deeply. Take yourself back to that moment of "I DID IT" Breathe the way you did then, allow those feelings to flood your body. Perhaps jot down any thoughts or feelings that come up into a journal.
Write down in a notebook or journal ALL of the things your body has done for you thus far in life. From the moment of your conception, through your childhood, adolescence until today. Include every minute thing - from 'growing two eyes/ lungs', to 'experiencing my first O (!). When you've finished, perhaps go through and star every 'thing' that you didn't even have to consciously think about in order for it to happen. See... your body hosts miracles every single day, without any preparation or conscious thought from you.
Jessica Ord is a Mum of 2, a Doula and Hypnobirthing specialist. She is passionate about helping women find their own path during pregnancy and birth, helping them to enter into Motherhood feeling strong, capable and trusting in themselves. She’s the founder of Positively Pregnant which hosts an Online Hypnobirthing course, which was voted the ‘Best Online Antenatal course in England’.
Find out more about hypnobirthing here: www.positivelypregnant.co.uk
Follow her on Instagram: @positively_pregnant_uk