This giveaway is now closed! The winner was drawn and was Jessica (of Jess Loves Being a Mommy)—please email me with your mailing address! 
I am fortunate to have an extra copy of the new book Birth Space, Safe Place: Emotional Well-Being through Pregnancy and Birth. to give away to one lucky reader! You can read my review of the book in the post below. There are three ways to enter to win the book and you will receive an entry for each method you employ (please make a separate comment for each of your entries):
1. Leave a comment on this post sharing your most helpful tip for emotional well-being during pregnancy and birth. I would like to compile these tips into a new blog post in the future (so if you don’t want me to include yours in that, please let me know!)
2. Become a fan of Talk Birth on Facebook (and post a comment here letting me know you are a fan).
3. Post about the giveaway on your blog and post a link back to it as well as a comment letting me know you did so.
Have fun! This is an interesting and useful little book and I know many people would enjoy having a copy. I will draw for the winner on Friday, January 22 at noon, so make sure to enter before that date!
Just became a fan, just stumbled on your blog, just lovin’ it. Thanks for doing this.
Just became a fan too!
I would LOVE a copy of that book!
Emotional well being during pregnancy is as important as eating well and resting enough. It doesn’t surprise me when new studies come out demonstrating the importance of a calm mind, and how extreme stress during pregnancy can hinder the fetus’ brain development. Even though there isn’t much concrete evidence, I think it’s only time until science proves what mothers’ bodies have always known and felt, that stress is bad for the developing baby!
I hope I’m credible, I live all the way in Aruuuuuuba!
I just became a fan on Facebook.
[...] And, make sure to check out my giveaway of Birth Space, Safe Place here! [...]
[...] of Birth Space, Safe Place!! To read her review of the book, click here. To enter the giveaway, click here. She’ll draw the winner on Friday, January 22, so hurry! Good [...]
I’m already your Facebook fan, does that count?!
I think my best tip for emotional well-being during pregnancy (and life in general) is to let go of guilt. We can only do the best we can with the information we have at the time, no more, no less.
You’ll find the link to your giveaway here:
http://peacefulbeginnings.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/giveaway/
Yes, since you’re already a fan, I will count that as another entry
[...] of Birth Space, Safe Place!! To read her review of the book, click here. To enter the giveaway, click here. She’ll draw the winner on Friday, January 22, so hurry! Good luck. Posted in [...]
I became a fan of your FB page.
My most helpful tip would be to find whatever gives you positive thoughts and use it, a lot.
I loved the book Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and whenever I started second guessing my homebirth decision, I would open it up and just read the birth stories in it.
The most helpful tip I got about emotional well being was from my sister. I was having alot of people question my birthing choices and telling me that my baby and I were going to die. None of which happened. She told me that “you can’t expect people to agree with your choices or behave respectfully about them. All you can do is know that you are doing what’s right for you and you’re child and that is all the matters. Don’t let them change your mind with fear. It has no place in childbirth.”
I’m a Facebook fan!
I fanned ya!
fanned you.
My emotional advice: remember that cats purr while giving birth. Figure out what makes you “purr” while you’re pregnant and find ways to do more of that as well as to bring those tools to the birth-space with you.
I am a FB fan already
i became a fan on Facebook!
cavale fnord
Oh, and i think the best tip i can give is this:
Trust yourself.
My best tip for emotional wellbeing is meditation on good/safe birth… the normalcy and miraculous nature of it. So much of pregnancy stress is uncertainty and fear of the birth process. The more you can trust in the process of pregnancy and birth, the more joyful and peaceful pregnancy can be.
Be came a fan, posted the info on my blog to share with others (including link).
I think one of the best helps emotionally is to encourage mamas to trust in themselves, their bodies and their babies.
By giving them support in a way that they don’t feel undermined they can build the above trust in themselves.
Thank you for doing this! It is awesome!
~A
i just became a fan on fb. love your blog and fb fan page too!
For me, I found emotional wellbeing came with knowledge, the more I read and the more I normalized the birth process in my mind, the more research I did, the more confident and at peace I became.
I’m going to agree with others and say that learning to trust your body (and trusting the people who will be with you at your birth to hold that space), is vital for an emotionally secure pregnancy and birth.
