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Why Many Women Are Afraid Of Childbirth

Fear about childbirth stems from basically two  sources:

• Negative imagery in the media: Childbirth is often portrayed in movies or television shows in a chaotic light.  We’ve all seen those shows where a woman is frantic and screaming in pain while laying in the hospital bed.  Those images ingrain themselves in our subconscious, and we carry them with us, along with their unnecessary negativity.
• Negative birth stories you may have heard from friends: Like portrayals in the media, birth stories can have a lasting effect on our conscious and subconscious mind.  Hearing just one or two of these stories, without hearing positive ones to balance them out, can give women tunnel vision into thinking birth is difficult, painful and a generally rough experience.

How Fear Affects Your Childbirth Experience

Fear causes tension.  It may cause you to feel mental or physical tension.  Most often mental tension (or anxiety) causes physical tension, or muscle tension.  So, if you have built up a fear about childbirth, your body is likely to be in a tense state when either thinking about, preparing for or actually giving birth.

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Why Tension In Childbirth Is Really Bad

That tension during labor actually causes pain.  Remember, a woman’s uterus is  a muscle.  Excessive tension on that muscle will cause resistance to its natural functioning, cause fatigue and cause pain.  In other words:

Fear = Tension = Pain

Unlearn, Don’t Over-think and Let Your Body Do Its Thing

Remember, although birthing in a hospital is common, childbirth is not a medical condition.  You can do it all by yourself.  Now, I’m not recommending you do that per se.  However, if you can learn to get out of your body’s way, by reducing fear and relaxing, you can:

• Reduce and even eliminate pain.
• Reduce the amount of labor time.
• Birth more comfortably.
• Have an overall easier and more peaceful (rather than chaotic) birth experience.

That isn’t to say that you can control every detail of your birth.  On the contrary, you need to let things happen as they may, but prepare beforehand.  How?

• Eliminate those causes of fear regarding childbirth.
• Learn relaxation techniques.
• Hypnosis for childbirth has been proven effective in many studies.  Try a free hypnobirthing mp3 to deeply relax and take an easy step to a more comfortable birth.
• You may even want to try a full hypnosis birth program, such as Hypnobabies, HypnoBirthing or the Birth Relaxation Kit.

Those are the basics.  You are on your way to fear free birth!

Bumbo baby sitter seat

Certainly, parenting is and should be a hands-on experience.  It is best for baby, and the bond between parent and baby, to have your child in-arms whenever possible.  However, using alternative devices like the the Bumbo baby seat, baby swings and bouncers will certainly give your arms a rest from time to time.  This article will explain the importance of in-arms, attachment parenting, but will also give details about some of the hands-free devices you can rely on from time to time.

Why In-Arms

Things like co-sleeping, skin-to-skin contact, and keeping baby in-arms rather than in strollers, seats, swings and cribs, is the best way to give your baby security.  This type of attachment parenting fosters a strong bond between parent and child.  Especially in the early months (the first three months are often called the fourth trimester”), your baby needs to be close to mom or dad often.  It may sound counter-intuitive, but keeping your baby close actually fosters more independence. Keeping baby in arms gives them the warmth and security that they need to feel comfortable exploring independently, when they are ready.

Baby Carriers

Baby carriers, baby slings and baby wraps are a fantastic way to keep baby close, warm and secure, while leaving the parent hands free.  My 11 months old gets so excited every time I pull out my Ergo Baby Carrier so we can go out for a walk.  In fact, we have ditched our stroller altogether.

Using a carrier, sling or wrap, you can do work around the house, go for a walk with no extra equipment (stroller), carry several bags, and do all sorts of things.  Not only is this convenient for parents, but babies are right in the action.  They learn and observe very close to the parents’ eye level.  This is a fantastic way for babies to learn, and very different from the view they get from a stroller.

I suggest getting a carrier, like the Ergo, and a wrap, like a Moby Wrap or Girasol Wrap.  That way you have different alternatives.  For example, you cannot wear the baby facing out with the Ergo, but you can with the wraps.  The wraps give a lot of flexibility, as you can learn different ways to wear baby.  As baby gets older, you may for certain wraps styles better for your back.  The Ergo provides a great deal of back support as well.

