A question was posed on another list recently: “what about the idea that women shouldn’t ‘prepare’ for but rather just experience birth?”

My response to this question is hard to articulate, but basically I would say that you can *experience* rather than *prepare* for birth if you are birthing on completely your own terms. If you are in a setting involving other people (doctors, nurses, etc.), your birth experience will be impacted by THEIR birth “preparation” and you will likely need your own preparation in order to have your OWN experience rather than an experience modified by another person’s fears or opinions about birth and how birth should be.

Maybe I’ll gather my thoughts more clearly later and will add more… 🙂