The mind is a powerful thing!

It may sounds absurd or nutty to say that you can actually think yourself into the pains of labor, but it is true. Fear creates pain and tension, pain and tension create fear and thus, if you fear your labor you can be stuck in a vicious fear/pain cycle.

So, how do we break this cycle, especially for new moms and how on earth do we not fear something we do not know?

Well, you start by telling yourself just how well you can do this because, of course, as a woman and mother you are amazing. There are many different birth affirmations, you can do a quick google search and find many listings. Some are corny as you can get while others are so very powerful. My personal favorite is:

"My contractions cannot be bigger than me for they come from me."

Oh how mighty and true!

If you begin as early in your pregnancy as you like, saying positive things to yourself everyday about how your body knows to grow your baby perfectly, knows how to birth your baby perfectly, knows how and when to be born...you can really have a strong and powerful effect on your labor and delivery. Woman have sworn that they've turned breech babies, changed malpositioned babies, and sped up labor simply by speaking to their baby and themselves. Our minds are powerful things, if we let them they can rule us. However, there is no reason why we cannot be stronger than our negative thoughts, after all, they come from inside our very own head, so there is no reason we cannot will them away with more powerful thoughts of the positive variety.

So if you are feeling anxious, nervous, inadequate about birthing because you're "such a big baby" about everything else or you've heard it's "the worst pain in the world" tell yourself just the opposite. Why let others talk you down because of their own failures in birth or their own insecurities with their hidden strengths? Instead, tell them that you appreciate their concern buy you are confident in your body's ability to work through this safely and strongly.

You are woman, you will birth!