Empowering Quotes and Affirmations for Pregnancy & Childbirth.

“What if we referred to the sensations of labor with a word other than “PAIN”? The word PAIN is so small and limited. When I stub my toe, I feel pain. When I eat something that gives me gas, I feel pain. I wish I had a better word to describe what it actually FELT like to birth my babies. There was definitely sensation. A LOT of sensation. I could feel it. But it was good. It was OK! I even enjoyed it. It was so primal and sensual. I remember saying at the beginning of a surge, “This one is going to be really big…” and it WAS, but following every wave of labor was a wave of pleasure and relaxation and love. I felt so sexy. I felt so warm and soft and open and flushed with excitement. I guess you could say the pain of childbirth felt really…good. I wish I could invent a new word for it. The closest word I can think of is POWER, but mixed with surrender, sensuality, sexuality, vulnerability and strength. We belittle women and the birth experience when we refer to it with the same word we use for broken bones and bruises. The pain of labor is transcendent.” — Lauralyn Curtis, HBCE

“When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change.” — Marie Mongan

“To those who say it is just not possible to birth naturally without pain, I say, “But what if we’re right? Wouldn’t it be wonderful?” – Lorne R. Campbell, M.D.

“When a woman gave birth, everyone gathered around her in the temple for the celebration of life. Birthing was a religious rite, and not at all the painful ordeal it came to be years later” — Marie Mongan

“Imagine what might happen if women emerged from their labor beds with a renewed sense of the strength and power of their bodies, and of their capacity for ecstasy through giving birth” — Dr. Christiane Northrup

“My dream is that every woman, everywhere, will know the joy of a truly safe, comfortable, and satisfying birthing for herself and her baby.” — Marie Mongan

“It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. . . The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.” – Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, 1953

“According to physiological law, all natural, normal functions of the body are achieved without peril or pain. Birth is a natural, normal physiological function for normal, healthy women and their healthy babies. It can, therefore, be inferred that healthy women, carrying healthy babies, can safely birth without peril or pain.” – Dr. Jonathan Dye, 1891

“The point of HypnoBirthing is NOT birthing without pain. The point is to birth with LOVE and CONFIDENCE, without FEAR, without unnecessary INTERVENTION, and with a supportive team who shares your birth vision. THAT is the definition of a successful hypno-birth. The wonderful side-effect of this type of gentle, mother-centered, empowered birth is more pleasure and less pain.” – Lauralyn Curtis HBCE

“The HypnoBirthing view of birth is that it is a natural extension of the sexuality of a man and a woman, and, therefore, we believe that birth is about them. It is about family fulfillment.” — Marie Mongan

“All natural birth has a purpose and a plan; who would think of tearing open the chrysalis as the butterfly is emerging? Who would break the shell to pull the chick out?” — Marie Mongan

“Muscles send messages to each other. Clenched fists, a tight mouth, a furrowed brow, all send signals to the birth-passage muscles, the very ones that need to be loosened. Opening up to relax these upper-body parts relaxes the lower ones.” – William and Martha Sears

“A pregnant woman is like a beautiful flowering tree, but take care when it comes time for the harvest that you do not shake or bruise the tree, for in doing so, you may harm both the tree and its fruit.” – Peter Jackson, R.N.

“Childbirth shouldn’t hurt. The word “HURT” implies that something is injured, damaged, broken, or malfunctioning. Think of the intense sensations you may feel during a deep-tissue massage or yoga class, rock-climbing, running long distances, or during a normal healthy childbirth; because nothing is being injured, damaged or broken, any sensations of pain you may feel can be very positive and productive.” – Lauralyn Curtis HBCE

“Birth is as safe as life gets.” ~Harriette Hartigan

“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware. To such a woman, childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory. She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.” ~Grantly Dick Read, Childbirth Without Fear

“The knowledge of how to give birth without outside interventions lies deep within each woman. Successful childbirth depends on the acceptance of the process.” ~Suzanne Arms

“My baby is healthy and innately knows when to begin labor. My body knows how to birth by instinct. My mind has released all fears and trusts birth. I am enjoying this process and growing through it all.” ~Mrs. BWF

“Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear.” ~ Jane Weideman

‎”If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any.” ~ Diana Korte

“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm

“The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you.” ~ Unknown

‎”Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So also, pain is only pain; unless we resist it, then it becomes torment.” ~ the I Ching

“The same movements that get the baby in, get the baby out.” ~ From Birthing From Within

“A healthy woman who delivers spontaneously performs a job that cannot be improved upon.” ~Aidan MacFarlane author of The Psychology of Childbirth (1977)

“The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power.” ~Heather McCue

“The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women.” ~Mary Rucklos Hampton

“No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception”. ~Grantley Dick-Read, M.D.

