There can feel like an overwhelming number of choices to make during pregnancy. How do you weed through ALL the available data and arrive at the end with YOUR best choice?
You make your choices as best you can at any given moment with the data you have. And, remember that there are different kinds of data. There is one kind of “data:” information about the care providers and birthing center locations in your area, breathing techniques and other birthing approaches, what you know is possible from what you’ve read and heard from others, how the body and the process works, statistics, and other types of researchable facts. There is also another type of data that is equally important and valid: your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to what you’ve read, heard, witnessed, and/or experienced. In fact, these latter pieces of data, at times, may be more important. You’re never going to have all the facts and information, and how you think and feel about the information you have is likely to be quite telling.
Trust yourself. Do what you can to understand your true feelings and opinions and move forward. Make the best decisions that you can regarding your pregnancy and believe you’re choosing what will work best for you. This is much easier said than done, at times, I realize. It can be easy to worry that you don’t have all the information that you should or that you’re making decisions about something you don’t understand very well. Yet, getting worked up and worried about a circumstance you can’t change doesn’t serve a purpose. It doesn’t help you. Instead, you want to trust: trust that you have the information you need to make the best decision for you, trust that you’ve processed what you need to in order to understand your own preferences, trust that you’ve made the best choice, trust that there’s a reason you made this choice. This is a way to truly empower yourself.
What choices have you made (even if only in your own mind) about your pregnancy that you trust?
