40 Weeks Pregnant - the importance of positive affirmations and self-talk

Weekly pregnancy updates from a childbirth educator, doula and mum to 2 little girls. Come and join me on my journey as I share how I’m feeling, how baby is developing, what I’m doing to prepare, and some favourite resources!

It’s that time of pregnancy where baby could be born anytime... or we could still have a week or two to wait. These final days/weeks can be so tough mentally, and we need strategies to cope with them.

One practical strategy is actually to plan out a calendar up till 42+ weeks where you have something fun or special on every day. Not necessarily something big or expensive, just something you look forward to, but which you can also cancel easily if baby arrives sooner! Watching a favourite movie, going out for ice cream, getting your nails done, coffee with a friend, a beach walk, a foot soak... and so on! Having something like this planned out helps you to look forward to each day and takes the focus off “but baby still isn't here”.

But even more important than practical strategies, is working on your mental game. I strongly encourage mums to listen to or read positive birth affirmations regularly through pregnancy. These are simply positive phrases about pregnancy, labour and birth that you believe are true and that you repeat to yourself regularly. The more your brain hears the phrases, the more it recognises them as facts.

The beauty of this, is that when you have tougher seasons in pregnancy or labour, and perhaps start doubting your goals or your capability, your brain is ready to prompt you with positive self-talk, often with the exact phrases you’ve been listening to all pregnancy. This can make such a difference with how you feel mentally as you go about your day. And definitely for me personally lately, it’s making all the difference in giving me the motivation to keep up with my Spinning Babies® exercises and a focus on healthy eating. Here are just a few examples of common doubts we experience at this phase, with affirmations to counteract them. [Affirmations taken from: Katharine Graves, “The Hypnobirthing Book 4th Edition” - see resource section below.]

Doubt: “But we’re over 40 weeks and nothing is happening. Shouldn’t we be doing something?”
Affirmation: “Birthing is a natural process of my body, my mind and my spirit, working in harmony with my baby.”

Doubt: “I’m so uncomfortable! Can’t we just be finished already?”
Affirmation: “My body is protecting and nurturing my baby until it is ready to be born.”

Doubt: “Why do I even bother eating nutritious food?”
Affirmation: “I eat healthily and take care of my body for me and for my baby.”

Doubt: “I’m sick of exercising and doing these movements to prepare my body for birth. What difference does it make anyway?”
Affirmation: “My body is strong and healthy.”

Doubt: “But if baby isn’t born soon they might grow too big!”
Affirmation: “My body and my baby’s body are created the right size to birth naturally.”

Doubt: “Is this baby ever coming?”
Affirmation: “My baby is born at the right time for a natural, swift and gentle birth.”

Doubt: “What if I'm just not the birthing type?”
Affirmation: “My body is designed to give birth efficiently and easily.”

And so on…

Athletes use self-talk to get themselves ready for events. Endurance athletes use self-talk to help them keep going to the end. And mums use self-talk to help them stay on an even keel as they get ready to meet their baby. 🥰

What symptoms am I feeling?

A bit of back pain, Braxton Hicks, a little bit of lightning crotch or pubic symphysis pain on and off. But nothing really to make me think that baby’s arrival is imminent. He seems pretty comfy! I had several days of on and off pre-labour symptoms with the girls, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have that again. But I also know I could just go into labour tonight without any of that! I have been randomly teary a couple of times in the last few days, which could be related to hormones as we get closer to birth, but who’d know!

How has baby been developing this week?

50-55cm, 3.2-4kg, baby is putting on weight and his lungs are continuing to mature and be ready for life outside the womb. It won't be much longer now!

What am I doing to prepare?

Well... a lot of self-talk to keep me motivated with my exercises and eating healthily, as mentioned above! My body needs to be fuelled and strong for birth, postpartum and breastfeeding!

We also rearranged the living room to make space for the birth pool, and inflated the pool. And we organised backup support for the girls in the unlikely event of a hospital transfer for birth or postpartum. Yes, it’s unlikely, but no, we can’t rule it out. Birth is unpredictable! And we’d rather be prepared and have people ready to care for the girls at whatever time of the day or night in case we need that kind of support.

A favourite resource:

The Ultimate Birth Relaxation tracks from KG Hypnobirthing (free if you purchase The Hypnobirthing Book). This includes the track of positive birth affirmations which I quoted above, and which I listen to nearly every day while I do my Spinning Babies exercises! The affirmations are also written out in the book.

And that’s it for this week! 🌿💛

[Image credit: Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash]