You're getting nervous. It may be your first child, or you may have had a rather traumatic birth before. My personal learnings and my personal cheat sheet for a peaceful birth according to Kristin Graf , with the knowledge of hypnobirthing and others
My learnings shortly before birth for relaxed birth preparation - Attention, I'm not a doctor - This is my personal cheat sheet from the knowledge that I have collected myself:
1. Stress and anxiety cause pain. Anxiety cramps and causes poor blood flow to the uterus. This creates pain.
2. BECAUSE I am not afraid, I experience a peaceful birth.
3. Stress in Fight or Flight mode causes heavy blood flow only to own vital organs. The uterus and the child are not included.
4. Instead: Exhale the child. You can practice this when you go to the toilet every day. With humor and fun.
5. The famous Hollywood movie "Now PRESS PRESS PRESS!" - or the term pressing contractions - causes you not to breathe, but to hold your breath. Your eyes pop out, you are not breathing down, but are starving your baby and your uterus of oxygen. This often leads to pain and birth complications: the cervix cramps, the birth does not progress, the child has too little oxygen saturation and is stressed. Then the body wants to protect the baby, the cervix can even close again.
6. Find a safe place inside yourself. Color it in beforehand, in exercises, for example just before you fall asleep. You go to this place internally, even if you change places or if something outside disturbs you. You stay with yourself, in your safe place.
7. Just as your body handles pregnancy on its own, it also handles childbirth on its own. Let him. Be instinctive, be a mammal. Mammals give birth peacefully and reclusively.
8. Three breaths: rest breaths (4 in, 8 out), wave breaths (20 out), J-breath at the end (push down and introduce J).
9. The physicians from the centuries before the 20th century were partly wiser than those in the 1950s and 1960s, for example. They knew: Listen to the midwife and stay away from the woman. Only when you are needed and called. Your presence can even prevent birth. If the woman does not feel well and is ashamed of being naked in front of you, for example, the cervix can close again. There were cases in the 18th century when the child was born 19 days later, even though it was already on its way.
10. The inventor of hypnobirthing had traumatic hospital births. In the 20th century in the USA there were very pragmatic births from a man's point of view: it takes too long for me, the woman screams too hard for me, I use force and push her legs in directions she doesn't want. She screams too loud for me, I stun her with ether and pull the child out with the pliers. Since all this was normal, it was apparently accepted as such. And then explained with Adam and Eve, or: Birth hurts. But she gave birth to her one daughter as the very first in the room, without anesthetic and peacefully, and it was a sensation. She previously had to fight hard to find a doctor who would leave her alone and trust her. Her daughter gave birth just as peacefully under hypnobirthing.
11. Hypnosis or trance is the state you are in just before falling asleep. beta waves. He is completely normal and natural. Since I was so tired at night when I gave birth the second time and just wanted to sleep, I surrendered to the waves half asleep and reached trance and deep rest through fatigue - and that was exactly right. And gave me a quick, peaceful birth.
12. Recovery times between waves are longer than the waves themselves before pushing contractions. Focus on it and recover in these times, that's what they are for. Don't judge the last wave or how the next might be. Be yourself and just relax. breathe You can do it.
13. Wearing a sleep mask and noise-canceling headphones when giving birth helps. Or just have a Spotify playlist on your ear, e.g. yoga music, hypnosis instructions, meditations.
14. Visualize your optimal birth: When do you want the waves to start? Where are you then? How do you get to the clinic/birth center, or do you stay at home? How do you feel about it afterwards?
15. Choose your birth partner wisely. He or she might see you poop naked.
16. If you have a bowel movement during the birth, the doctors and midwives are happy: First the poop, then the head.
17. When you're scared of giving birth or not ready yet: Your birth is a black box. So why shouldn't it be painless and beautiful just as well?! What if it all works out?!
18. A peaceful birth often produces a peaceful child.
And remember: you are Hercules, stronger still: you give birth to a human being. You may decide first to go along with all of this. You decide in favor of natural birth in the first instance. If things turn out differently later or if the doctors advise otherwise, fair enough, then that's the way it should be and there are reasons for it.
In any case, no matter how, applies: You are a warrior.
Listen and watch tips: The Peaceful Birth , Mama by Nature: Mental Birth Preparation , Mindful Mama App : Pregnancy/In Labour, The Self-determined Birth