3 Ways To Prepare For Your Upcoming Labor And Delivery
If you’re pregnant, you’ve likely got a lot of
different emotions coursing through your day at any given moment. While you’re
probably excited about bringing a new life into this world and a new person
into your family, you’re likely also worried about that baby actually getting
here and how you’ll handle the change to your life once he or she arrives. But
before you can start addressing those issues, you’ve first got to go through
the hard part of safely birthing your baby. So to
help you prepare for this momentous event, here are three ways you can start
preparing for your upcoming labor and delivery.
Take A
Class
To help you feel as prepared as you can be,
Gayle Sato and Jennifer Cody Epstein, contributors to Parents.com, recommend
that you take some kind of birthing class as
you prepare for your labor and delivery. Depending on what type of delivery you
want to have and how you plan to deal with the pain you’ll likely experience,
the exact class that you’ll want to take will vary. If you’re unsure what class
to take, consider speaking with other moms about what they have done in the
past or doing online research about what options you have in your area.
Create
A Birth Plan
After you’ve taken a birthing class and have a
little more knowledge about what it entails to birth a baby and how you’d
ideally like the experience to go for you, Dr. Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, a
contributor to KidsHealth.org, advises that you create a birth plan. Keep in
mind, though, that just because you have a birth plan doesn’t mean that the
birth will go according to plan. But by thinking about how you’ll handle the situations
involved in labor and delivery before the big day arrives, you might feel more
prepared and better able to adapt to whatever comes your way at that time. Your
birth plan should include things like what you’ll do for pain management, what
birthing technique you’d like to use, and what environment you’d like to have
when you’re laboring and delivering your baby.
Decide
On Who You Want To Be There
Going through the labor and delivery of a baby
is an amazing, stressful, scary, beautiful experience that you might want to
share with just you and your partner or involve your entire community with. As
you prepare for the big day of baby’s arrival, Evonne Lack, a contributor to
BabyCenter.com, shares that you should decide who you’d like to be there
at the hospital or birthing center and then invite that person beforehand.
Additionally, if there is someone you don’t want to be involved, make sure you
share that information with someone you trust to be there for you and take care
of any drama that might crop up.
If you’ll be having a baby soon, consider
using the tips mentioned above to help you prepare for a safe and healthy labor
and delivery.
