“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it”
No doubt you’re grieving at the moment for the baby shower you can’t have, the babymoon you can’t go on, the face to face birth education classes you planned to do with your partner, your in-laws coming from overseas to help out, your family and friends meeting your new baby and joining a mothers group.
Your world as you know it might feel like it’s spinning out of control. But there’s two things you can control…your mindset and your actions.
You get to choose:
- how you feel
- what you think
- how you act
- how you respond
- what you eat
- how you move
- what you listen to
- what you watch
- who you follow on social media
What if you shifted your perspective and viewed this time and space in isolation as a gift to you and your baby? Use this bonus time to prepare for your birth and postpartum.
Here’s some ideas for your Birth:
- Educate yourself about your birth options and your choices. Hospital antenatal classes have been cancelled but there’s some fantastic online Independent Birth Education courses like Hypnobirthing Australia. Hypnobirthing ensures you have a positive birth experience, no matter how your baby comes into your arms.
- Keep a positive mindset: Listen to podcasts, read books, watch positive birth stories, write affirmations, listen to self- hypnosis tracks and put them where you’ll see them often.
- Write your birth preferences: once you’ve educated yourself about your options, write them down. Share them with your birth partner and your care providers. We ultimately don’t have the final say in how our babies arrive, but there’s power in writing them down.
- Set up your labour circuit: so you can stay at home for as long as possible once you’re in labour. To prepare, create a space in your house with a birthing ball, yoga mat, chair, yoga bolster, cushions and pillows, a wall clear of furniture and a birthing pool or bath. As you approach your due date, practise using this equipment. Choose positions which allow you to be in an upright position to make the most of gravity to help with the descent of your baby. Choose comfortable positions to rest in between surges. You can learn more about these positions on a Hypnobirthing Australia course, in my prenatal yoga classes or Active Birth by Janet Balaskas.
- Create a birth playlist: of all your favourite songs using Spotify or Apple Music and listen to it when you’re feeling calm and relaxed so when you listen to it in labour, it will invoke these same feelings. You can check out my birth playlist here (it’s also the music I play in my prenatal yoga classes).
- Practice: if you’ve learnt tools like self hypnosis, acupressure, light touch massage, breathing, practice with your partner daily so they’re second nature when you go into labour.
- Exercise: go for a walk in nature, swim in the ocean or sign up to prenatal yoga classes.
- Plan your postpartum: Most women don’t give this a second thought. They finish work just a few weeks before baby’s estimated due date, catch up with friends for coffee and before they know it their baby is here.
Here’s some ideas for your Postpartum:
- Plan your virtual Baby Shower or Mother Blessing.
- Have conversations with your partner about household responsibilities once your baby arrives and your parenting goals.
- Create your virtual village: research online mothers circles, virtual mama and baby yoga and massage classes, facebook groups, zoom or facetime with friends who listen and don’t judge.
- Write a list of your favourite meals that you can cook and freeze.
- Make double servings of your evening meals and freeze a portion.
- Create a MealTrain for family and friends to drop meals on your doorstep.
- Create a directory of local restaurants that are delivering.
- Create a feeding sanctuary for when you bring your baby home.
- Download books onto your Kindle or get a Audible account.
- Save your favourite shows or ones you want to watch to your Favourites in Netflix, Stan or Amazon Prime.
- Create a playlist of your favourite podcasts on Spotify or Himalaya.
Use this time to focus on what you can control. Don’t waste energy on what you can’t and view this extra time as a blessing.
