Were you scared beforehand and how did you remedy that?

[LimeSlice]

I was scared that I would bleed to death.
And that was my fear this time as well.

Of course, there are other things I am scared of - UR, prolapse, breech birth, distress, a repeat c.s.... but all those things I think are just normal risks of birth, they aren't controllable largely by me, so I choose not to let them live rent free in my head.

The biggest fear I had was that I would haemorrhage and die on the bedroom floor.

I am tackling it with some hypno exercises and self education - I can't control if it happens, but there are things I can do to help prevent it, there are things I can do to recognise it if it is happening and there are measures I can take to stop it happening once I do recognise it. Accepting that I can only do what I can do and giving myself over to the rest is helping greatly.
I no longer fear it, but I am preparing for it should it happen, and that gives me power, strength and control.


What are you scared of? Are you still scared of the "pain" even though you laboured and birthed previously? Or do you have a new fear this time around?

[Arimeh]

What are you scared of? Are you still scared of the "pain" even though you laboured and birthed previously? Or do you have a new fear this time around?

Currently I'm not that scared of anything, I've read Childbirth without fear and that helped tremendously! I guess I'm worried (not scared exactly) that last time was a fluke and this time I won't be able to do it, and then I'm also concerned that the baby will come quickly and I'll have it at home by myself... lol... and I'm probably concerned as to how I will manage the contractions, cos I want to do better than I did last time, cos I don't think the screaming and wailing were really helping me then...... lol

[LimeSlice]

lol Fair enough!

I reckon you should have a look at the HypnoBirth stuff, it focusses on exactly that - the way to handle the contractions, or surges, and gives you some awesome methods to help.

[MrsFabuloso]

I'm not scared of birth, I'm not looking forward to labour, I want a natural labour and to do it all myself again and I am hoping I get the high I felt after I had DS, that feeling of such a great accomplishment. I am terrorfied of having a C/S or another induction again. Any medical intervention scares me. I was also a bit worried about haemmorraging since I had done so quite severly with my first angel, as well as moderately with DD both times to the point of needing several bags of blood. I did a little with DS, but it was managable for me, cept when I fainted after the midwives ordered me to have a shower, even thoguh I told them I would faint!

[TeniBear]

I was a bit scared when I was a teenager and didn't really know much about birth. But once I started finding out more about how our bodies work, I was less scared. That got lessened even more once I joined BB and read everything I could about birth, the good and the bad. Information is power, as they say.

Then I actually gave birth, and now I'm actually looking forward to it this time! I know it's going to be very different (not least because this one's going to be alive!) but I only really think of good things when I think "birth" now.

[thepixie]

I was intermittently crapping myself and in denial. I think I dealt with it mainly via denial. Things I was scared of... most of all serious tearing. then being induced, failing to progress and needing a c/section. Long long labour followed by c/section. forceps. ventouse. episiotomy. didn't really think about haemorrhage but probably would have freaked out about that if it occurred to me. TBH (and I am sure lots of people will disagree) I think a certain amount of fear about labour is natural, and even sensible. Birth can be scary, it has a lot of possibilities that can't be known in advance and can't necessarily be controlled in the moment. To me, any event which involves pain of unknown amounts, for an unknown duration and which can result in the death or permanent injury of one or more people involved is something that should inspire a certain amount of healthy fear. Not to dwell on it, or anything, but just to recognise that this is a natural force and natural forces can at times be scary, dangerous and unpredictable. Birth can also be calm, peaceful, beautiful and triumphant, but like most things in nature there is a duality there - the miracle of life is balanced by danger and fear. JMO.
Anyway, this time I am most scared that the baby won't start breathing (which is what happened with DD). It's not an overly rational fear, as there is no reason for it to happen. But there was no reason for it to happen with DD so I have a fear that maybe my babies just don't know how to breathe
ETA I am in the medical insurance industry so it is entirely possible that my view of these things is somewhat skewed by seeing the worst case scenarios through work. Also I am a lot less scared of the actual birth process this time as I have BTDT.