Natural Birth Tips for First Time Moms

So you’d like to attempt a natural labor and delivery, but maybe you’re a little unsure of where to begin preparing for it? If you’re a first time mom it can feel especially intimidating since you don’t really know what to expect. I successfully gave birth for the first time with no pain medication or unwanted interventions, so I’m going to share the things I found most useful in preparing for a natural delivery.

Create a Birth Plan

If you’re thinking about skipping writing a birth plan because “no one will read it”, think again. In my experience every single nurse, doctor and midwife involved in my birth took the time to read through and remember my birth plan. Even if that doesn’t end up being the case, having a plan set in your own head (or for you or your support person to reference later) is incredibly helpful.

Learn About Hypnobirthing

Without pain medication, you will need to have some tools prepared to help you deal with the discomfort of labor. I decided on hypnobirthing techniques, and more specifically The Hypnobirthing Book. The straight forward, evidence based and easy to digest format of this book was so incredibly helpful. I could not recommend it highly enough, and the hypnobirthing techniques I learned from it were my main source of pain relief.

Inform Your Support Person

It is so important that you and your birth support person (your spouse, friend, mom, whomever) is on the same page with your birth plan. Go over in detail what you hope you birth will look like, what tools you plan to utilize to help you in the process, and what you expect from them to support you. As in everything, communication is key, and having a game plan in place before the big day is crucial.

Perineal Massage

Preparing your body physically for birth is obviously a biggie for any mama. I highly recommend getting into a perineal massage routine towards the end of pregnancy. You can do this yourself, or have your partner help (it can be a bit of a weird reach to attempt yourself). It is also helpful to utilize some moisturizing and skin supporting oils with the massage. I personally recommend Vitamin E mixed with essential oils like Frankincense, Helichrysum, and Lavender.

Watch Other Natural Births

Knowing what to expect from labor and delivery can go a long way to help you be and feel prepared to go through it yourself. Especially if you’ve never attended a birth before, I recommend watching other YouTube mamas share their birth stories and birth vlogs. This gives you lots of different experiences and perspectives to help you prepare.

Setup Your Relaxation Cue Environment

With hypnobirthing (and any birthing techniques for that matter) the more you practice beforehand, the more effective they will be when the time comes. I also recommend preparing and practicing with a relaxation cue environment. This can look like dimmed lights, a relaxing playlist, essential oils diffusing, and whatever other calming things you would like to surround yourself with.

I hope these tips for natural birth help you prepare fro becoming a mother, and achieve your desired birth experience. If you’d like to connect with other mamas interested in natural birth, be sure to join my Facebook group Simply Natural Mamas. Hope to see you there!