Protecting Your Energy During Pregnancy

Unfortunately, when a woman becomes pregnant, she becomes the topic of many a conversation. She often will become bombarded with other’s opinions, criticism, questioning and advice. Maybe it stems from the traditional ‘a village raises a child’ lineage - but most of us are so far removed from this as an authentic way of life, that it comes across with little of the original intent.

What is the ‘need to know’ basis that arises when a pregnant woman carries a child? When did it become so normalised that a birthing woman’s business became everybody else’s?

Unfortunately it is a blindingly obvious representation of a birthing paradigm that went from birth being something a woman knew, to something we now believe she has to be ‘taught’.

So I’ll speak on behalf of every birthing woman when I say; the details surrounding a woman’s birth are privileged, private and sacred. A woman’s pregnancy, baby and birth is not an open forum!

Even if it’s well meaning or we’re good at simply dismissing it; people’s words, fears and intentions leave an energetic imprint on us and can create holes in our aura where our energy can leak out, and other’s can seep in.

So, how do you protect yourself from this (normalised societal behaviour) during pregnancy?

Remove yourself from conversations related to other women’s birthing experiences, unless they’re rooted in celebration, and especially when they are being imposed on you to change your mind or smother your enthusiasm. Affirm within yourself that they are their experiences, and don’t have to be yours.

Disengage from the illusion that women connect on a deeper level with other women through the continual retelling and recirculating of trauma or hardship. Connect with women that bring an equal exchange of energy. Those that inspire you, lift you and have the capacity to celebrate you.

Block out other’s personal feelings towards your birth vision, if they don’t align with, or support, your birth. Affirm within that you make the choice around how you feel. Within every moment. We all have the power to determine how we feel, nobody can make you feel anything.

Avoid negative projection. To hear that I was ‘lucky’ to birth my children the way I did, was common for me - yet I am conscious enough to realise this was a projection of someone else’s pain or disappointment. Decide you have no room during this sacred time of pregnancy to carry that load for somebody else.

Choose a certain time during your pregnancy to step back and retreat into your cocoon. It doesn’t have to be a big announcement, just slipping into your own world to do this will probably go unnoticed. And it’s crucial self care. Whilst most of the time this is respected, when it isn’t have full strength in putting up those boundaries. Boundaries are a form of love towards yourself and others.

Declare that you, unapologetically, take complete responsibility for your energy and space. For yourself and for your baby.

Answer questions lightly. ESPECIALLY around due (guess) dates. When something is due it includes a schedule. A due date can induce fear and doubt and questions, feelings of early/late/rush - when it was never a certainty anyway! So don’t even go there. You could insert a due month instead.

Disbelieve societal fears around pregnancy and birth, the encouragement of not trusting in our own bodies and in not taking deeply connected, self directed, empowered care of ourselves. I completely disregard the notion that birth is dangerous. It should be respected, not feared. Women are built to birth.

Connect with yourself and Mother Nature as much as you can. Connecting with yourself will heighten your Intuition, and it is my strongest belief that a woman who is tapped in, and listening, to her Intuition makes very different decisions to those that aren’t.

Mother Earth is also your greatest ally. She will cleanse and strengthen you. Dive in the salty ocean, walk your bare feet along the grass, align your spine with the trunk of the tree, allow the sun’s energy to awaken your cells through your skin, look up at night to see the limitlessness above and the wise twinkling of the stars. Become in sync with the intelligence of nature, as this will be what flows through you during labour.

And remember, fear is a dangerous entity in the birth space.
Most of it is not your own.
So say it with me – I return this fear back to its rightful owner. It is not mine.

Ultimately;

Do what you need to do to protect the sacredness of this journey, Mama.

Go within and ask that of yourself, and of your baby.

You will know.

Reclaim your power and step fully into it.

You are the bridge between Heaven and Earth.

You deserve the respect that this brings.

Anita is a freebirthing Mama, energy healer, women's circles facilitator and Spiritual Prenatal Care Provider; leading conscious women to an awakening of a new (yet ancient) paradigm of birth. She guides birthing mothers through the reclamation of their power, via reconnection to their Intuition through spiritual and earth based practices. www.themidwitch.com and @themidwitch on Instagram