What is a birth personality?

Over more than a decade of studying birth and birth outcomes, it has become clear to me that there are specific birth personalities, what we call birth directions, and these personalities can predict how your labor will progress.

Understanding your birth personality, or birth direction in the weeks or months leading to birth can be the most important step in preparing for birth, especially if you are choosing natural birth and wish to avoid interventions.

In the Natural Birth Compass Program, we use the four directions and their associations to define the four primary birth personalities.

What follows is a description of each of the directions and how to understand them in regard to labor and birth.

East

You are most comfortable in the controlled environment of the East. You are active and ambitious and get things done. You resonate with the focused energy of the spring, when everything reawakens and begins organizing and preparing for the year ahead. 

As a laboring mother you will gift your newborn with an inner strength that will see you both through to the end, you will rise to any challenge with grace and ensure your vision becomes a reality.

As a parent, you will create a strong foundation for your children built on ethics, perseverance, and the spirit of hard work and achievement. 

Because you love to stay organized and have your world in your control, In preparing for birth, you will want to pay special attention to slowing down, focusing less on trying to control external things, and nourishing your body and mind.

Make sure you are prioritizing healthy sleep, eating foods that are nourishing and sitting down to eat and savor your food. Slowing down and being introspective can be more difficult for those of the East, but this will be necessary for birth during contractions to prevent exhaustion and be able to endure for the duration of your labor. 

South

You love to be in the highly connected state of the south. You love to be social and make friends easily. You resonate with the high energy of summer, when the days are long and easy. You always find joy and put those around in a good mood.

As a laboring mother, you will gift your newborn with endless strength that will see you both through to the end, you will give whatever it takes to your baby to ensure safe entrance into the world.

As a parent, you will demonstrate unconditional love and bless your child with a large community of trusted friends and family and the spirit of seeing the fun and joy in life no matter the challenges.

Because you love to spend time with your friends and loved ones, ensuring everyone is enjoying the gift of life, you will need to be especially aware of your energy use in the weeks leading to labor.

Your birth preparations will demand you focus on resting and recharging. Make sure you are prioritizing sleep, spending some time each day doing quiet activities in solitude and listening to your own body.

Being alone can be difficult for those who find comfort in the South, but it becomes necessary before an event such as labor to ensure your body and mind are recharged and ready for birth.

West

You are happiest in the west and love taking care of others. You always like to make sure everyone is comfortable and feels cared for. You find comfort in the harvest time, surrounded by the bounty and warmth of nature's harvest.

As a laboring mother, you will gift your newborn with endless generosity that will ensure your newborn feels safe and warm, you will do whatever it takes to ensure your newborn always feels comforted and secure in birth and beyond.

As a parent, you will demonstrate limitless love and bless your child with nourishment in body and soul.

Because your focus is always on seeing to the needs of others, your birth preparations will involve taking care of yourself and making sure you are getting gentle activity in nature and having the support you will need for your birth.

Asking for help and support is often difficult for those who like the west, make sure you are focusing on getting comfortable accepting the help you may need.

North

You are most confident in the North, where you cherish the quiet and tranquility. You value peace and justice and calm to your environment.

As a laboring mother, you will gift your newborn with a sense of appreciation for the process of labor that will see you both through to the end, which will give your newborn a peaceful entrance into the world.

As a parent, you will demonstrate gratitude to family and the natural world and bless your child with curiosity and the determination to see things through to the end.

Because you value your space and quiet, your birth preparation will involve getting comfortable knowing that you might need your birth team to support you during the birth.

Feeling vulnerable is difficult for those who prefer the North and the process of birth can make you feel very vulnerable, it will be important for you to have a support team you trust and feel confident with.

Prepare for birth according to your direction

Once you have identified your direction, you now have some insight into how to best prepare, but there is another step beyond just knowing your prominent direction. Each of us has the strengths of all four directions, but one rises to the surface more than the others. For the most fulfilling birth outcome, the other three will need to be called upon during labor for their specific strengths.

For example, if you are a woman of the East strength, you are naturally strong in commanding the room, your care providers will often be more open to listening to you because you carry that strength at the surface, it's what you present to the world. But, sometimes that strength means they don't offer assistance when you really need it, so you may miss out on helpful advice and support that would be readily offered to a woman with a different strength. They see your control and confidence, and they assume you don't need any help.

Therefore, you must sometimes step out of your prominent strength, in this case the East, and embrace the other directions that are also within you. In this example, allow yourself to be open to listening to others during labor for helpful advice and guidance so you don't end up in a situation that escalates out of control due to your over-control. You might ask yourself, what would a woman of the South do? She is a strong communicator, I can call on my South direction to help me communicate my needs and allow for the help and guidance of my birth team.

Let's take another example at the opposite side of the compass, a woman of the West. Her strength is in taking care of everyone around her. She may be so busy taking care of everyone else that no one sees that she hasen't taken care of herself. If you are a woman of the West, veryone assumes you are so good at nurturing that you are already tending to yourself, but that is often not the case for women of the West, who frequently put their own needs last.

In the case of the woman of the West, stepping out of her dominant direction, she might ask, what does the woman of the North do? She is introspective and knows that taking care of herself first allows her to take care of the environment around her efficiently, giving some to the environment, but keeping some for herself too. This means she is continually checking in on her own needs and balancing that with what she is able to give and if it is not appropriate to give in the moment, she is knows that is okay to not nuture others before herself.

Women of the South and the North have their own strengths and challenges to understand as well, and learning to incorporate each direction strength into your daily life and your birth preparation will help you thrive in birth and have the positive outcome you are looking for.

To assess your natural birth direction, download our FREE assessment and let us know your strongest direction on our Facebook page and see what direction other expectant moms identify as their strongest.