Pregnancy is a brilliant time to get to know yourself on many levels. It is a perfect time to explore the facets of self that will be beneficial during birth and parenthood (along with any aspects you determine might be best tempered). It is a time to acknowledge, foster, and embrace what makes you uniquely you and to allow you to be YOUR MOST AUTHENTIC SELF

World-renowned childbirth educator, doula, and author, Penny Simkin, offers us “the new Rs” (my term, not hers). The new Rs are based on Penny’s observation of hundreds of labors across different cultures. They are the common, instinctual coping behaviors of those who manage well during childbirth.

Good news! The very same energy that we subconsciously use to create our fears can be consciously used to release them—within each and every one of us is the power and choice to change our inner narrative at any moment.