(That gorgeous photo by my dear friend and genius photographer Chantal Richard-Mercier).

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“I’m already 40 weeks—How do I get labour going?”

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“I think I’m measuring too small!”

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“What if…!!”

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Weekly, at least, I see another beautiful pregnant woman who is approaching her birth-time, and who posts something or other on her public Facebook wall, or in a large Facebook birth group, that has the effect of creating drama, riling their family and friends up, and generally inviting mischief and chaos into her birth-space.

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I know that drama and chaos is the effect of such posts, because I have a long and illustrious history of creating drama and inviting mischief and chaos into my own life.

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And of course, this is what many of us do, when we’re faced with the discomfort of moving into the unknown.

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Drama and chaos aren’t always bombastic and loud—maybe you’re the kind of person who likes to create an understated sort of drama? Conjuring up medical problems in the absence of any evidence that they exist is a wonderful way of doing this.

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The urge to self-sabotage is strong for most of us.  And this is often a result of Fear.

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Fear, of course, is totally normal, and universal. But it is possible—and optimal—to learn ways to respond to fear that bring us closer to our ultimate goal, rather than further away.

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I’ve witnessed many women over the years who have proceeded through their boring, normal, healthy pregnancies, happily planning their beautiful homebirths, only to approach their birth time and to succumb to Fear, flail, invite the drama and chaos in, give it a nice cozy place to hang out, and see their birth plans fall apart.

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Then, of course, we can sit back and blame the mother-in-law who called the ambulance, or the doctor who insisted on the third ultrasound, or the partner who bought into the fear and insisted on a transfer…

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Stay tuned for Part 2, coming up soon!

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