Fighting the Fear

I won't lie--I'm scared of the pain that will inevitably come with natural labor and delivery. I have always combated extreme menstrual cramps and some of the procedures I had during my infertility journey were down right painful and I hope I never have to repeat.  Yes, labor will hurt. A lot. But I have been assured by many different woman that the pain experienced during child birth is so unlike anything else that I will be in a completely different mindset. Through my reading I've learned that fear can only increase the pain I experience so I have been trying to read positive natural birth stories and watch videos such as this. I'm also registered for a natural child birth class with a doula who is kind of famous amongst natural birthers in the area. I'm just waiting to receive confirmation for the dates that I selected.

Absolutely beautiful. I was cringing at first, listening to the immense amount of pain she was obviously in, but her pure joy and excitement had me in tears. THIS is the type of thing that I need to focus on. Whatever pain I may experience during birth will be overridden by sheer joy. I need to just keep reminding myself of this. The Intensity of the Pain Matches the Intensity of the Joy.

For those of you who are planning a natural birth, what are you doing to prepare?