For me, birth was the wildest, indescribable, out-of-body experience I have ever had in my life. I was induced at 38-weeks when I went in for a regular check-up. My blood pressure was 190/100 and I had developed preeclampsia after weeks of gestational hypertension. I knew being induced early was possible, but nothing prepares you for THE moment. So while my birth was stressful, it was also so insanely beautiful. I made it a priority to make our hospital room comfortable and zen. Honestly, I loved labor and delivery and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Processing what I had gone through at birth was so important to me. I had heard my doula and other practitioners talk about the importance of processing birth tp benefit a mother’s mental health. I knew I wanted to honor this sacred rite of passage for myself and my partner.

After birth, all I wanted was to burn every. single. detail. of labor and delivery into my mind. Birth made me feel like I could do absolutely anything. I love to journal so I wrote about my experience while I was in the hospital and throughout the week when I got home. Writing is such a sacred outlet for me and has been since I was a kid. I also spoke about how I felt about birth and the days following a lot with my husband. We made a point to check in with each other every day asking “how are you really?” I also spoke with several professionals including our doula and my therapist. Telling my friends and family who were interested all about my birth was also so special. I am an open book, so for me, it was super important for me to verbalize what I went through, and honestly, I would tell anyone who would listen (ha!).

I remember how it felt the very first time I ran to the store without my baby. I looked around like “doesn’t anyone here know what I’ve been through!? That I was just pregnant and brought a human into the world?!” Those first few weeks postpartum I was on another level. After such a spiritual experience it was hard for me to integrate myself back into everyday life.

Talking about birth and sharing my raw and vulnerable feelings allowed me to savor the memories of bringing my daughter into the world and work through some of the aspects that were challenging for me especially as my hormones raged in the first two weeks of postpartum. By sharing and expressing myself I worked through the feelings of fear, pain, sadness, and joy without bottling them up or shoving them down. I imagine this would be incredibly important for those who experience trauma around their birth as well.

Now let’s talk more generally about why it’s important to share your birth story.

• Allows you to process the good, bad, and traumatic
• Keeps sacred memories for you and for your family /babe
• Encourages other moms to be. It’s hard and painful but it’s so beautiful, transcendent, and worth it (IMO). Positive birth stories need to be told more! 

Ways you can process your birth

• Journal – free write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about what order your story is in or if you miss something. Just write, feel, and allow.
• Record yourself – video or voice
• Talk to a trusted family member or friend
• Work through this with your postpartum therapist. My hospital had a great therapist on staff that did cognitive behavioral therapy with me. It was so helpful to talk to a counselor that was specialized in postpartum mental health. postpartum.org has great resources to help you get started.

Did you share your birth story? Tell us about it below.

Xx

Kaitlin