When You Need To Give Your Back And Arms  A Break

Sometimes you need a break, even from the carrier or wrap.  This is when devices like the Bumbo baby sitter, swings, and baby bouncers come into play.  Each of these has their moments.

Bumbo

The Bumbo is a single-piece seat made of a low-density foam.  It’s a deep seat, with a high back and sides.   There are leg holes, which fit to a baby’s size, and also a front support so the baby won’t fall out.  The bumbo baby seat provides a way for your infant to sit up right before they are physically capable of doing so themselves.  This way, you can be hands free, and your baby can conveniently sit up and get used to a new position.

Be Careful: While the Bumbo is convenient, over-use is not good for your baby’s ability to develop an independent sitting posture.  If used for about more than 15 minutes, and if used to frequently, your baby may learn to depend on that support, rather than using his/her own muscles to develop the skills to sit up right.  Basically, it may delay that ability.

Also, never leave your baby unattended in the Bumbo, or set them atop a table or chair.  There was a Bumbo baby seat recall as a result of negligent parents leaving their kids unattended in the seat, or atop a high-up surface.  The name Bumbo Babysitter is misleading.  Be responsible!

Baby Bouncers

Baby bouncers are a good hands-free device that rocks baby to sleep.  A baby bouncer, not to be confused with a baby bouncer jumper,  is basically a seat that baby gets strapped into.  The seat is attached to a motorized (battery operated) frame that provides vibration and bouncing movement to soothe.  As you probably know, the baby experiences gentle rocking and swaying in the womb.  It’s no wonder they like things like baby bouncers and swings to soothe them and help them to sleep.

You’ll have to do a little searching to find the best baby bouncer.  You can try something like the Safety First Baby Bouncer.  I do suggest you go for something non-synthetic if you can afford it.  The less off-gassing materials your baby has to breathe, the stronger their immune system and overall health.

Baby Swings

Baby swings are another handy (or hands free!) device to help soothe baby to sleep.  We found our swing very useful.  Again, it is a motorized device with different speeds.

Suggestion: Don’t use any ONE device to help baby to sleep. If your baby gets used to going to sleep in the swing all the time, or the baby bouncer, or even the car (on those days or nights when nothing else seems to work!), they may have more trouble learning to self-soothe eventually.  However, relying on such devices from time to time should offer some relief to you when you need a break, or your baby is super fussy.

Conclusion

In summary, I encourage parents to not be so dependent on devices.  Such things dilute the attachment and bonding with children.  Books like The Continuum Concept, by Jane Leidoff, highlight the notion that strong attachment and in-arms early parenting will set the stage for your child for years to come on many levels.  However, certainly feel comfortable keeping a baby device or two around to give yourself a break from time to time.

Check out the video below or read the steps you should follow when using a fetal doppler heartbeat monitor.

• The first step is to pull up your shirt so you have better access to your stomach area. You nee dto access your lower belly, so you might need to pull your pants down a little bit too.
• The second step is to get your ultrasound gel and put a little bit of it on the top of the baby heartbeat monitor probe. Also you should put a very small amount on the lower part of your belly. You can always add more if you need it, this helps to pick up the sound waves and translate it into something you can hear.
• Then you need to pick up the probe, this is the part of the baby heartbeat monitor that you will use to actually put onto your belly.
• Then you need to turn on the machine as per instructions on the packet, this will generally just be an easy switch.
• Then it is time to apply the probe to your stomach. You need to let it sit just around your belly button and move it around. You will begin to hear or see on the screen depending on what model you have. You should be able to hear the heart beat and it will be between 120-180bpm.
• It is possible that you won’t find it right away. This is ok it doesn’t mean that its not there! Just start to move the probe around a bit more, trying different angles and different ways that will help you to pick up the signal a lot better. It also depends a lot on the position of the baby at the time, so just keep trying, you will hear the heart beat eventually. Be gentle and use it slowly, this will mean you get a better and much more accurate reading.