5 Reasons To Get Ready For Her Birth

5 Reason to Get Ready

for her Birth:

So your partner is pregnant, and you want be fully prepared for all the demands and challenges during her pregnancy and how to be at your best during the birth. Along with the incredible joy and excitement the news may bring, comes some full on responsibilities. Life is not going to be the same and it’s time for you to get ready. Your role as a parent starts here, not after birth. Suddenly you have a lot of decisions to make, and some of them could be difficult ones. Thankfully you are not on your own, your partner will have plenty of ideas about how she wants the pregnancy and birth to go, and you can bet she will want to know what you think.

She is going through some major physical and hormonal changes right now. Things will be different in your relationship and new understandings and skills will be required to manage this crucial life event. You may find you have many questions like:

•Where is the best place for her to give birth? •Will I hurt the baby while we are having sex? •How can I manage her changing emotions? •How will I know when her labour has started? •When do I call the midwife? •Is it safe for her to give birth in water? •How do I bond with the baby if she is breast feeding?

You are not alone and your preparation for the birth of your baby doesn’t have to be hit and miss. You are an integral part of your family unit and preparing for birth. Here are 5 reasons why you should get ready for her birth written from the perspective of a father and birth professional:

I remember it like it was yesterday, hell, even now I’m starting to notice my heart racing a little and a tightness in the stomach. Diane, my late wife, is pregnant!

“I’m 25 for god’s sake,” my internal chatter ringing in my ears. I was NOT prepared and I knew it. The months leading up to the birth of Amy are something of a blur, being a student nurse at the time helped, but not much. Knowing what I know now (5 children and 8 grandchildren later) being prepared would have been my PRIME OBJECTIVE . . . not something good to do, not something I desired to do, but the kind of task you set out to achieve

with the smell of burning bridges in your nostrils.

Twenty plus years of experience as a father and a midwife have taught me this; do everything you can to be ready. My life’s work is supporting fathers-to-be, as you prepare for the woman you love giving birth. Here is an outline of the benefits to her and you as you get prepared.

1. An insight into how human beings have evolved to give birth well, increases your confidence, gives direction to the support you can offer her, and enhances your ability to be resilient if the birth does not go as expected.

2. Being prepared, increases your ability to proactively create the deep connection to her you will need. It’s that connection which will massively facilitate her production of the birthing process dynamite hormone called oxytocin.

3. Having an experience of building this type of connection with your lover before she gives birth, will produce a deepening in your relationship. Leading to a strong foundation being built for your emerging family.

4. Preparing via regular massaging, TEN’s machine use, and understanding the (so called) “latent phase” of the birthing process, will increase the amount of time you spend out of the hospital and may reduce the length of her birth experience as a whole.

5. Understanding the importance of having the goal of connecting with her while she births, will produce testosterone in you, reducing your stress response as she gives birth.

So, if you’re expecting a baby and want to be prepared, supportive and ready, the time is now!

Mark Harris BIRTHING 4 BLOKES www.birthing4blokes.com Author of Men, Love & Birth