‎”The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.” ~Stephen Gaskin

“There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don’t ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it.” – Sheryl Feldman

“If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.” – Michel Odent, MD

“Midwives see birth as a miracle and only mess with it if there’s a problem; doctors see birth as a problem and if they don’t mess with it, it’s a miracle!” – Barbara Harper in Gentle Birth Choices

“Experiences have clearly shown that an approach which ‘de-medicalizes’ birth, restores dignity and humanity to the process of childbirth, and returns control to the mother is also the safest approach.”  Michel Odent, MD

“When I say painless, please understand, I don’t mean you will not feel anything. What you will feel is a lot of pressure; you will feel the might of creation move through you. Pain, however, is associated with something gone wrong. Childbirth is a lot of hard work, and the sensations that accompany it are very strong, but there is nothing wrong with labor.” – Giuditta Tornetta

“When enough women realize that birth is a time of great opportunity to get in touch with their true power, and when they are willing to assume responsibility for this, we will reclaim the power of birth and help move technology where it belongs–in the service of birthing women, not their master.” – Christiane Northrup

“I think one of the best things we could do would be to help women/parents/families discover their own birth power, from within themselves. And to let them know it’s always been there, they just needed to tap into it.” – John H. Kennell, MD

“Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.” – Marcie Macari

“So the question remains. Is childbirth painful? Yes. It can be, along with a thousand amazing sensations for which we have yet to find adequate language. Every birth is different, and every woman’s experience and telling of her story will be unique.” –Marcie Macari

“The instant of birth is exquisite. Pain and joy are one at this moment. Ever after, the dim recollection is so sweet that we speak to our children with a gratitude they never understand.” – Madline Tiger

“A woman in birth is at once her most powerful, and most vulnerable. But any woman who has birthed unhindered understands that we are stronger than we know.” – Marcie Macari

“Keeping active during labour and adopting natural, upright or crouching birth positions is the safest, most enjoyable, most economical and sensible way for the majority of women to give birth.” – Janet Balaskas

“The knowledge about how to give birth is born within every woman: women do not need to be taught how to give birth but rather to have more trust and faith in their own body knowledge.” – BirthWorks

“Birth matters. It brings us into being, on many levels.” – Ananda Lowe

“Giving birth is a transformation and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve had eight babies before. It’s still a transformation the next time you have another baby, because you are no longer the same woman you were before you had that baby.” – Penny Handford

“We must attempt to tell the whole truth about birth, the truth that includes the transformation, mastery, satisfaction, personal power and the difference between pain and suffering.” – Cheri van Hoover

“However much we know about birth in general, we know nothing about a particular birth. We must let it unfold with its own uniqueness.” – Elizabeth Noble

“Birth should not be a time in a woman’s life when she has to FIGHT for anything.” -Carla Hartley

“…Respecting the woman as an important and valuable human being and making certain that the woman’s experience while giving birth is fulfilling and empowering is not just a nice extra, it is absolutely essential as it makes the woman strong and therefore makes society strong. ” – Marsden Wagner

“Although the popularly desired outcome is ‘healthy mother, healthy baby,’ I think there is room in that equation for ‘happy, non-traumatized, empowered and elated mother and baby.’” – Midwifery Today

“Childbirth is an experience in a woman’s life that holds the power to transform her forever.  Passing through these powerful gates – in her own way – remembering all the generations of women who walk with her… She is never alone.” – Suzanne Arms

“A baby is like the beginning of all things: wonder, hope a dream of possibilities. In a world that is cutting down its trees to build highways, losing its earth to concrete, babies are almost the only remaining link in nature, with the natural world of living things from which we spring.” – Eda J. Leshan

“Labor is not about dilation. Your body knows how to give birth whether or not you ever have a pelvic exam during labor. Birthing women need encouragement to trust their bodies, and to be the stars of their own labors.” - The Doula Guide to Birth

“Women are strong, strong, terribly strong. We don’t know how strong until we’re pushing out our babies.” – Louise Erdrich

“You are a birth servant. Do good without show or fuss. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, they will rightly say: ‘We did it ourselves!’” – Tao Te Ching

Women’s bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it’s when their brains get involved that things can go wrong. ~Peggy Vincent, Baby Catcher

Natural childbirth allows the hormones that have been working for women for thousands of years to fulfill their functions. This is more important than just helping a woman through labor and delivery. Birth-related hormones also affect well-being much later in life. ~Janet Schwegel, Adventures in Natural Childbirth

Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one. ~Gloria Steinem, Ms. Magazine, April 1981

Families embracing the belief that birth is about them. Women don’t really need to be taught how to birth. They simply need to learn about birth. They come to understand that when the mind is free of stress and fear that cause the body to respond with pain, nature is free to process birth in the same well-designed manner that it does for all other normal physiological functions. ~Marie Mongan