It’s something I hear when people enquire about classes, when people join classes and when plans around birth might change.
From when you find out you are pregnant you might have felt some worries or anxiety. For some the pregnancy is a worrying time, maybe you have experienced a previous loss or know someone who has. Maybe you can’t relax until you see your baby wriggling around on a scan or hear a heart beat or feel the kicks.
But for lots of pregnant people the worries are around birth. It’s totally normal to feel anxious about birth. You are probably really excited to meet your baby but a little trepidation about the journey is to be expected.
When it comes to birth there are so many unknowns. Even assuming you are all on course for waiting for labour to start naturally you might be looking out for any sign of labour and wondering if that was a bit of a twinge.
First worry is often how things will start and when. Will your waters go in the supermarket or will it just be some cramps niggling that turn into something more regular? Will you even know?
And then how long is this going to take? Everyone knows someone who was in labour for days. Maybe your worry is how you’ll cope if you miss a (few) night’s sleep.
The pain! How will I cope with the pain? I think we all acknowledge that, for most, labour comes with some rather intense, interesting feelings from contractions. It’s a huge unknown. Even if you’ve experienced broken bones or kidney stones or anything else equated to child birth this is different. Those intense contractions are a sign of your body working positively, not a sign of something going wrong or an illness and you have lots of things to help you through it. With your birth hormones and endorphins your body is working to birth your baby and with some tools and tricks you can work with your body to make it more effective and more comfortable.
One of the things I see regularly in classes is people moving from a place of anxiety to growing confidence in their ability to cope with whatever come their way.
In Daisy classes we want to empower you. We want you to feel confident and comfortable about your birth choices. By teaching you how birth works and helping you understand how your uterus contracts and your cervix dilates, and how oxytocin and adrenaline interact, with endorphins and relaxin doing their job too, you will be able to make your own choices about what your preferences for birth look like. You will also be prepared for anything that comes up on the day where you might need to be making decisions or changing plans. By understanding what is happening in your body you are well placed to say yes or no or make your own call on situations.
Coming to Daisy Birthing is a chance to spend 1.5 hours a week focusing on your baby and your birth. The whole class is so relaxing, with dim lighting, gentle music and breathing to help you flow through the movements until we finish cosied up with blankets and pillows for a blissful deep relaxation.
How is an antenatal class going to help with your anxiety?
Learning more about how birth works
Learning and practicing tools to help you in pregnancy and birth
Being confident about what is happening and knowing you can make decisions
Spending time each week learning how to relax and bonding with your baby
Meeting other local mums-to-be and sharing this journey
Helping feel more prepared and maybe even excited about birth
When you sign up to Daisy Birthing (or any of our Daisy classes) you don’t just come along to a weekly class for 6 weeks and disappear at the end of it. Your class will have a WhatsApp group so you can stay connected through the class and beyond – sometimes far beyond – with people who are expecting babies around the same time as you. You also have my support beyond the end of our classes. If you have questions when birth gets closer or even in labour or when you are home with your baby you can always send me a message.
One thing that is missing from antenatal care at the moment is continuity. Few people are seeing the same midwife for their antenatal appointments and that means you sometimes are repeating yourself or asking the same questions, getting different opinions or advice. Your antenatal classes might be the place you find that continuity. Whether you come to my classes or somewhere else in the country you are going to be taught by your local teacher. It will be someone with local knowledge who is passionate about supporting your journey and who cares about your and your baby. You can trust us to help you find the information you need to make the decisions you want to.
So what are you waiting for? Come and join our awesome Daisy community and get prepared to meet your baby!