With a few keystrokes, you can access research studies, birth stories, hospital policies, evidence-based articles, podcasts, videos, online communities, Google, ChatGPT, and virtually every perspective imaginable on pregnancy and birth. But birth isn’t a multiple-choice exam. You don’t “win” because you memorized the evidence. Giving birth asks something different of you.

When most people think about preparing for birth, they think about information. They sign up for childbirth classes. They read books. They listen to podcasts. They create birth plans. They learn the stages of labor and research their options. And while all of these things are important, they only address one part of the birth experience: the mind.

Birth is not just a thinking experience.

Birth is a body experience. A nervous system experience. A relational experience. And if we prepare only through education, we may find ourselves missing one of the most important aspects of labor and birth.