Let’s Talk About: The Importance of Sharing our Positive Birth Stories
Image credit: Ash Blythe Photography - www.ashblythephotography.com
As you’re probably already aware, here at Birth Boss, I am all about spreading positive messages about birth. Biggin’ up those who have birthed, recognising their achievements, celebrating their amazing bodies and birthing abilities.
Why?
Because why the hell not? You did the deed to plant the seed, you grew that baby in your very own belly, you put up with the sleepless nights, indigestion, frequent toilet trips and all of those other lovely pregnancy perks AND you birthed that baby!
Whether you pushed them out, had them pulled out or lifted out of the sun roof - you birthed that baby. No one else. You.
So many of us feel the need to say “I was lucky because…” or “well I had a caesarean so I didn’t have to…” or something of that ilk. We downplay our birthing achievements.
Well no more, I say!
Birth is one of the biggest achievements women and birthing people will experience. You have conceived, nourished and birthed new life! You are AMAZING! And you are allowed to tell the world that.
But there’s also a bigger reason why sharing our positive birth experiences is important.
the bigger picture
For so long the media has allowed us to believe - nay lead us to believe, that birth is a painful, horrific, undignified event which parents must just endure to end up with a squishy little buba at the end of it all. It will all be worth it in the end they all say.
This narrative has caused most of us to fear the prospect of childbirth, meaning we bury our head in the sand when it comes to birth preparation and turning us into compliant little creatures willing to hand over the control of our births (and our bodies) to those “in charge”. It means we head into the birthing room full of anxiety and terror.
Who does this help? Absolutely no one - and least of all you.
You see it causes a negative cycle: by preparing for birth from a position of fear we run the risk of hindering the mechanics of our bodies which are designed to facilitate birth. This can cause birth to be that bit more difficult and increases the likelihood of intervention and trauma to you; the birther.
Following a difficult birth, we go on to share our story with friends and family, perhaps a professional, trying to make sense of, and process what happened. In turn, this exacerbates the negative narrative surrounding birth. Future parents-to-be bury their heads in the sand and do no birth preparation, approach their birth from a place of fear and anxiety and go on to experience birth negatively and not as the amazing experience it can be.
time for change
Birth Boss aims to put a stop to this by helping parents prepare for birth from a place of preparedness and positivity with my hypnobirthing and antenatal courses and by growing a community of empowered parents unafraid to share their positive birth stories. To say, “yep I birthed and yep I am f***ing amazing!”
In doing so we hope that we can encourage others to prepare for a positive birth experience and go on to share their positive birth experiences, thus changing the narrative surrounding birth.
We have the power to change the way our children and our children’s children view birth and therefore experience it.
And I want YOU to be a part of this.
So, this is a plea for all you amazing birthers to share your positive birth experiences.
I don’t care if it was a natural vaginal birth, an epidural birth, an assisted birth or a caesarean. It’s all birth. It’s all amazing!
So I have now created a new page to my website Birth Stories where I share (with permission) the amazing stories of some absolute birth bosses. Go ahead and check them out.
If you want to add your story, I’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch and I will add your story to the Positive Birth Stories page. Come and join the Birth Boss community!