Trish: [00:00:00] Hey mama, welcome to the birth experience. So if the thought of labor and contractions makes your stomach twist into a knot, you're not alone. But today we're going to flip the script on birth fears and we're going to turn them into confidence. So let's dive in.

What if I told you that your fear could actually make your labor harder and that you have way more control than you think? Here's the deal, 80 percent of pregnant women report some level of anxiety about birth, and 20 percent experience what is called tokophobia, or tokophobia, which is severe fear of birth.

We don't want that for you, because there are some things that happen when you're afraid And fear increases stress hormones like cortisol, [00:01:00] which actually slows your labor and makes the pain feel worse. So we're going to talk about where do your birth fears actually come from? Birth fear is not something that's naturally in you.

That is learned. You were not born to be afraid of birth girl, but you've been conditioned to think it's something that you should be terrified of. Maybe it's horror stories. Like everyone loves to share their traumatic birth story. I love when they share them with me because I can pinpoint where they could've made changes, what could be done differently, and in fact, a lot of my students are second, third, fourth time moms who want to have a calm and confident birth this time, and, but for you guys, I know they're telling you, even when you don't ask, like random Sally at the grocery store.

And if you guys follow along with me and hang out with me, you know, I always say, Sally, don't ask me why. I don't know why. The other places, media and movies, like birth is always portrayed as this scary experience. And, you know, you've been, [00:02:00] you have been programmed to see birth as an emergency because if you've ever watched a movie where a woman screams in agony, surrounded by a dozen doctors in chaos, you've been programmed to see birth as an emergency.

But here's the truth. Birth is normal. It's a physiological process and your body is built for it. The other thing is the medical system approach. It's treated as this medical experience, this hospital experience, this thing that has to be managed, not something where we just step back and let you do your thing and we come in if you need it, we intervene if you need it, which is how it should be.

Can I get an amen? Right? Am I right? The other thing is past experiences and trauma. So if you've had a previous difficult birth, it's normal to feel fear. Okay, 45 percent of first time moms state that they are super afraid of birth, that they have birth fear because of how they've seen birth portrayed in the media.

So we've got to change that narrative. Because, here's how fear affects labor. [00:03:00] Fear isn't just in your head. It actually changes how your body works during labor. And when you're scared, your body goes into a fight or flight mode. And your brain sends a stress signal to your body that says something isn't safe.

And your body, which is formed perfectly, amazingly wonderful, responds by tensing up. And tensing up makes your contractions feel worse, more painful, less effective. And we're going to talk about what else happens is that when you go into that, that fear stage, you go into the fight or flight mode and your body sends out adrenaline and it fights against And Oxytocin.

Oxytocin is what your body needs during birth to progress. So if fear causes this fear, tension, pain cycle [00:04:00] and fear causes your body to slow down during labor like the oxytocin to slow down and your labor slows down and stops, here's what doesn't happen. Your doctor walks in and he says. Sarah, your name's Sarah right now, by the way, Sarah, I can tell that you're afraid and I can tell that your stress hormones are flying out of control, which means your oxytocin slowed down.

So here's what I'm going to do. We're going to play some soft music. We're going to turn on some, some twinkly lights and turn down the bright hospital lights and Everybody's going to leave you alone and let you feel peaceful and calm again. So your oxytocin flows. No, that is not what's going to happen because I've been at thousands of births.

What's going to happen. Your doctor's going to come in. They're going to roll up on their little stool. And they're going to say, Sarah, you've been giving it such a good fight, but we don't want an emergency, do we? We don't want anything bad to happen, do we? I think it's time we go back for a C section, or I think [00:05:00] it's time we give you a bunch of oxytocin.

That's what's going to happen. I want to tell you, you have a choice over that. You have the control because what we want to do is we want to work on your birth fears. We want to educate you. If you are educated, if you understand the stages of labor, what's happening inside your body, what's happening around you, if you understand how to navigate the interventions because you understand All of them and when and why they're used, then a doctor's not going to be able to do that to you because you're going to know that what you need to do is go back into your peaceful mode.

You need to get your mindset right. You need to get your oxytocin flowing. Maybe it's nipple stimulation. Maybe it's walking around, it's sitting on the toilet. It's doing some of the things that I've taught you on how to help yourself get back into your labor mode and out of your fear mode. This is why I meet with my mamas.