And became a fan on Facebook.
I just became a fan on FB. This is great- thanks!
As for emotional well being, I think being open and honest with yourself and talking to your baby openly helps. It benefits no one to “pretend” like everything is perfect and is okay to have trials, doubts, and fears.
One of the things that helped me a lot was having a midwife that I knew and trusted implicitly. I knew that my body and my baby would know what to do, and that I had a wonderful woman who would let it all unfold!
I’m now a fan on Facebook!
I’ve made a post about this giveaway on my blog! Link: http://jesslovesbeingamommy.blogspot.com/2010/01/talk-birth-personal-blog-of-molly-one.html
I drew the winner of the giveaway using a random number generator just now and the winner is Jessica! (of Jessica Loves Being a Mommy) Please email me (taklbirth@gmail.com) with your mailing address, Jessica, and I will get the book in the mail to you immediately
Congratulations!
Molly
just a comment for now but i will try to post on this tomorrow. my best tip is to breathe, just take the time to come back to center and be and breathe.
I am already a fan!
for emotional well being while I was pregnant, I always took time for myself. For me that took the form of meditation and prayer. The early morning is my time for deep reflection before the house begins to stir. Sounds like a really good book.
Just got done posting on my blog about your giveaway. You can see the post at http://whozyourdoula.blogspot.com/. I really would like to read this book. It sounds really interesting.
I just became a fan as well.
My favorite tips lately involve teaching the mom and her partner to work together towards open and honest communication before hand. I find a lot of the mother’s I teach think, “Oh, well we talked about it once and I think we are on the same page,” only to be completely blind-sided afterwards. Keeping these lines of communication open before, during and after pregnancy makes for a much better emotional state for all.
Looks liek a reat book! Thanks for sharing
Just hecked out out on Facebook (and became a fan;)
Awesome-sounding book!
My tip: Trust yourself. Trust that your body knows how to be pregnant and how to give birth. Be positive in the changes your body is going through and how you are being prepared for motherhood in all facets of your being. Know that you can do this—you are doing it!
I became a Facebook fan.
My tip is to make sure you stay well fed and hydrated. It is hard to feel good emotionally if you don’t feel good physically.
Hi, Molly,
What a fun idea! I will post a link to this on my facebook.
I have a lending library of books I loan to my clients. I do not have this book yet, so I would love to add it to my library!
Deborah
And I will become a fan!
Deborah
And I will give my tip: 1) Eat well: increase protein and raw fruits & veggies, and drink lots of water. Decrease refined foods, white flour products and sugars. 2) Exercise: walk, swim, yoga, etc. 3) Talk: find someone you trust and be honest about how you are feeling.
Deborah
Just became a fan on fb!
I feel it is very important for a woman’s emotional well being to take a few minutes each day to spend time alone. To sit quietly and think about the precious child growing inside them, to disconnect from the world, to envision how peaceful they want their birth to be, to take a stroll in nature and to connect with their inner self. I think we can all benefit from these simple suggestions, but feel it is especially important during pregnancy and childbirth.
Would LOVE to have a copy of this book!! I am a doula and have seen many clients that could benefit from it!!
I would love to recieve a copy of your book for my library, Molly!
My tips for expecting mothers is to be conscious of their needs each day. This includes physicial,emotional, and spiritual .
For the physicial; Eat well. Whole foods,including whole grains,fruits vegetables. Protein intakes needs to be adequate for a pregnant woman on a daily basis. Eating often to keep your blood sugars level is especially important for warding off mood swings.
For the emotional; Trust yourself and others who care about you. Surround yourself with positive people who support you in what your doing. Communicate your needs and wants. Be willing to be honest and vunerable. Pregnancy can often “stir the pot” . Being willing to work out your feeling and talk to someone you trust and bring about personal growth and sometimes, bring about healing the past.
For the spiritual; It is just as important for the spirit to be fed, as it for the body. Fellowshipping with others of the same faith is uplifting to the spirit. Take time for reflections and meditations each day. Keep a journal.
Yhis is the first time I’ve been to your blogsite! Its great !And I will become a fan and recommend it to other women interested in birth!