Week by Week

The fewer fear you feel the best prepared will your body be for childbirth. Fear of pain causes the muscles to be tenser and produces physiological answers like more sweat and palpitations. However, overcoming your fear you avoid all this and the uterus returns to work normally, so the pain will be reduced. To be afraid that your baby could feel some pain is also very common. In order to be calm it is essential to have confidence in your doctor, also consider the long way the medicine has advanced and overall, to think your body is naturally prepared to give birth.

1. Get informed. You must know each phase of the childbirth, learn to distinguish true contractions from those that are not and know how a caesarean section is practiced because you will never know if you will need it. Request information on the most frequent complications in childbirth and which are the possible solutions to apply. This way, you can acquire a greater consciousness of your body and you will no doubt know you are prepared to give birth to your baby.
2. Communication. You can ask the doctors if you have any doubt and interchange some advices with other pregnant women. Share your fears with your partner, relatives and friends.
3. Do not be pessimistic when you know that everything goes well. Don’t freak out. The tests for prenatal diagnosisanalyzes and the ecographies that have been done to you during your pregnancy must calm you. Hardly 3% of the new born have any problems.
4. Prepare physically. You must exercise especially your leg muscles and gluteus. This will help you to be on top form for the childbirth.
5. Solve your doubts about the epidural anaesthesia. It is important to successfully obtain information on the epidural anaesthesia, an option if you want to avoid the pain of childbirth.
6. Be optimistic. It is known that pessimistic women have more painful childbirths. However, if you think positive, the experience to give birth will be easier to bear. If you have this attitude, you will release more oxytocin, a hormone that helps you to forget the pain and to connect with your baby.
7. Be realistic and strong if the situation changes. If something goes badly, you must get used to the idea and make an effort on your part so that the childbirth goes ahead.
8. Forget your fear of premature birth. If your childbirth goes ahead, keep calm and trust your doctor: your doctor will do what is best for you and your baby, whether it is oxytocin to favour the contractions, a caesarean section or instruments to extract the baby. Only 10% of childbirths take place earlier than the predicted date. The premature childbirth is a childbirth that takes place before week 37 of a pregnancy. But those babies who are born after week 30 nowadays have many possibilities of surviving healthily. Just a rigorous control must be taken in the incubator to avoid some health hazards. It will be hard to leave the baby in the hospital, but you must think that your baby will be in the best hands.
9. Keep calm. You will not forget your prechildbirth lessons. It is difficult for the mind to go blank. What you have learned in the lessons will come out in a natural way. If your mind really goes in blank, follow the instructions of the gynaecologist and the matron.
10. The key is to relax. You must learn to relax to pass all your pregnancy and, especially for the childbirth. If the prechildbirth lessons are not enough, you can sign up for yoga, swimming courses… If you control your nerves and forget the fear, your childbirth will be much better.