It is difficult to find a woman who has already given birth, more than once, or just thinking about the offspring, who would not be familiar with such a concept as fear of childbirth. Perhaps this is the most common female phobia, but it can consist, by no means, in just fear of experiencing pain during childbirth.
What are pregnant women afraid of before giving birth? One could say for sure – the unknown, when this process takes place for the first time and until now has not yet encountered anything like this in life. But after all, women who gave birth, and even those who have traveled this path more than once, still, as a rule, experience some fear.
The latter is true for the latter – they are afraid because they already know what they may have to face.
Do not be afraid to see your fears, to get rid of them
Fear of childbirth is not a disease, not madness, not an exception to the general rules, it is as natural a phenomenon as pregnancy itself. Another thing is that you can’t let everything go by its own accord, you need to pull yourself together, figure out the reason for your excitement in order to eliminate it, in order to avoid confusion and even panic that cause it.
First, you need to understand the question of what exactly a woman is afraid of. Secondly, you need to do something so as not to turn into a slave to your fear.
A lot of frightening options can be:
- The first and most important thing is an elementary fear of experiencing physical pain, even if the process is natural;
- possible injuries, complications during childbirth or after them, both in the woman in labor and in the child;
- postpartum depression;
- fear of losing a figure, becoming unattractive to her husband and others;
- temporary interruption of a career, inability to do what you love, move towards your intended goal, not be more self-sufficient;
- financial difficulties, other frightening moments, like falling out hair, sagging breasts, and the like.
It is unlikely that there is any birth without fear. Some women are afraid of premature birth, others – not to give birth on time. The preliminary day of childbirth is only a conditional date, and it is likely that the baby will appear sooner or later, but not daily. If a woman is registered in the antenatal clinic and is periodically examined by a doctor, then this fear is unfounded.
Preterm birth often happens, but modern medicine is savvy in this regard, so even very tiny babies can be saved. In the case of prolonged labor, if necessary, the woman is stimulated and she will give birth safely. Doctors will not let you walk around for a long time, they will monitor the child and provide assistance if necessary.
It is worth highlighting the topic of fear of complications in childbirth, because some expectant mothers are terrified of death. All of us will someday die when the time comes, but pregnancy and childbirth are not the best time for this. The modern woman in labor is not left alone in the bathhouse or in the arable land, she is looked after by medical personnel who will do everything necessary and possible to prevent a fatal outcome.
Why am I scared?
Understanding the reasons why there is fear of childbirth, you can also make a whole list, or you can simply divide them into two groups: the first – those that are generated by your own imagination; the second is brought in from outside, from various sources of information. Having read, heard enough, and even seen enough of all that terrible that is supposedly associated with childbirth, the brain begins to process information, scary pictures appear in front of my eyes. Here one no longer has to talk about a positive attitude, the future mother is constantly stressed, while she torments not only herself, but also her child.
Often a woman is scared throughout her pregnancy, over time, the excitement increases, like a snowball. The next examinations and their results add firewood to the fire, the future mother is stubbornly looking for new reasons to be afraid, and a completely harmless once cordless cord entanglement, for example, the child’s arms or legs, can be perceived like the end of the world.
Meanwhile, there is a very close relationship between the mother and the fetus, including the emotional one, and the more terrible the first, the more restless the baby behaves, he will spin, even more wound up in his umbilical cord. It’s not known to the child that his mother is tormenting him in vain, instead of calmly talking to him, stroking his tummy, asking him to be a good baby and unravel the bundle. And no matter how doubtful it may sound, this method almost always works!
Free life from excess load
There are various ways to deal with fears of childbirth, the main thing is to want to get rid of them. First and foremost, you must try not to let fallacies into your life, i.e. false, erroneous, fictional knowledge. For example, pregnant women in one town were very frightened by statistics published in the media that mainly inferior children were born in local maternity hospitals.
Soon a rebuttal of this message appeared, but it reassured few people, because in the consciousness of women in a position, a terrible imagination, built on published tables and photographs, was already played out. We cannot cleanse this world of lies, rudeness, anger, we cannot make everyone smart without exception, therefore, it remains for us to filter the world around us, to let only the best part from the outside into our own,
Information today has become an indispensable component of the life of every person, but there is too much of it, and not all of it is worthy of the attention of a pregnant woman. To exclude unnecessary excitement, to avoid various “horror stories” that frighten and disturb the stories – it means to positively affect the birth without fear. It is much more useful to get acquainted with the positive information about the successful outcome of the case, which is much larger, but fear has big eyes and therefore everything terrible seems many times larger.
One can cite the example of the famous singer Madonna, who during pregnancy lived away from society, did not listen to the radio, did not read the news newspapers and did not watch TV, but completely surrendered to a happy carefree wait. Here she can certainly tell what kind of childbirth they are without pain and fear.
To overcome fear and avoid painful childbirth, do not be equal to others. Bad life examples, even if they really exist, are not a role model and not an indicator of absolute reality. Alas, someone is pleased to inspire fear in others, to talk about their trials in the most vivid negative colors, without stinting on the details. Therefore, you should not ask anyone at all whether it is scary to give birth, it’s better to do something – calm down and prepare for happy motherhood.
Successful childbirth is in our hands!
It must be remembered that scandalous things always have popularity, and therefore childbirth without fear and with a happy ending is rarely advertised, and any difficulties are comprehensively displayed.
So, this woman does not need this “show” before childbirth, there are many other useful things that can help overcome her fear, or even avoid it:
- first things first, enroll in courses for expectant mothers, which will allow you to prepare well for childbirth and behave correctly during them, which will greatly facilitate this process. Also, these courses will provide knowledge and skill on how to handle a newborn, swaddle, bathe, feed, care for him, which scares some moms much more than the birth pain itself;
- discuss your fears with your doctor – do not be shy to do this, because the doctor will be suitable from a professional point of view, explain everything in an understandable language, dispel vain doubts and misconceptions;
- spend more time on your favorite business, do pleasant things, read smart books and listen to quiet music, spend hours in the fresh air;
- Do not forget to do daily exercises for pregnant women, because special physical exercises will not only help prepare for childbirth, but also calm, recharge you in a good mood.
Happy motherhood suggests that a woman is so looking forward to meeting her baby that she does not bother with temporary difficulties, but easily passes them and quickly forgets them. Childbirth is a natural process, and therefore you need to perceive them as part of life. And let fear remain where it belongs – as a protective natural reaction of the human body that arises in order to cope with a real threat.
Of course, no one can predict the course of childbirth, but a positive attitude does its good deed, and even in the most difficult situations it is possible to avoid serious consequences. Pull yourself together, calm down, save energy for childbirth and the subsequent wonderful time of motherhood – this is the main task of a pregnant woman.
Therefore, you need to find strength in yourself and say “no” to your phobias – to get rid, reconcile or rethink the fear of childbirth, because the burden that lurks behind all the upcoming difficulties is priceless, because this is a new life! Realizing and accepting this, it turns out that giving birth is not scary!
