Forum The birth

What are you most afraid of?

39 replies · page 1 of 2

Iza
What are you most afraid of when it comes to giving birth?
I was really scared of tearing or getting an episiotomy... but with both births, it didn’t happen!

Replies

Page 1 of 2

  1. Jeanine Chan #2

    I'm currently pregnant with our first baby, but I don't really have any fears about myself. What I'm more worried about is my boyfriend. If he's the one who's unwell, he's a real tough cookie, but if I or one of our pets gets sick (especially if there's blood involved), he faints... So I'm super curious how he'll survive the birth...

  2. Jenny #3

    I think there's a trick for that. If you're afraid you'll faint from seeing blood, you should tense your muscles really quickly before it happens. That temporarily raises your blood pressure and protects against fainting from the sight of blood.

  3. Jeanine Chan #4

    Oooooh well, it's definitely worth a try! I'm super curious how he'll pull it off. I think they'll take more care of him than of me :-p

  4. Jenny #5

    If I dig really deep, it’s about a bodily reaction to seeing blood. Your blood vessels constrict in response to seeing blood. As a result, your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen and you faint.

    By keeping your blood pressure slightly higher (tensing your muscles, drinking sports drinks, if I recall correctly), you can ensure that just enough blood flows through your veins.

    Good luck!

  5. nathalie #6

    I'm scared of the birth because this is my first baby.

  6. Khadija #7

    I'm so scared that I'll need an episiotomy or that I'll tear!! Or a C-section!!!!! I'm already prone to bleeding, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

  7. Eveline #8

    dear girls,

    i wasn't afraid of giving birth myself either. the first time i didn't know what to expect, but i stayed calm and the rest just happened naturally. i'll admit my husband suffered along with me, but now with our third baby on the way, it's a piece of cake :-D so yeah, let nature take its course and you'll forget the pain as soon as you hold your baby in your arms. best wishes and good luck to all, eveline

  8. sim0ne #9

    I'm not scared of the birth itself, I'm more scared of the journey leading up to it, or whether everything will be okay until then...

  9. Uk #10

    I only feel at ease when our daughter is born healthy and safe. She's still so safe in my belly, and she still has a long way to go. My previous birth was really hard for me and ended in an emergency C-section. If that C-section hadn't happened, I wouldn't have a healthy toddler running around now.

    I also know I need to shake off the fear... and just go for it! ;-)!

  10. Nolie #11

    I'm also scared of giving birth, especially because my first labor was really difficult with complications. I'm really dreading it.
    Can anyone talk about this? And how do you cope with it?

  11. sanne #12

    During the birth of my first (now pregnant with the second), I started pushing upwards, so I got a tear going downwards...
    and... felt absolutely NOTHING! :-D

  12. MamavanManolis #13

    I'm most afraid of getting an episiotomy or tearing... and my due date is June 12th! It's getting closer and closer...

  13. Dani #14

    I had a pretty bad tear during my first birth (it was also a big baby) and didn’t feel a thing.
    I trusted the midwife a lot back then (she was a difficult person, and I was so young that I didn’t see it).
    Nowadays, I trust myself first and stand up for myself, so I feel like I can do the same during childbirth.
    The older you get, the wiser you become – that’s really true, haha!

  14. miriam #15

    The first one I had via a C-section. It was an emergency C-section, even though it was known I'd need one because my little one was breech. I did have contractions and full dilation, and I'm really scared of the afterbirth with the second... really silly, but that seems the worst to me.

  15. Dani #16

    Hi Miriam,

    May I ask why you're afraid of the afterbirth?
    Are you afraid it will hurt or something?
    I didn't have any trouble with the afterbirth; it came out so quickly, and I had my daughter on my chest, so I barely noticed it at all.

  16. miriam #17

    I don't know, that sounds so unpleasant. You've just had the little one out, and then the afterbirth still has to pop out or something... that sounds really unpleasant...

  17. Olivia-Anna Beekman #18

    I'm not afraid of giving birth because I know that fear can also affect your baby. I'm looking forward to it positively and think humor is important. But I do worry that I might need a C-section and therefore won't be able to breastfeed.

    And actually, the thing I'm most afraid of is fainting. It happens to me very quickly (low blood pressure and standard iron deficiency). I might faint during my own delivery!! Haha!!

  18. Olivia-Anna Beekman #19

    I’m not afraid of giving birth because I know that fear can also affect your baby. I look at it positively and think humor is important. But I do worry that I might need a C-section and therefore won’t be able to breastfeed.

    And honestly, the thing I’m most afraid of is fainting. It happens to me very quickly (low blood pressure and standard iron deficiency). I might just faint during my own delivery!! Haha!!

  19. Schanul30 #20

    You can still breastfeed after a C-section, right?

    I'm not really afraid of the delivery. The first one was such a drama, ending in a C-section, but I survived that. I assume it won't be this bad again since I can now make agreements in advance with the OB-GYN about what I'm okay with and what I absolutely don't want anymore!

    We're just going for it again!

Add your reply

Share what helped you, or ask a question.

Sign in to join the conversation.

Continue with Google

Takes a moment. You’ll come straight back here to reply.