7 seven things you need to know to prepare for birth

I've been following Gas and Air Blog for quite some time now, 

I love this UK midwife's candid humour. She features lovely, real birth stories from homebirths to maternity ward to "theatre" or operating room. Knowing your options for healthcare in Canada is extremely necessary but also learning about women's healthcare in other countries is important too. It opens your eyes to what is happening, how far we've come and where we need to go.

Helping women and their families achieve an empowered experience through education and inform choice is what my services are all about!

I couldn't agree more with these 7 things you need to know about preparing for birth

nearly "42 weeks" with with Baby # 3, preparing for our third amazing homebirth 

1. Learn to understand the birth process from start to finish and what factors can help and hinder it

2. Learn about your birth rights so you can make informed decisions that are best for you and baby

3. Look into your choice of place of birth ( if not at home ) and find out what their statistics are for interventions and c-sections, if these are high you should question this and maybe reconsider a different birth place

4. Find out what your place of births’s policy and procedures are. By knowing in advance you will know certain suggestions are policy and not what is necessarily best for you. Remember it’s your birth – your choice. You should never be told to do anything only be given options. Every option offered to you should include benefits and risks and should have alternatives

5. Mothers should know latest studies, show for first time mothers its safer to give birth on a Midwife Led Unit, followed by homebirth. For second or subsequent babies it’s home, then Midwife Led Unit, hospital comes third both times (The Birth Place Study)

6. Preparing your body by regular, gentle exercise, eat healthy and drink plenty of water. Birth is very physical. Everything you consume and breathe goes to your baby. Most importantly prepare your mind, the easiest way to do this is through hypnobirthing. Hypnobirthing ALWAYS makes a difference. What you put in is everything!

7. Your guess date (due date) is only an approximate date, your baby will come when they are ready and just like apples on a tree they ripen at different times. There is no such thing as a late baby only different lengths of pregnancy. So smudge the date you are given into a rough estimate, 5th of May becomes late April to mid May. 27th June becomes mid June to mid July.