Settling
1 min 30[Read this slower than feels natural, and leave every pause in full when you record — someone in early labour will not press pause for you. Never instruct a listener to lie still; movement is often exactly what they need.]
Find a position you could stay in for a while. You do not have to be still, and you do not have to be lying down. If you want to move while you listen, move. [pause for 10 seconds]
Let your breath out slowly. Not deeper than is comfortable — just slower on the way out. A few of those, in your own time. [pause for 20 seconds]
The words that follow are yours to keep or to leave. Some will fit today. Some will not. Take the ones that are true for you and let the others go past. [pause for 15 seconds]
Affirmations for the body
2 min 30[One line, then wait. The pause is what lets the line land; running them together turns the whole thing into wallpaper. Say each one as a statement, not a rally cry.]
My body knows how to do this. My body has been getting ready for months. This is work I was built to do. [leave 15 seconds between each line]
Each surge is my body working. My body is doing something, not failing at something. This is what strong feels like from the inside. [leave 15 seconds between each line]
I can be strong and still ask for help. Wanting support is not weakness. I am allowed to change my mind about anything, at any point. [pause for 20 seconds]
Affirmations for the surges
2 min[These are the ones that get used. Match your own breathing to the lines as you read so the rhythm carries through the recording — and if the pairing with the breath is fiddly for a client, tell them to drop it rather than practise it.]
These next lines are shaped to a breath. The first half as the air comes in, the second half as it goes out. If that turns out to be fiddly, drop the halves and just breathe. [pause for 10 seconds]
In: I am open. Out: I am soft. In: this one. Out: is passing. In: I meet it. Out: I let it go. [repeat the set three times, one full breath between lines]
Every surge has an end built into it. This one has already started ending. [pause for 20 seconds]
For the partner to read aloud
2 min[Hand this segment to the birth partner in class, before the day, and have them read it once out loud so it is not the first time in the room. Tell them the rule: one line, then silence, and no line at all if they are being asked for quiet.]
These next ones belong to the person beside you. Partner — say them into the quiet, not over the top of them. One line, then wait. [pause for 10 seconds]
You are doing it. You are already doing it. I am not going anywhere. You do not have to talk to me. [leave 20 seconds between each line]
And when you run out of affirmations, say what you can see instead of what you hope. Your shoulders just dropped. That one is over. There is water here when you want it. [pause for 15 seconds]
The ones that travel
2 min[If the birth becomes medical — induction, epidural, theatre — stop using anything about the body knowing the way or breathing the baby down, and read only this segment. An affirmation that has stopped being true is worse than silence, and a labouring person will reject it instantly and stop trusting the rest.]
These last ones travel. They are true in a pool and true in a bed. True under bright lights, true with a cannula in the back of your hand, true in a room full of people you have only just met. [pause for 10 seconds]
I am still the one giving birth to this baby. I can ask for a minute. I can ask what my choices are. I can ask someone to explain it again. [leave 15 seconds between each line]
However today goes, you are the one doing it. That does not change with the room, or the timing, or who else is standing in it. This is your birth. Take the words that are true and carry them in with you. [pause for 20 seconds]