Physiological Birth: Don’t Just Wing It

This week is International Physiological Birth Week, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I am VERY excited about it. I'll be joining doulas and birth workers for conversations, Lives and podcasts exploring birth physiology and the extraordinary capabilities of women's bodies. But it's also got me thinking about something much closer to home.

My own births.

Because long before Birth From Within existed — and before I became a midwife — my understanding of birth was being shaped by my own experiences. And they were certainly not all straightforward.

Five babies. Five different journeys.

My births taught me something I've carried throughout my life: There isn't one "right" way to birth. Each woman is different. Each baby is different. Each pregnancy is different. And even the same woman can need something completely different from one birth to the next.

My first birth with Amber began perfectly, physiologically and beautifully; I arrived at the hospital @7cms, without fear and in control. I was unprepared for what happened next, they broke my waters (standard procedure on arrival back then!). That interference changed everything. I went from calm and in control to wild and out of control. When I look back, I feel the deep, deep wound from their interference, violation and violent but I was young, healthy and birthed Amber fairly quickly. I did what I believe a lot of women do…pushed it to the back of my mind and got on with being a mum! However, something was brewing deep down and that would be revealed with my second pregnancy with Jasmine, It was discovered during this pregnancy I had ovarian cancer. That experience forced me to look deeply at myself, my health, my choices and what felt right for me. I made deeply personal decisions about my own treatment and did an enormous amount of inner work along the way. Quite unexpectedly I found out i was pregnant with Loui. What a transformational journey I walked on. I birthed him at home, weighing 9lb 7oz. Something shifted in me through that experience. My belief in myself grew, but so did my fascination with women and birth. That journey eventually helped lead me towards midwifery.

Many years later came Honey. I had hoped to birth her at home, but the environment wasn't giving me what I needed to feel able to settle into labour there. So I changed course, went into hospital and had a physiological birth, and that taught me something too. Physiological birth isn't a postcode. Home isn't automatically right. Hospital isn't automatically wrong. The question is: where does this individual woman feel safest, most private, most supported and most able to let go? And then came Rio. At was 45 I was considered a geriatric mother (Rude!) and high risk. I could not comply to the fear generated with the labels being bestowed onto me, so chose to birth outside the system…I knew deep inside me as a woman, mother and a midwife that was the right thing for me. He was born at home. He weighed 11lb. And once again, my body showed me what it was capable of. But there is something really important missing if I tell that story simply as: "I trusted my body and everything was wonderful."Because I did more than trust.

I prepared.

Physiological birth isn't something you just "wing"

Sometimes when we talk about trusting birth, it can sound as though women simply need to think positively and hope for the best. That's not what I mean at all. For me, preparing for physiological birth means becoming curious about the whole woman. How are you physically? How are you nourishing yourself? Are you moving your body? How are you sleeping and resting? What fears are you carrying? What stories about birth have you absorbed throughout your life? Do you understand what happens hormonally during labour? Do you know what supports oxytocin — and what can interrupt it? Who will be in your birth space? Do those people make you feel safe? Can you say no? Can you ask why? Can you change your mind? Do you understand your options? And perhaps the biggest question:

Do you know yourself? That is birth preparation. Not predicting exactly how your baby will arrive. Not achieving some mythical "perfect birth". And certainly not judging women whose births unfold differently. It is doing the work beforehand so that when birth asks something of you, you have knowledge, tools, support and a relationship with yourself to draw upon.

Birth is physiological — but the environment matters

We don't consciously make our hearts beat or digest our dinner. And labour also involves extraordinary physiological processes that the body largely orchestrates without conscious instruction. But birth doesn't happen in a vacuum. Hormones, environment, movement, privacy, fear, safety, touch, language, support and the people around us can all influence how a woman experiences labour. That's why I am so passionate about teaching more than simply the stages of labour. I want women to understand the conditions that support physiology. Because once you understand something, you can begin to work with it.

This is why Birth From Within exists

After nearly three decades working in midwifery, my own five births and now my work as a birth keeper and doula, I've seen birth from many different perspectives. And I've become increasingly convinced that we need to give women more than information about what might happen to them. We need to prepare women for what is happening within them. I want you to understand your body. I want your partner to understand how to protect your birth space. I want you to recognise your choices. I want you to be able to look at evidence and ask questions. I want you to explore your fears rather than carry them silently into labour. I want you to know what helps you feel safe. And I want you to walk towards birth knowing that whatever path your birth ultimately takes, you belong at the centre of it. That's what my antenatal classes are about. Not teaching you how to be a "good patient". Not promising you a particular outcome. And not telling you how you should give birth. They're about preparing you. Body. Mind. Environment. Knowledge. Support. Confidence. Because birth preparation isn't simply packing your hospital bag.

The most important preparation may be the work you do on the inside.

Come and experience it for yourself — FREE

To celebrate International Physiological Birth Week, I'm opening the doors of Birth From Within this Saturday for a FREE antenatal taster session. If you've wondered what my classes are actually like, come and find out. We'll talk about physiology. We'll talk about hormones. We'll talk about the birth environment. We'll talk about choice, confidence and preparing yourself and your partner for labour. There is no pressure and no expectation. Just come, ask questions and discover a different way of thinking about birth. Because you don't need someone else to tell you what your birth should look like. You need knowledge, preparation, support — and space to discover what feels right for you.

Come and see what Birth From Within is all about. ❤️