4 Ways to Begin Processing Your Birth Experience
Whether your birth experience was a positive experience, one you expected, or
an experience that was unexpected and tragic…
it is important to process what your body and mind just experienced.
The fourth one is my favorite because it helps you feel empowered.
Journal
Journaling is a great way to begin processing your birth experience. This doesn’t have to be a word for word how the birth experience went; this can start out with three words to describe your feelings or experience and go from there.
The beauty of journaling is—you can look back on this journal any time and remember the experience (or not, if it’s not one you want to “relive”) and you have this journal as a memory for your baby on how they entered into the world.
Look at Photos
If there were pictures taken during your labor and delivery process then looking at pictures can help you process your birth experience. Going through the photos slowly and reflecting on what is happening in the photo.
How does it make you feel? Where in your body do you feel it?
This may be difficult and you may only get through one photo a day or one photo a week.
Connect with Your Baby
This one may be difficult, especially if your experience was traumatic.
Connect in any way that seems okay for you, such as; cuddling, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin.
Research Your Experience
Take medical records from your experience and research different aspects that occurred during your birth experience.
This can be as simple as back labor, or Pitocin (a medication that can be used during labor) or you can research and find other women that had a similar experience (Facebook groups are amazing for this).
Don't forget..
Using these methods to process your birth experience is a great place to start. Keeping in mind that it may not be easy and it doesn’t need to start the moment you have your child. But don’t wait too long or you may never process the experience.
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