Identifying qualities and strengths. An effective preparation for supporting positive attitudes is identifying and focusing on the strengths and qualities that the woman and her partner will bring with them to the labour and birth.
The following exercise is a guide aimed at identifying issues, concerns or fears that the woman and her partner (or support person) may feel around the pain of labour. After identifying your personal issues you can then go on to explore your strengths and qualities.
Your strengths and qualities can be discovered by reflecting back on how you have dealt with stress or difficult situations in the past. These qualities can then be brought to the labour and birth to help deal with the pain. It can also be a wonderful way to share your feelings with each other, both the vulnerability and strengths of your personalities, and to acknowledge what each sees in the other.
It is probably easier to write your fears, strengths and qualities onto a piece of paper independently of each other and then share them after the exercise. To do this you will need a total of 6 pieces of blank paper with each of the following headings: