Faith-Filled Childbirth

by Tara Menzies

Many people don't realize that fear is one of the biggest causes of pain in childbirth.
This book will help you overcome fear and experience a more confident, relaxed, and faith-filled birth. Combining the childbirth education and relaxation exercises used in hypnobirthing with the incredible love, strength, and support that come from faith in our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, creator of the best selling Christian Hypnobirthing App, Tara Menzies, equips expecting mothers with research and information to make informed, empowered decisions and tools to help them feel peace and confidence throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Whether you're planning a water birth at home, a cesarean birth in the hospital, or anything in between, this book will teach you techniques to help you relax and draw near to God, develop a deeper understanding of our miraculous design, and support your body's natural physiology — no matter where or how you plan to give birth.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, Parenting, Christian

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 6, 2025

Reviews

[Samantha Reynolds]

My new favorite book - it has completely transformed my perspective on childbirth. Incredibly practical and reassuring, I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who ever plans to give birth at any point. Regardless of your feelings about birth, or your perspective on faith, it’s incredibly educational and empowering.

[Catie Sweetland]

Super helpful in getting the mind prepared for labour/delivery. Wish I read it with my first; the traditional hypnobirthing books always gave me the "ick". This being faith focused made it easier to chew on.

[Natalie Byers]

Wonderful and encouraging. I would recommend for anyone who wants to understand why a mother might be choosing birth preferences they may not understand.

[Moriah Turner]

Great tools

This book is not fluff. It’s packed with solid science, an understanding of how women’s bodies are designed, and the processes that take place throughout labor, birth, and postpartum. It supports the idea that women can give birth without interventions, but it is also extremely supportive of using interventions when they become necessary. More than anything, this book is meant to arm you with information—not convince you to have a specific kind of birth. It would be easy for a book like this to turn into a persuasive essay for why you should have a water birth at home, but that’s not at all what it is. She is careful to continually say that any birth can be faith-filled as she presents information regarding various options. Even though I’ve had one baby before, I am still extremely thankful for the tools & info in this book and highly recommend it!

[Kelsey DeLoatche]

The birth prep book I was looking for!! Practical, encouraging, educational and balanced.

[Maddie McElroy]

I LOVED how practical this book was and am excited to put into practice what I learned. I think with every faith and birth book, I don’t want to take everything as 100% truth and felt there were some parts of this book that didn’t seem realistic (at least for me!). But overall I feel this book gave me lots of confidence and peace in my upcoming labor choices

[sand shurt]

This book was everything I needed at the time I read it, less than two months before the birth of my son.

My pregnancy, labor & delivery with him was a spiritual experience from start to finish. It was so refreshing for me to find a book that encompassed many of my feelings and goals for the birth of my little boy. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking literature that recognizes the holiness, sanctity, and divinity of birth. Gaining knowledge of birth and understanding that it is a process and gift from God changed everything for me.

Whether you’re planning a drug-free or medicated birth, at-home or elsewhere, this book has facts and truths that will help educate and prepare you to do the divine work of bringing life into this world. 🫶🏼

[Kathryn Noorani]

4.5 stars rounded up! A great, informative, beautiful read. I wish I had read this before my first two births. I hope to carry the wisdom and knowledge of all of this into my following births as well!

[Emma]

I read (and listened to) this book in preparation for my second birth. I found that Tara struck a really good balance between education and encouragement. I walked away feeling ready to embrace the birth process again and excited to meet our little baby.

[Rachel Wright]

It’s hard to overstate just how helpful and comprehensive this book is for an expectant mama. Educational without being overwhelming or fear-inducing, Tara shares her faith and vast knowledge in ways that are saturated with Scripture, personal experiences, and encouraging birth stories. She lays out options for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum in ways that are clear and easy to understand, without judgement. Would highly recommend to anyone preparing for birth! Even though this will be my third labor, this book empowered me and helped me turn away from fear of birth and toward the presence and strength of Christ who is always with me.

[Brooklyn Seagrave]

Incredibly encouraging and empowering - I would recommend this to any pregnant woman. I feel really confident in my desires for birth and no longer feel any amount of fear of it- I’m actually excited! I love how the focus is on God’s natural physiological design for birth, and the detailed teaching on every birth option and intervention, empowering the reader to make informed decisions regardless of birth preference. There are so many great affirmations tied in to birth as well. I will be purchasing my own copy to use as a guidebook throughout pregnancy!

[Ana Wheeler]

Very informative. Slightly overwhelming, but I guess in a good way. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I appreciate the emphasis on the “mind over matter” concept, and the biological breakdown of the role of hormones and how they are affected by our mindset, in turn greatly impacting the birth process.

[Emma Roche]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ this book is a great intro to Hypnobirthing and I really appreciate the Christian lens/ethos, and encouragement through scripture throughout. It was a super easy read, covered all the need to knows, and takes a really natural approach to childbirth! Would absolutely recommend to others :) have downloaded the app and will give that a go too!

[Natalie Lucas]

I found this book so encouraging and affirming as I prepare for birth and am definitely incorporating the scripture and affirmations she walks through as I work on relaxation practices that will help me to work with my body through labor.

[Stephanie Cowles]

Great book to prepare for having a baby. Reminded me that the Lord designed my body to birth and my body knows what to do. Full of tools and different methods I’m excited to practice and use in my next birth!

[Ryleigh Locke]

I highly recommend this book. My one goal is to have a faith-filled, not a fear-filled birth, and I found this to be a really positive resource that helped with my mindset. I really appreciate the Christian hypnobirthing app that pairs with it and have been listening to the tracks from 20 weeks onward.

[Lauren Berrigan]

as an expecting mother who is nervous about childbirth, this was an extremely helpful read. “hypnobirthing” may sound like a woo-woo or polarizing term, but this book is essentially words of affirmation and empowerment among a collection information about childbirth/postpartum.

our thoughts can be so powerful, and it was so helpful to read a body of work that is so encouraging. this book was recommended to me by a couple of different people, and I’m *so* glad I gave this a try.

[Esther McNevich]

will surely be reading this many more times. 🤰🏻🤍🙏🏻

[Callahan McIlnay]

Beneficial to read earlier in pregnancy. I went into labor before I could finish the book but I really liked what I did listen to!

[Kendra Bently]

Perfection

[Sara Hoover]

I loved this one!! It honestly helped take a lot of the fear out of childbirth for me. 10/10 recommend to any expecting mamas 🫶

[Kinsley Melvin]

I thought this book was a good base to understand the benefit of preparing mentally for birth, but harped more on getting the app subscription to dive into practice of christian hypno-birthing. I don’t like when books dive into alternative topics or parenting advice when I’m reading for a particular topic so my 3 stars comes largely from that. I will continue to investigate further into this topic, though!

[Grace McKnight]

I am SO grateful for this book. Will be revisiting its contents right up until birth, and am already utilising the Hypnobirthing tracks on the app! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

[Renita]

Loved this. Would read again even
Lots of good advice for labor and delivery.
Love that she gives our good resources and where to find them directly. Also adding video links and websites or books and authors to read as well.
Great resource.
________________________

He was born en caul, which means my waters never broke and he was born in his amniotic sac. This is really rare and happens in less than one in 80,000 births (although interestingly, a lot of our app users have reported having en caul births, and I've since heard theories that it's more common in undisturbed births).

HAND SQUEEZY EXERCISE
Set a timer for one minute (about the length of a contraction during active labor) and begin squeezing your fingers into your palms, making a fist and then releasing them. Continue squeezing and releasing your hands, but stretch one arm up above your head, and keep your hand as high up as you can while resting the other on your thigh in front of you. Continue to vigorously squeeze each hand into a fist, then immediately release your fingers straight, then tighten back into a fist again. Do this for one minute.

CH.2

It is common in hypnobirthing to refer to the sensations of birth as powerful or intense instead of painful because pain is usually an alert from the body that something is wrong. But the sensations of a healthy, normal labor are not wrong; they are good. Yes, it can feel intense and powerful as our uterine muscles work hard to bring our baby into the world (just as we can feel the intensity of our muscles contracting when we do a rigorous workout at the gym, but that doesn't mean that we can't handle that intensity.
I love the birth affirmation: "My surges cannot be stronger than me because they are me."

In midwife Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth, she often refers to them as rushes and describes the feeling as "an interesting sensation which requires all of your attention." Part of embracing them is being able to describe them in a way that doesn't cause fear.

Question: How Would You Describe Contractions?
What Helped You Embrace Them?
(Many answers, but some of my favs)
-Viewing them like a wave.
-Waves are only at their peak for a moment before falling.
-Letting it happen, relaxing, instead of fighting them.
-Slow, Deep Breathing
-• "Focusing on the other parts of my body and my senses! My arms feel the wind. Etc."
• "A tightening that peaks, and then subsides."
• "Contractions felt like a squeeze from a strong man, one that you know you'll be released from."
• "An incredible tightening that overpowers all your senses."

"The discomfort of pregnancy prepares us for the discomfort of birth, and the discomfort of birth prepares us for the discomfort of motherhood. As a society, we are so uncomfortable with being uncomfortable. We desperately try to bypass discomfort, and we measure our success by how well we are able to do so.

Does God punish Woman with pain in Childbirth?
-The Bible Project
https://youtu.be/h_zIJt0Kpes?is=OPIdO...

CH.3
Brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor describes the neurological process she calls the 90-second rule as, "When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there's a 90-second chemical process that happens; any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop." Essentially, that means that when we get triggered by something, so long as we don't interfere with the emotion, that fear or anger that washes through our body only lasts for 90 seconds. During that time, all we need to do is breathe and ride the wave (much like contractions), and then it will pass. This also means that if we continue to feel angry, sad, or fearful, it's because we are feeding that loop with the same triggering thoughts.

Even when we're in very difficult situations, we have the power to choose an empowering meaning and break the loop. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote, "When we can no longer change a situ-ation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a human but one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.
While we cannot always choose our circumstances, we can choose our reactions to them.

UP-BREATHING TECHNIQUE:
we do a breathing exercise called up breathing during the up (or first) stage of labor. The reason it's called that is because it's done while the muscles of the uterus pull up. Tradition-ally, many hypnobirthing methods suggest breathing in through the nose for a count of four and out through the mouth for a count of seven or eight, but put simply, up breathing is just a shorter in-breath and a longer out-breath. It is the longer out-breath that helps to slow down our heart rate.
In for 4
Out for 6.

To help you get it into your body, give it a quick try now. Simply breathe in for four seconds and then breathe out for seven seconds.
Repeat this four more times. You've just breathed through the average time of a surge! How do you feel? It's great to keep in mind that during the first stage of labor, surges normally only last for around a minute or a little longer, and all you have to do during them is breathe.

Upon reaching full dilation, you may get an immediate urge to push, and during contractions, you may instinctively start bearing down, this is a great time to start doing the down breathing. To do down breathing, you take a deep breath in fairly quickly (no counting) and as you breathe out slowly, you think about sending that breath down through your body. While this breath is still helping you to relax, as you push the air out through your lips, there's a bit more pressure to the airflow when compared to up breathing.

One of the best times to practice down breathing is while you're having a bowel movement. If you practice regularly in the lead-up to birth, then it will be much easier to remember to do it when your body starts pushing in labor. To remind yourself to practice, put a Post-it note on the back of your toilet door.

There is an infamous quote from midwife Ina May Gaskin: "Squat 300 times a day, and you are going to give birth quicker."

Imagine you were walking out in a forest, and suddenly, you needed to have a bowel movement. Would you lie down on the ground? No!
You would most likely squat. Because squatting elongates the pelvic floor muscles, it makes it easier for a stool (or a baby) to come out. Squatting may also lead to less tearing of the perineum, reduced need for episiotomy or instrumental delivery, and a shorter, easier, and more comfortable pushing experience.

Practicing prenatal yoga regularly throughout pregnancy may also be helpful for moving the baby into an ideal position for birth, and is a great way to keep active. I've also heard a lot of positive things about The Miles Circuit, which is a series of movements, generally recommended from 37 weeks onwards. As the first two positions are held for quite a long time (30 minutes each), many of our app users share that they love listening to the Christian Hypnobirthing tracks while practicing the steps of the circuit, so it can be great to take some time for yourself to consciously practice the relaxation exercises, while going through the different movements.

http://milescircuit.com/the-circuit

Jonathan Haidts book
“the anxious generation”

The first time, hold an ice cube in your hand, set a timer for one minute, and focus on the feeling in your hand. How cold is it— uncomfortable, or difficult? Once the minute is up, give yourself a minute break. Set the timer for another minute, and this time, just focus on your breath. Breathe in for four and out for seven. Keep your focus soft and relaxed. If you want, you can also bring to mind any affirmations that resonate with you, maybe something like "I can do anything for 6o seconds," and just keep focusing on your breath.
Once the minute is up, notice how that felt compared to when you focused on the discomfort. Was there a difference? If you want to make the exercise more challenging, you can add more ice cubes.

Being able to focus on your breath in all kinds of environments isn't just great training for birth, but also for motherhood.

when we can be that place of calm for ourselves, then we can be it for our children,
too.

To help make sure you practice regularly, habit stacking (where you pair a habit you're trying to start with a habit you already do every day) can help it become automatic. For instance, listening to the tracks on the app every time you take a nap, bathe, or as you're falling asleep each night. Practicing the down breathing every time you have a bowel movement. Thinking of three things you're grateful for as you drink your tea each morning. Ect…

CH.4 WHERE SHOULD I GIVE BIRTH

411 RULE
Many midwives and doulas recommend the 411 Rule, which means that you would go to the hospital when your contractions are regularly coming four minutes apart, each one lasting for at least one minute, and that they've been following this pattern for about an hour.

-If you’re unsure of hospital being safest,
do quick search on evidence based birth website

CH.5- WHOS LOOKING AFTER YOU

There's a moment in the documentary The Business of - Being Born (which I really recommend watching) where they ask,
"How often do you get to see a fully natural birth?" and the medical staff answer, "Almost never." To me, this kind of sums up just how unusual it is for staff on labor wards to see births that are unmed-icated, without interventions.

If you feel shame, obligation, or any other negative feelings around sex or your body, then I really recommend a book called The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You've Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended by Sheila Wray Gregoire, online courses from Carlie Palmer-Webb (known as The Christian Sex Educator), and Call of the Wild by Kimberly Ann Johnson.

CH.6 INFORMED & IMPOWERED

due dates are estimates. Only around four percent of babies arrive on their due date. By 40 weeks and five days, only 50% of first-time moms will have spontaneously gone into labor. 0° So, telling a first-time mother that her baby is "due" by 40 weeks sets up an expectation that is unrealistic for most.

CH.7 -

When your waters do break, there are a couple of things to look out for. If they break before 37 weeks or the baby is breech, go straight to the hospital.

It’s worth knowing that before your waters break, the chance of infection is about one in 200. After they break within the first 24 hours, this goes to one in 100, then at 48 hours, two in 100, and at 72 hours, four in 100.73

If you've made the decision to wait, remember that stress will reduce your likelihood of going into labor as the body will perceive it as a threat, so do your best to relax, do things to help you feel positive and happy, and get lots of rest.

BISON ANALOGY
One visual image I like to think of is bison heading directly into a storm When rome on way like oter
animals, bison turn and walk toward it because they know it will pass faster. The symbolism of this is so powerful as when we try to run from challenges in life, so often we make things so much harder for ourselves, and birth is the same. As soon as we tense up and try to get away from the surges, they become so much more painful, and we may be actively slowing labor down and prolonging the pain.
Whereas, if we breathe deeply, surrender, and embrace the waves, not only do we feel more comfortable, but labor is usually able to progress faster. Be like a bison, turn, and face the storm--the sooner you do, the sooner it will pass.

411 RULE
where you would call your midwife or head to the hospital when your contractions are coming regularly at four minutes apart, each one lasting for at least one minute, and they've been following this pattern for about an hour.

