Mantras & Afirmations

lmc929

Hello, I am putting together a list of positive affirmations and mantras to use during childbirth. I thought I would open up the conversation incase this is helpful to anyone else as well. What are your favorite mantras?

A couple favorites:

My body is working with me, not against me

My body was made for childbirth

This pain cannot hurt me, I am safe

mc0113

I have a few saved in a note on my iphone...

"The stronger the contractions (pressure waves) become, the more deeply I must relax."

"Each powerful contraction brings me closer to meeting my baby."

"My body knows just what to do and my job is simply to relax and let it happen."

Whitfry

I love the song from the book The Red Tent and have adopted for my birth preparations.

“Fear not, the time is coming

Fear not, your bones are strong

Fear not, help is nearby

Fear not, Gula (God) is near

Fear not, the baby is at the door

Fear not, (s)he will live to bring you honor

Fear not, the hands of the midwife are clever

Fear not, the earth is beneath you

Fear not, we have water and salt

Fear not, little mother

Fear not, mother of us all!”

marriedinaugust

I can do anything for 1 minute.

duckie23

It's pretty simple but: "I can do this."

painttheair14

Not really a mantra, but I pictured a wave swelling and the receding for each contraction.

jennypolkadots

On the hypnobirthing cd by Marie Mongan, the first track is "birthing affirmations". You may like to check this out. There have been a few times throughout pregnancy that self-doubt has creeped in and I really love these affirmations. I'll put it on and say them during a nice bath or in the car sometimes. I am planning to listen to them on our way to the birth house and in early labor. 

I have the actual cd but you can access them a few places online like here:

https://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Rainbow+Relaxation/5407014

The second track is a guided meditation that is really just a birth-focused passive muscle relaxation. I rarely get through the whole thing without falling asleep lol so I guess it works! I'll try to use this during more difficult labor to fully relax/surrender. I hope this is helpful to someone!

jennypolkadots

Ok that track I linked above is not exactly what I have at home. The same words but different voice. I like the really relaxing voice of the english/Australian woman on my tapes so maybe a look a few different places if you don't like the voice on that one I linked to. 

Kaelynn91

I naturally started praying out loud "God, please help me be strong" when I was in labor with my second. It was incredibly comforting to me. I must have repeated it a million times right before I started pushing.

Another thing that really brought me relief was just giving myself permission to make whatever noise I wanted too. Sometimes that was groans, grunts, and moans. Just giving myself that release was soothing. 

ABeautifulMind

"Open and soften"- I swear I repeated that in my head with every, single contraction.  Also, similar to PP, I pictured waves in my head.  

mdupon70997

I like "pain only exists if I allow it to exist."

SSCmomma

"Its only temporary"

SissyKate21

ABeautifulMind said:

"Open and soften"- I swear I repeated that in my head with every, single contraction.  Also, similar to PP, I pictured waves in my head.  

I also pictured waves rising and falling because that's the abstract idea that my mind associated with contractions; a wave rising up and then slowly receding. 
Also, I would focus on the fact that contractions are working to open up my body to give birth. When I did this, I found myself repeating the word "Open" over and over. Or, "Open for the baby". 
I didn't really plan it that way but that's what worked in the moment!

Lorabean

I got this from my turbo jam workout videos- but it always gets me through the toughest part of a workout so I think it would help during childbirth. When it's really intense she says:

"decide you have it!"

Meaning- decide you have the strength to keep going. It's a choice and we are all much more capable than our bodies will sometimes have us believe. Mind over matter!