Scared of Labor and Giving Birth, What to Do?

There could be several social and personal factors behind this state of fear. What we normally see in movies, read in books or the horrific words of mouth by friends or people around us, all tend to provoke anxiety and fear about childbirth. Besides this, there is an array of other reasons that may cause this fear. These may include:

• Insufficient knowledge of child birth

• Low self-esteem

• Depression/anxiety attacks

• Women with history of sexual abuse

• Rough marital life

• Fear of pain

• Fear of dying

• Fear of being in a naked state

If a pregnant woman keeps on worrying and scaring about labor pain, it may cause a lot of complications in her pregnancy.

Speak Your Heart out!

This intensity of fear may belong to some traumatic experience from your past—a miscarriage in the past, a stillbirth, depression or so on. Determining the main cause that triggers this fear can help you in getting some aid. Once you know it, talk to your most trusted friends, life partner, therapist or doula (a trained mother) about what’s freaking you out. Many times, women avoid talking their fears out. But that offers no solution. Rather it would grow your fears. So, we would recommend you to simply vent out your feelings. Writing a journal can also help you in restructuring your thoughts on a more positive note.

Join Antenatal Classes

Indulging in group discussion with other pregnant ladies and experienced moms and sharing your own fears and concerns, can be quite helpful. To do this, joining antenatal classes is the most recommended way. Antenatal classes are considered best to get you prepared for delivery. There you learn a lot from others’ experiences. And it would decrease your fears and help you in developing confidence and will power.

Understand the Situation

Instead of feeling scared of giving birth, if you understand the natural labor process (why it pains, why we have contractions), you will be able to cope up with this temporary painful condition in a far better way. Instead of getting terrified of contractions, if you take them as a helpful way of delivering your baby, it may lessen the duration of the labor.

Limit Exposure to Horror Labor Stories

Some videos tend to present things in a more dramatized way and as a result, you end up with nothing but MORE FEAR. Same rule goes with your mom’s birthing stories. You have your own body, don’t let other’s bitter experiences spoil your days.

Opt for Relaxation Exercises

There are a number of relaxation exercises and meditation techniques that can help you in calming down your fears. Start it with deep breathing exercises, self-hypnosis, exercises for muscle relaxation and aromatherapy. There are certain yoga exercises that can help in relaxing you. Bound ankle pose is one of the most recommended yoga postures. All that is required, is to sit on the ground and join the bottoms of your feet. Your fingers and toes must be in an interlaced position. Now relax, take a deep breath and try to feel the stretch. For further assistance, get help from some expert. Even some antenatal classes also provide these facilities.

Shift Your Attention

It’s good to think and plan about the final day. But focusing all your energy only on delivery is not a good idea. Shift your focus to the other parts of pregnancy as well. Thinking about what happens before delivery and after delivery, may prove helpful in diverting the focus from the monster of labor.

Take a Childcare Course

A childcare course is a great way of learning a big deal about childbirth and all the facts related to it. The caregiver provides all information that you want to have about medication or different pain relief methods.

Learn from Others’ Experiences!

Here is what some moms have to say about their personal experiences along with some useful suggestions for all the moms-to-be.

“Getting scared of delivering a baby is quite a normal thing. Soon I am going to deliver my 4^th baby and I am quite relaxed. In my earlier experiences, epidural helped me a lot. And above, all the well-trained nurses guided me on every step. So, there is no need to occupy your mind with the baseless thoughts like, how would I deliver, when to push, when to relax etc. Just relax, and think about all those moms, who have been delivering the babies for thousands of years, WITHOUT any epidural or medical aid.”

“Every pregnancy comes with a new experience. Don’t expect anything. If your past experience has not been that good, it doesn’t mean you’ll have the same experience now. To cope with the situation, I would recommend you to watch some birthing videos which makes is natural and beautiful. They are great help.”

“Hi, I would suggest you to don’t be scared of giving birth. Go for some hypnobirthing classes, Mongan method. They are really good and help and relax you a lot.”

“If you are afraid, that’s ok. Don’t take it as something abnormal. Our body knows exactly what it has to do. And remember these two suggestions for the final few hours—try to keep your breathing stable, and don’t lose control of yourself.”