Top 5 Tips For A Natural Birth | Nurturemamas

My philosophy on Birth Preparation is pretty simple. Like most things in life, I feel we overcomplicate things, and Birth is no exception. 

For 80-90% of people giving birth, it is / should be a physiological normal, straightforward experience. There will always be high-risk births and emergency situations where the incredible doctors are there to help and support us.

With this in mind, I'm keeping this blog post short and to the point with my 5 top tips:

1. Practice Yoga & Exercise for the recommended minimum 150 minutes per week. Is this a surprise?! Not really!! There are SO many benefits to practicing Yoga in Pregnancy. This study from 2020 says alot:

“Yoga helps to increase vaginal delivery rate, decrease premature delivery rate, reduce birth weight, shorten the first stage of labor and the second stage of labour. Yoga has no negative impact on the fetus”

Rong et al (2020)

Some of the reasons why Prenatal Yoga are so impactful are because you are:

• Gently stretching out the muscles, tissues, and associated structures surrounding your uterus and pelvis
• Creating space for baby to descend beautifully into the pelvis, in an optimal birthing position, thus shortening your labour
• Preparing your body to move into active birthing positions which speed up baby's birth
• Preparing your mindset for a positive birthing experience
• Easing tightness in your muscles so you are more comfortable in pregnancy
• Deeply relaxing in your pregnancy which is beneficial for your nervous system and increases confidence in yourself. The latest research also indicates that by deeply relaxing the body helps us feel less pain during our Pregnancy.

2. Build a Positive Mindset. All the research demonstrates that your beliefs about your birthing experience are vital in achieving that outcome. So to put it simply - if you're terrified of birth and feel like it's going to be hellish - well...that's pretty likely what your experience will be. HOWEVER, if you work on your mindset and believe that your body in fact is designed to grow and birth a baby, then the chances are you'll have a really positive birthing experience. I truly believe this to my core and have not just experienced it myself 3 times, but have guided hundreds of women to do the same. Using Positive Affirmations, Birthing Visualizations, Meditations, Breathing Exercises are all incredibly powerful. The subconscious mind CAN be trained. Remember that.  Inside The Empowered Birth program, there is a full mindset section of pre-recorded beautiful affirmations, visualizations, meditations, breathwork, and more. 

3. Use your Yoga Ball to focus on posture and positioning. Simply swapping out your chair or sofa for your Yoga Ball in Pregnancy, can have a profound impact on how your baby's lies inside you, and therefore how long your labour can be. 

4. Educate Yourself. My approach to birth is threefold: prepare your Body, prepare your Mind, and Educate yourself. Understand the high prevalence of birth interventions and how to avoid them; what's important to YOU in your birth; how to create the most beautiful birthing environment; How to create a Birthing Preferences Document. These are just some of the things you need to educate yourself in, in order to achieve your empowered Birthing experience.

5. Surround yourself with a supportive community, particularly those who hold a similar outlook of birth to you. Being able to chat and feel 100% supported during your pregnancy is vital. Having a place to go, online or in-person, where you know you'll feel positive, supported, able to have your questions answered, are all hugely important to achieve your positive, natural birth. In The Empowered Birth, we have weekly chats in our Q&A sessions, as well as a Private Facebook page. I love that I get to know each client deeply and be able to support you fully, as well as you learning from everyone else and supporting each other :-)

The Empowered Birth, is my 5-month Prenatal Program providing you with everything you need to feel strong, happy, and comfortable in your Pregnancy, and achieve your empowering Birthing experience. I would absolutely LOVE to have you onboard and if you're reading this, it's highly likely you'd be a great match for the Program! For more information on the program and to hear from my previous moms on how it impacted them, take a look and get in touch.

If you'd like to see how I implemented these 5 tips in shaping my own three natural births, take a look here. 

Any questions? Drop me an email at [email protected] & I'll get back to you.

If you're on Instagram, come follow me for more tips and advice on @Nurturemamas

Much love,

Helen x