Trust Birth?

“Trust Birth” and “Trust Your Body” are common clichés, often tossed around casually in many childbirth circles, and also sometimes hotly debated, especially among those who have had or have witnessed difficult births. But what does it really mean to trust? And how might trust be helpful or unhelpful for pregnant people in their preparations for birth and parenting? Let’s think a bit more deeply about the role of trust in childbirth preparation.

We know that hope and optimism are good for our bodies, minds, and relationships, and this remains true for expectant parents as they look forward to meeting their baby and moving into an exciting new stage of life. A positive outlook can reflect and build inner strength, courage, and resilience. It’s certainly true that expectant parents who feel relaxed and hopeful about birth and parenting are likely to enjoy pregnancy more than those who don’t. When expectant parents are mistrustful of themselves or others, they often feel overwhelmed by anxiety or paralyzed by a sense of hopelessness, rendering them unable or unwilling to ask for or receive help. They may research or plan obsessively in an attempt know and control all potential outcomes, or, on the flip side, they may give up and sink into inaction, feeling that nothing they do could possibly make a difference.

The potential pitfalls of excessive mistrust and pessimism are relatively easy to see. What may be trickier to understand is that excessive trust and optimism may also present significant difficulties in the form of complacency or passivity. If a parent believes, “Everything will work out,” “I trust birth, ” or “I trust my body, ” then what is their motivation to take a childbirth class, or learn how to cope with pain, or ask questions, or explore fears? (Avoiding thinking or learning about cesareans, for example, is a common side-effect of unbalanced optimism – one that might verge on naïveté in this era of the 30% cesarean rate.) This is equally true–and equally risky–for those committed to unquestioning trust in their doctors or midwives. In all these cases, the concept of “trust” closes the door on growth and curiosity, blocking opportunities for building knowledge, flexibility, and inner strength.

Let’s also keep in mind that phrases such as “I trust birth” or “I trust my body” may have very different meanings for people who have experienced birth than they do for people who haven’t. Often this nuance is missing when the phrase is used or debated. Thus, if a midwife or doula tells a first-time parent that they can safely trust the process of birth, the parent may mistake that statement as an implicit promise about the outcome of the birth: “If you just trust enough, then your birth will be easy and uncomplicated.” Most birth workers have no intention of conveying such a simplistic meaning when they talk about “trust,” but parents often hear and internalize it in this way. This miscommunication becomes problematic if the birth is then hard, or long, or complicated – as births often are – and the birthing person feels confused and ashamed of what they may interpret at their failure, and betrayed by the person who encouraged them to “trust” in the first place.

In Chapter 6 of her latest book, Ancient Map for Modern Birth, Pam England writes, “This kind of birth trauma may be lessened by being mindful about the language we use to inspire, support and educate pregnant [people]–in particular by avoiding absolute language or outcome-focused messages. It is essential that any conversation about trust and birth be honest, compassionate, and realistic, not idealized, horrific, or oversimplified… Trusting your body is helpful and important; the problem arises when you believe that if you just trust enough, or in the right way, that you will have an ideal or natural birth. No amount of trust or preparation can guarantee an easy birth.”

That’s why, in preparing for birth and parenthood, it is so important to really feel into the concept of trust and what you are telling yourself about yourself as a birthing person and parent. You may want to dive a bit deeper into the idea of Trust, and ask yourself these questions: