By LindseyJuly 23, 201937 comments

Birthing Space Ideas

Women birth in many different ways. We have different ideas of birth plans, different philosophies, and different kinds of birth support. We give birth in all kinds of different environments and places. No matter where or how you decide to birth, you can still put mindfulness and thoughtfulness into creating a special and supportive atmosphere around you as you welcome your baby from your womb into the outside world.

In this blog post I am going to share a few bits from my own birthing space, which is my home, as well as thoughtful ideas that you can easily pack in your bag and bring with you wherever you birth.

I also teamed up with a crystal shop in LA known as El Portal Crystal Co to talk about CRYSTALS and which ones are best in supporting us during pregnancy and in our birth spaces. Below I share everything they taught me about birthing crystals.

items that you can bring to the hospital or birthing center, or incorporate into your home birth

Throughout this whole pregnancy, I have been gathering items that I really wanted to be present at our birth. Creating a serene environment has been very important for me. I wanted more plants, more crystals, and more candles. So, little by little I have been adding to my collections. We got some Sonos speakers so we can play soothing music throughout the house. We also bought a few more Himalayan Salt Lamps so now we literally have one in every room of our house. We have a lamp as well as a night light in our master bedroom where baby will live with us for a while. It's also a great tool for nursing at night. I talk in depth about them in my Minimalist Baby Registry blog post. Salt lamps would also be a fantastic idea to bring to the hospital or birthing center so you can use that light instead of the light provided in the room.

MY LIST:

Himalayan Salt Lamps and Salt Night Lights - Bring these to use instead of the lighting I the hospital or birthing center.

Plants - Obviously you wouldn't bring plants with you outside of your home.

Birthing Crystals (read below which ones to get for birth) - bring them nd place your rose quartz in every corner of your room, protecting your birth room. Place your crystal collection all around you or in an altar.

Soothing Music - get a small portable speaker and bring it with you. You can even create a music play list ahead of time.

Small Framed Photos of you and your partner or family.

Your Favorite Bouquet of Flowers and a vase.

Renegade Mama Birthing Affirmation Cards - Put your favorite positive birthing reminders all around the room.

Postcard size artwork of Goddesses and Powerful Women figures.

Your Favorite Candles - Obviously you can't light candles in a hospital or center.

Your Pregnancy Tea and my She Holds the Light reusable tumbler .

Create a Birthing Altar. Ask the women in your family and your close friends to contribute special totes and things to incorporate into your altar.

Birthing Altar and Blessing Way — My birthing altar in my home that my mom and my closest girlfriends helped me put together at my Blessing Way

Feng Shui in your home

We have also incorporated Feng Shui into our birth prep work. If you have been following my story for the last few years, you know I am a huge advocate of Feng Shui. We keep our house very clean, but a week before our estimated "due date" we hired cleaners for the very first time to deep clean our whole house. They moved everything, cleaned under and around, and put it all back together, which is a huge part of Feng Shui. So we literally cleaned and cleared all the energy in our house so that it is fresh and pure to welcome our dream birth as well as our dream baby.

I would even recommend feng shui'ing your house and cleaning and clearing energy even if you are not planning a home birth. It is just a thoughtful way to bring baby home into a space that has been thoughtfully cleared of stale or stagnant energy.

Crystals for birthing

I sat down and talked with the ladies of a rad crystal shop in Los Angeles called El Portal Crystal Co to discuss crystals, their different attributes, and which ones are thoughtful for birthing spaces in particular. All of these crystals are available at El Portal Crystal Co in LA if you are in the area. I have at least one of each of these crystals from their shop on my birthing altar. According to them, these are the crystals you want to have in your birthing space:

Rose Quartz

Rose Quartz is a stone of the heart, a Crystal of Unconditional Love. It carries a soft feminine energy of compassion and peace, tenderness and healing, nourishment and comfort.

Rose Quartz is a mothering crystal. It promotes bonding and is a good stone to place on the stomach during pregnancy, and to take to the hospital to be near the baby during birth. It is also soothing in the days to follow. Placing baby milk or food within a circle of Rose Quartz for a few minutes helps ease colic or feeding difficulties.

Black Tourmaline

Black Tourmaline's supportive energy aligns the energy centers of the body and channels healing light throughout the system. It promotes a sense of power and self-confidence, allowing for a clearer, more objective view of the world. It is empowering to those who must live or work in challenging environments or when facing difficult circumstances.

Chrysocolla

Chyrsocolla is first and foremost a Stone of Communication. Its very essence is devoted to expression, empowerment and teaching. The serenity of its turquoise-blue color discharges negative energies, calms, and allows truth and inner wisdom to surface and be heard. A peaceful stone, it emphasizes the power our words and actions have on those around us, and encourages compassion and strengthening of character.

Chrysocolla is a stone of empowerment of the feminine energies, teaching that genuine power is best expressed through gentleness. It is a stone of the Goddess, and those who resonate with it will likely feel her ancient and enduring energies rising within themselves.

Blue Kyanite

Blue Kyanite crystals also facilitate open, honest, and authentic communication. By clearing the energy blocks clogging your fifth chakra, blue kyanite permits a better flow of energy to assist in self-expression and communication. The Blue Kyanite meaning allows you to get honest with others, and with yourself. It encourages you to dive deeper into your truth, and learn to speak your truth in all situations. To better support your ability to communicate authentically, Blue Kyanite crystals provide relief from anxiety and a dose of peaceful energy to help you express yourself. When it’s hard to speak your truth, either by admitting something to yourself or sharing your authentic self with others, Blue Kyanite healing properties allow you to do so with more grace and confidence.

As a high vibrational stone, Blue Kyanite healing properties are linked to spiritual expansion. These crystals raise your consciousness and strengthen your connection to your truest, highest self. Working with a Blue Kyanite crystal connects you to higher states of being and a higher consciousness.

Double Terminated Quartz

Double terminated quartz has a symmetrical point on both ends and channels energy in both directions. Because of this flow of energy, it has the power to unite two people (birthing person and partner, and also birthing person and their baby), two chakras, or two ideas together, making it one of the most powerful healing crystals.

Because double terminated quartz properties easily unite you with others, it is especially useful for channeling energy during group meditation, chanting, or healing. As you hold the crystal, visualize energy flowing through the crown of your head, down your arm and through the crystal and to another person or group. On the other hand, place it in your windowsills to protect your home from the negative energy of those around you.

Labradorite

The Labradorite crystal stone meaning gives you a pathway that bridges the gap between the heavens and physical reality. The Labradorite meaning is associated with shamanism, the ancient form of spirituality where healing is achieved in parallel planes of existence and different states of consciousness.

When women go into labor, we transcend worlds. We go between our physical world and a completely different world. Labradorite is our path to and from these two different worlds.