Where Does Fear About Birth Come From?

1. Negative birth stories from our mother and others when we were in utero and very young
2. Watching birth shows on TV
3. Others approaching you when you are pregnant and telling you their horror stories
4. A previous birth
5. Comments from an authority figure such as a doctor

Fight or Flight Response

When you are in a fearful situation, your body can revert to what is called the Fight or Flight Response, which greatly inhibits your labor from progressing smoothly. When this happens, the blood rushes to your defense organs, and your uterus is not one of these organs. As a result of this, your uterus is no longer functioning properly due to your fear, the adrenaline pumping through your body, and the stress hormones you are releasing. Your body can no longer release the positive hormones that help your uterus do its work, but instead your body is tightened up and resisting the work of labor. This is why so many women’s labors tend to slow down or even stop temporarily when they first arrive at the hospital.

Counteracting the Fight or Flight Response is possible by practicing relaxation techniques prior to labor and being comfortable in using those techniques when labor starts. Learning meditation or hypnosis is an excellent way to condition your body to be able to instantly trigger your Relaxation Response when anything stressful or fearful happens.

How to prevent the Fight/Flight Response from happening in the 1st place:

1. Stop watching TV birth shows, and even the news if possible.
2. Be discerning of what you are reading about childbirth.
3. Learn how to stop people from telling you their negative birth stories. Stop them in mid-sentence and tell them that your baby is listening and you don’t want to hear any stories that would scare either of you.
4. Watch positive birth videos.
5. Surround yourselves with other moms who love birth and trust the birth process.
6. Take a good series of independent childbirth education classes, such as Birthing From Within, Bradley, or Hypnobirthing. Be wary of classes that are hospital sponsored and may focus on teaching you to be a good patient.
7. Read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and other books with positive, empowering birth stories.
8. Listen to a relaxation CD of some type such as the Hypnobirthing CD of relaxation exercises. Listen to this CD regularly during your pregnancy, and then have it ready to use when labor starts.
9. Educate yourself on the most common procedures and interventions that your caregiver and/or hospital may expect you to submit to. Knowing the risks and benefits ahead of time will go a long way toward helping you to feel empowered in making informed decisions during your birth. Remember, you will virtually always have time to consider whether to allow an intervention – there will almost never be a situation when you won’t have time to discuss it and ask questions before making a decision. An acronym to help you remember the questions to ask is
B – What are the benefits of this procedure?
R – What are the risks of this procedure?
A – What alternatives do we have? (there are ALWAYS alternatives)
N – What would happen if we didn’t do anything for awhile, but just wait to see what happens?
D – How long do we have to make this decision?
10. Face your fears. Make a list of the things you fear most that might happen during your birth. Go over each one specifically with your partner and/or doula and talk about how you can handle each one to prevent it from happening or make the best of the situation. For moms who have had previous births, go over each birth in detail and talk about what you would have done differently if you knew then what you know now. Also talk about the fact that each birth is different and your upcoming birth will not be just like any of your previous births.

Brenda Minica, CD (CBI) is a San Antonio doula. She is also a homeschooling mom of 6 children who loves breastfeeding, home birth, milking goats, reading, quilting, and spending time with her family.