Have you ever lifted something really heavy? If not iust think of a world champion weightlifter for a minute. When they're in the middle of lifting the weight, would they be able to have a chat with someone? No. They are completely focused, and their muscles are working at their peak capacity. This is comparable to how you will be once you're in active labor. Your uterus muscles are contracting just like the weightlifter's arm muscles are contracting. So long as the weightlifter remains relaxed and focused, then lifting those weights shouldn't be characterized as painful, but it will be intense and it will be hard work, requiring all of their concentration. If this is the point you are at, where the contractions are lasting one minute every four minutes and have been that regular for an hour, plus they are so intense that your entire focus is on breathing through them, then it's a good indication that it's time to head to the hospital or call your midwife.

CH.8

Breastfeeding Playlist—- learn

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_...

Safe Sleep 7 - La Leche League Internationa181
• #1 No smoking in the home or outside.
• #2 Sober adults: no alcohol, no drowsy medications.
• #3 Breastfeeding day and night.
• #4 Healthy baby who is full-term.
• #5 Baby on back and face up.
• #6 No sweat: baby in light clothing, no swaddling.
• #7 Safe surface: no soft mattress, no extra pillows, no toys, no tight or heavy covers. Clear of strings and cords. Gaps firmly filled: use rolled towels or baby blankets.

-a fantastic book that I really recommend reading
—if you're interested—called Safe Infant Sleep by Dr. James McKenna.

Id also recommend following @CoSleepy on Instagram. We also have a baby-led sleep module in our course led by sleep specialist Lauren Fucci from Holistic Mama Sleep.

[Morgan Mitchell]

This is a great and empowering book for Christian women wanting a birth led by God and their natural instincts. Lots of wisdom and does a good job at presenting different studies as support for birthing differently!

[Sarah Muse]

4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Kayla]

So good!! Love! Tara Menzies does a fantastic job at advocating for and explaining natural, physiological birth while also emphasizing that birth is not black and white and every birth will be different. I am new to Hypnobirthing, but already resonate with pretty much everything in the book, just further deepening my understanding, peace, and confidence about birth.

The Christian perspective that it brings to birth is so incredible. I love the up-breathing and down
-breathing imagery of Hypnobirthing, As well as the overall idea of turning fear into faith. Even though I have a plan and a vision for how I hope my birth will go, this book reminded me that I can still have peace and trust God if it unfolds differently.

[Brittany]

2.5 ⭐️ I truly appreciate what the author was trying to do, and I think that had it been better executed, a childbirth book from a Christian perspective would be valuable and fill a gap in birth education (I have often heard/read about birth as a "spiritual" experience but rarely in the sense that this would mean for a Christian.) However, I found several problems with the book.

1) Personally, I felt that the faith elements were sprinkled in rather than being the consistent thread holding the book together. I also had some theological concerns, such as some verses taken out of context and, more notably, her interpretation of Genesis 3.

2) Many sections were written from her anecdotal perspective, making the book feel more like an extended blog post at times. For example, in the section on infant sleep, she wrote four pages that read like a recommendation for co-sleeping (her experience with co-sleeping followed by the standard information about doing so safely) but clarified at the beginning and end of the section that this was NOT a recommendation. These anecdotal sections just seemed to undermine her credibility (not because the content was bad or incorrect, but because she relied too heavily on personal experience).

3) I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style (though I am pretty picky about writing, so others may not be as bothered).

4) There were a lot of plugs for her paid Christian Hypnobirthing app.

Overall, it wasn't a bad book, but I don't feel like it brought anything new to the table. Siobhan Miller's Hypnobirthing is, in my opinion, a much better book to educate oneself about much of the same content.

[Meghan Asbury]

Audiobook. I was hopeful this would be more helpful. Most of the pregnancy/labor/birth stuff I also got in my natural birth class at the hospital. A lot of the verses were sort of taken out of context, but I do like the premise of focusing on biblical truth during labor.

[Caroline Maxwell]

4.5 ⭐️
This book was a wonderful preparation for what’s to come! It was a little crunchy for me, and there were parts of this book that I chose to ignore, but the majority of the content was great!