How I Prepared for Natural Unmedicated Birth

Sharing my experience and how I prepared for natural, unmedicated birth!

Hi hi, friends! If you missed it, I shared Axel’s detailed birth story here, and today I’m so excited to chat about how I prepared for natural unmedicated birth.

Why natural + unmedicated?

Even before I got pregnant, I knew that whenever I did give birth I’d want to go the natural, unmedicated route. There are SO many benefits to going natural and it definitely appealed to my tendency to prefer holistic, healthy habits when it comes to health and wellness.

Because I knew I wanted to go natural, when I got pregnant I got serious about preparing myself. There’s plenty (too much) of fear-mongering especially in the US surrounding childbirth, but I knew it would be difficult, so it was a matter of learning all I could and setting myself up with a variety of strategies so that I could get through the big day and have my dream of a natural, unmedicated birth become a reality.

Hypnobabies + online courses

The biggest and most valuable component of my natural birth prep was definitely the online Hypnobabies course. The overarching goal for Hypnobabies is to have a natural, more comfortable childbirth, and to empower women to trust themselves and their body when the big day comes.

I completed all the online classes for the program around week 31, which taught me a lot about the physiological processes that happen during birth, as well as just how capable the female body is of giving birth naturally, without medication or interventions that are so heavily used in the United States. Once I finished the online classwork, I just kept up listening to the daily audio hypnosis tracks, all of which prepare you in different ways for the best natural, comfortable birthing day possible.

I know, I know – hypnosis can sound a little “woo woo,” but it probably isn’t what you’re thinking. The type of hypnosis used is simply meant to re-program your subconscious, to insert positive, empowered feelings surrounding birth rather than worry and fear of pain.

From week 32 until the day my baby was born, I listened to 3-4 audio tracks every day, which were so relaxing and genuinely became one of my favorite parts of the day. They really did help shift my mindset a ton and gave me confidence that I’d be able to have the birth I so, so wanted, free of medical intervention and complications.

Despite how much I used Hypnobabies during my pregnancy, I actually only used it through about half of my labor. That ended up working out just fine for me, but the idea is that you’d be listening to tracks throughout the entire process. Even though I didn’t use it the whole time, I know I got so much from the course leading up to that day, and was able to succeed without listening constantly while birthing.

Another fun fact – I bought an additional track called “come out baby” and legit went into labor the next day! Who knows whether that triggered something of it he would’ve came that day regardless, but it was a pretty cool coincidence.

If you want to go natural + unmedicated, I definitely recommend checking out the Hypnobabies class, it was for sure the most valuable part of my prep.

I also took another online course on natural labor, which Joe took with me. He really enjoyed this one because there’s also a newborn basics section, and we had fun going through the class together and learning about everything from the super straightforward like diaper changes to the more detailed physiological info about the stages of labor. I recommend that one, too!

Books

Aside from the online courses, I read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, which I had heard a ton of great things about and definitely recommend reading it if you want to go natural. The basic concepts are similar to those in Hypnobabies, that women are far more capable of giving birth easily and naturally than they’re made to believe. The whole first half is birth stories but I focused more on the second half which had lots of great info, tips, and guidance on natural birth.

Not related to natural birth, but she also has a book on breastfeeding which I loved too.

Nutrition + fitness

I chatted about my diet and exercise in my first, second, and third trimester recaps, so I’ll keep things short and sweet here! As someone who was super active and prioritized a very healthy whole food plant-based diet prior to pregnancy, I knew I wanted to keep that going during my pregnancy. Staying active and eating nourishing meals can go such a long way with how you feel in general while you’re pregnant, but it can also help during labor.

Natural, unmedicated birth is no joke mentally, but it’s also a HUGE task physically. It was way more difficult than my experience running a marathon! If you’re wanting to go med-free, definitely prioritize maintaining your physical health while also prepping mentally.

Mindset + support

Overall when it came to preparing myself to labor naturally and without medical interventions, I knew mindset would be the most crucial aspect. I knew my body was obviously capable of having a baby, but that the mental component would be the biggest challenge. I had to develop the mental strength and strategies so that I could keep myself motivated and determined when the process got challenging.

I really dug deep into my Hypnobabies classes and changed my language around birth, to avoid innately negative ideas about birth (birth instead of labor, waves instead of contractions, etc.) and only used that type of language prior to baby’s birthday.

I also chose to work with a midwife rather than an OB for all of my prenatal appointments, and had 2 midwives at my birth rather than an OB. Midwives’ scope of practice and belief system generally aligned much more with my personal goals for labor than that of an OB, and I knew that would give me confidence that nobody would push medical intervention on me immediately should we run into any challenges on the big day.

Another seemingly small but I think really important decision (at least for me personally) that helped was avoiding ANY negative stories or talk about birth. So much of the media and even just anecdotal stories from friends + family surrounding child birth can be super scary or dramatic, so I just made sure to avoid reading any traumatic stories in pregnancy Facebook groups I’m in and honestly didn’t ask or talk about birth with family or friends. This was just my way of keeping my mindset super positive and focused on my own personal goals, and hearing scary stories definitely didn’t support my goals for that day.

And finally, I prepared my birth partner! I’m blessed with an incredibly loving and unconditionally supportive husband, so Joe and I worked through the online course together and he was so open to changing his language about the birthing process, too. Honestly even without all the prep I knew I’d get through it with him alone, and he played such an important role in those hours just being there with me. But it’s important to let your partner know your goals for your birth and then to support them in best supporting you!

Overall, my sweet little boy’s birth couldn’t have gone more perfectly than it did. I’m so, so happy and so proud that I was able to do it, and it was truly an experience I will never, ever forget. I hope that you feel empowered to go natural if that’s your dream, too!

Xo,

Sara