If you join my birth classes, I can promise you this. I will be spending time with you. I will help you walk through your personal fears because [00:06:00] I hang out with my mom's three times a month on zoom. We call them our pregnancy. Happy hours. We have postpartum happy hours. We back happy hours. We have tapping sessions with our student or members.

We have so much going on. That's going to help you stay in the right mindset and help you get confident. So, you know, we're When you're allowed to speak up, which is always, you're going to know how to use your voice. And in fact, you need to go back and listen to episode 133, which is your voice, your birth, your rights.

Make sure you listen to that episode. Okay, so let's go back to what we were talking about. If you know what's going on, if you understand the stages of labor, if you know how your body works and what you can do to help your body, you've joined my classes, you've gotten your pocket labor guide, which if you aren't one of my students, boo hoo, we'll also put a link for the labor guide down in the show notes.

Sometimes we have it on sale. Four, seven, other times it's 19, but it's well worth it. It's printable pocket [00:07:00] guide for you to know exactly what to do when based on your dilation and where the baby is in the pelvis, AKA station. Studies show that women who fear labor are more likely to request an epidural and experience longer labors.

Studies also show. The more afraid you are, the more painful your labor is, the longer your labor is, the more interventions you have, including a C section. So we have to get you out of that fear, tension, pain cycle, because here's the crazy thing. This is wild, right? When you feel safe and supported, your body releases more oxytocin.

What is oxytocin called? The love hormone, which actually makes your contractions more effective and helps with pain relief, but also helps you Enjoy your experience. Did you know you could actually enjoy your experience? You don't have to lay in bed at 3 a. m. afraid of labor. Girl, come hang out with me.

So, you know now that [00:08:00] fear impacts your birth. But how do we, how do we change that story? And I have a free workshop you guys can watch.

If you're not ready to join the birth classes, boohoo, you should. We have a free workshop that you can watch down below, and I'm going to give you some more information on help, helping you with some tools and ways to reframe your narrative. We're not going to say birth is scary anymore. We're going to say my body was designed to do this thing.

Your body knows how to give birth. It's like breathing. Your body does it without you thinking trust in that innate wisdom. The other thing you're going to do is educate yourself with evidence based information. None of this hoopla all over social media or Joe Blow, who has no birth experience is educating.

You want to be trained. You wouldn't run a marathon without training, right? Birth is the same. The more you learn, the more confident you feel. That is just proven stats. That is why you can pay with my classes with your HSA and. It's reimbursed by insurances. Taking a solid birth class is the best way to prepare.

And the studies [00:09:00] show that women who take evidence based childbirth education classes are less likely to need interventions, and more likely, this is a big one, to have a positive birth experience. And that is proven. So if you haven't, Check out Calm Labor Confident Birth Class or the VBAC Lab because it's everything you need to know.

You will know as much as I know. In fact, my students say all the time that the nurses ask them if they have experience in labor and delivery. How insane is that? You cannot control every aspect of your birth, but you can control what you know, how you think about your birth, and how you respond.

And the best way is to use your tools, use your education, use your breathing, your movement, your mindset techniques. I teach over 50 different tools inside the classes. We want you to be so prepared. The other thing is to prepare your support person. So if you join my classes, have your support person. Log in and do the classes as well.

We even have bonus workshops inside the membership for our support [00:10:00] partners. We have a birth coach class. We have so much to support you guys. We want you guys to walk into that room like a freaking boss ass team. And if your partner is nervous. They need to be educated and they need to know how to advocate for you because I've said this a million times.

When you're in labor, your only job is labor. That's when your partner steps up for you. You don't need to fight for your rights during labor. That's what your partner is going to do. So here's what I want you to take away from this. Birth fear is normal, but it doesn't have to control you. The more you learn, the more empowered you become.

You're not broken. You're not weak. You're made for this. You're insanely strong. I love you so much. I know your body is capable. Your body is powerful. You just have to get prepared, get support, and trust your body. If this episode spoke to you, if it landed, hit review. Please. Y'all are terrible about writing a review.

Can a girl just get a review? Okay, now that I begged, I have some goodies for you down in the show [00:11:00] notes. We've got a link to a free workshop. We've got a link to the classes. We have so much waiting for you guys. You guys are so incredible. Have an amazing day and as always, I will see you again next Friday.

Bye for now.