BRAINS: making informed choices together during birth

A birth rarely goes exactly as hoped, and that is alright. What makes the difference is whether you and your partner feel, in that moment, that you are making a considered choice, rather than that something is happening to you.

BRAINS is a simple way to remember what to ask. With every suggested intervention, from breaking your waters to an epidural, you can ask yourself and your care provider along these letters: what are the Benefits, the Risks and the Alternatives? What does your Intuition say? What happens if you do Nothing and wait? And finally Support: what do you need in order to make this decision?

It is about choosing consciously: together, from a place of calm, taking the space for a decision that suits the two of you. That gives you a very different feeling afterwards about how the birth went, even when it went differently than planned.

In the course we practise this on purpose, so that it does not stay an abstract list but becomes a familiar tool you can reach for effortlessly at the moment it matters.