Every year on 7th April, World Health Day invites us to think about what health really means. Usually the conversation centres around things like exercise, diet, sleep and preventable disease. All really important. But today I want to talk about something that does not get nearly enough airtime in the health conversation. Birth. Specifically, what does a healthy birth experience actually look like? Because I think most people, if you asked them, would say something like: everyone came out okay. And I understand that completely. Of course the most important thing is that mum and baby are safe. But if that is the only measure we use for whether a birth was healthy, we are leaving an enormous amount out. And thousands of women every year are walking away from births that were fine by that standard, but left them feeling frightened, disrespected, out of control or completely unheard. That is not a healthy birth experience. Even if physically everything went well.
Health is more than physical
The World Health Organisation defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It has been saying that since 1948. ¹ And yet when it comes to birth, we still tend to measure success almost entirely in physical outcomes.
Did the baby arrive safely? Yes. Was mum physically okay? Yes. Great, healthy birth.
But what about how she felt during it? Whether she understood what was happening? Whether she was spoken to like an adult who was capable of making her own decisions? Whether her partner felt informed enough to actually support her? Whether she felt safe?
These things matter. They matter enormously. And the research backs that up. There is a well-established link between how a woman feels during birth and her mental health in the weeks and months that follow. ² Birth trauma is real, it is common, and in many cases it is entirely preventable.
What women actually say about their births
When researchers have asked women to describe what made a birth experience positive or negative, the physical outcome is rarely the main factor. What comes up again and again is something quite different.
Feeling informed. Understanding what was happening and why, being given real information so they could make real choices.
Feeling in control. Not necessarily in control of every outcome, because birth is unpredictable, but in control of themselves, their responses and their decisions.
Feeling heard. Having their preferences respected. Being spoken to with respect. Having their concerns taken seriously.
Feeling supported. By their partner, their midwife, the people in the room with them. ³
Notice what is not on that list. A particular type of birth. A specific location. A particular approach to pain relief. A positive birth is not defined by what happens. It is defined by how the person experiencing it feels throughout.
That is such an important distinction. And it is one I do not think we talk about enough.
The difference between a birth going to plan and a birth going well
Birth preferences. Not birth plans. I am deliberate about that wording, because a plan implies things will go a certain way, and birth has a very reliable habit of not doing that.
Your birth preferences are not a list of demands or a script you expect the world to follow. They are a communication tool. They tell your care team what matters to you, what your priorities are, and how you would like to be supported if decisions need to be made.
A healthy birth experience is not one where every item on the list gets ticked off. It is one where you felt included in every decision that was made, even if those decisions looked completely different from what you had hoped for.
I have spoken to women who had planned home births that ended in emergency caesareans and described them as overwhelmingly positive experiences. I have spoken to women who had textbook, straightforward labours and felt completely traumatised by how they were treated throughout.
The birth itself is not what makes it healthy. The experience of going through it is.
What I mean when I talk about an empowered birth
I use the word empowered a lot and I want to be clear about what I actually mean by it, because it can sound vague.
An empowered birth does not mean a birth without fear. Fear is a normal part of the experience for most people and pretending otherwise is not helpful or honest.
It does not mean a birth without pain. It does not mean you have to refuse any form of pain relief to prove something.
What it means is this. You go into your birth with enough knowledge and enough tools that even when things are hard, you still feel like you are in it, not just surviving it. You know what is happening. You know your options. You are able to ask questions, make decisions, say what you need.
And your partner is right there with you, also informed, also prepared, able to actually support you rather than standing in the corner feeling helpless and hoping for the best.
That is what empowered looks like. It is not a feeling you stumble into. It is a skill set you build beforehand.
What gets in the way
Honestly? Often it is fear. And the stories we absorb long before we ever get to the birth room.
We grow up hearing birth described as the most painful experience imaginable. We watch it on television where it is always dramatic, always an emergency, always someone screaming that they cannot do it. We hear stories from people who mean well but do not realise the impact of what they are sharing.
By the time many women reach the end of their pregnancy, they have accumulated years of second-hand fear about something they have not experienced themselves yet. And that fear sits in the body. It creates tension. And tension, as we explored in last week's blog, makes everything harder. ⁴
The other thing that gets in the way is feeling like a passive participant in your own birth. Like things are happening around you rather than with you. That is often not anyone's deliberate intention. The NHS is under enormous pressure and midwives are doing their absolute best. But it can still happen. And knowing your rights, knowing the right questions to ask, and knowing you have options is the best protection against it.
The BRAIN framework
One of the most practical tools I teach in my hypnobirthing courses is something called the BRAIN framework. It stands for Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition and Nothing, as in what happens if you do nothing right now.
Any time a decision needs to be made during your labour, you can work through those five questions. It gives you a way to engage with whatever is being suggested, ask the right things, and make a decision that feels right for you rather than simply going along with whatever is happening. ⁵
It works for planned decisions and unexpected ones. And it works whether your birth unfolds exactly as you hoped or takes a completely different direction.
What this means for how you prepare
None of this happens by accident. It takes preparation. Not obsessive, anxiety-fuelled, every-possible-scenario preparation. Just thoughtful, informed, intentional preparation.
Learning how birth actually works, not birth gone wrong, just birth. The hormones, the stages, what your body is doing and why. Most people are genuinely surprised by how logical and remarkable the whole process is when it is explained properly.
Writing your birth preferences. Even if you have been told they are pointless. They are not pointless. They make you think carefully about what matters to you, and they give your care team something real to work from.
Preparing your partner. A well-prepared birth partner is one of the most powerful things you can have in that room. They need to know what you want, how to advocate for you, and how to keep themselves calm enough to be genuinely useful.
And investing in your nervous system. Breathing techniques, relaxation practice, understanding the fear tension pain cycle. These are not soft extras. They are the foundation of a calm, positive birth experience regardless of how that birth unfolds.
What World Health Day means to me
On World Health Day I think about the women who are pregnant right now and who have not been told any of this. Who think a healthy birth just means everyone comes out alive. Who do not know they have options, or rights, or that there is anything they can do to genuinely influence how their experience feels.
I think about my first birth. When I did not know any of this. When I went in without preparation, without tools, and came out physically fine but feeling like I had been through something that took a long time to make peace with.
And I think about my second birth. Same body. Same NHS. Completely different experience. Because I was prepared. I was informed. I knew what I wanted and I knew how to ask for it.
Health is not just physical. And birth is not just a medical event. It is one of the most significant experiences of your life. You deserve to feel genuinely supported through it.
If you are pregnant in North Tyneside and you want to feel properly prepared, not just for the logistics but for the whole experience, I would love to chat. Have a look at what is included in my courses or drop me a message.
Next week I will be sharing something a bit more personal. My own birth story, and why I went from absolutely terrified to feeling like I could actually do this.
Bex x
References
- World Health Organisation (1948). Constitution of the World Health Organisation. who.int
- Greenfield, M. et al. (2021). Caring for women with fear of birth. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8052092
- Downe, S. et al. (2018). What matters to women during childbirth: a systematic qualitative review. journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194834
- Dick-Read, G. (1942). Childbirth Without Fear. The fear tension pain cycle. rcm.org.uk
- Buckley, S. (2015). Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing. childbirthconnection.org