Month 8 Beat your labour fears

That baby’s got to come out sometime, and it will be the happiest day of your life, but that doesn’t stop birth from scaring the living daylights out of you… Or can you banish your fears?

How are you feeling about giving birth? Excited? Apprehensive? Terrified? Some moms will love chilling your bones with tales of long labours and getting lost in the depths of mind-numbing agony, while others will insist they got through theirs with no more than a puff of gas and air and a few gentle pushes. It’s all a bit… well, confusing. Scary even. But you don’t need to feel like that. “Giving birth is a huge unknown, so it’s completely natural to be fearful,” says midwife and childbirth educator Tina Otte. But the key to dealing with that fear is to be informed about what might happen. If you’re prepared, you’ll feel calmer and more relaxed, which helps oxytocin (the hormone that makes your uterus contract) to flow, making your labour progress smoothly. Feeling chilled… or at least not terrified… really can transform your birth experience.