New to this whole “having babies” thing? Here are 3 quick tips.

Okay so I’ve had six babies of my own (two of them are in heaven). And I’ve seen way more than six women have their babies, ha! The long and the short of it is, when it comes to babies and birth, I know what I’m talking about.

Here’s some advice I give to my doula clients.

1. Stop focusing on the nursery. Girl, by all means have fun and get excited, nesting is so lovely and there’s totally a place for it… But so many women spend way too much time getting their Pinterest-style nursery set up, and way too little time getting their mindset set up. Your child won’t notice their aesthetic nursery. What they will notice is how mummy’s coping with the transition into motherhood. Read that again. Your mindset going into birth + postpartum is critically important.

2. On the note of postpartum: don’t forget about postpartum. The birth is super important, and putting in the work to have a great birth is important (obviously better birth = smoother recovery!). So they absolutely go hand in hand. But again, it’s not everything. There are more pieces to the puzzle. Birth is one day (one big day that you’ll remember every day after that - so again, not saying it doesn’t require massive investment), but postpartum is weeks and weeks. Make sure you plan for it. I help all my clients come up with a full on evidence-based strategy for their postpartum. It’s so important.

3. GET EDUCATED. GET EDUCATED. GET EDUCATED. I can’t say this too many times. Please do not go into birth winging it. You might be the really lucky unicorn kind of person who has a great experience doing that, but it’s not likely. So much of birth is not in your hands. So the things that are, you need to be intentional about. And education is absolutely huge. A childbirth class isn’t enough on its own. A doula isn’t enough on her own. A lactation class isn’t enough on its work. Some mindset work isn’t enough on its own. Some physical fitness isn’t enough on its own. You genuinely need to be doing all of those things. Truly, when combined, this is a potent cocktail for a good birth experience.

So much more I could say…

But this was a top three list. So I’ll leave it there.

Until next time!

Angie,

your Guardian Doula.