How do I decide what choices are best for me in Labor?
We like to walk our clients through something we call “B.R.A.I.N.” when working through the benefits and risks of interventions/tools. (Honestly, B.R.A.I.N. can be useful for most decisions.)
What does it mean to use your B.R.A.I.N. for decision-making?
Benefits
Take a moment to consider the benefits of the tool presented to you. (Ask beyond what benefits are readily known to you for additional clarity.)
Questions you can ask:
“What can this help me with?”
“What problem does this solve?”
“Will this solve a problem later down the road?”
Risks
Ask for additional information if you are unsure of the risks of something being offered or presented to you.
Questions you can ask:
“What are the most common side effects?”
“If we follow through with this, what problems could this potentially cause later?”
“What are the long-term consequences if we say yes to this?”
Alternatives
In almost every situation of decision-making, there is an option to do something else (that option would have its own set of BRAIN questions to work through.)
Questions you can ask:
“What other options are available?”
“Is there something else we can try that does the same thing?”
Intuition
Often discredited, intuition plays a huge role in our decision-making process.
Questions you can ask:
“Deep down, how do I feel about this?”
“How does my partner feel about this?”
“Does this make me feel uneasy?”
“Do I feel good about this option?”
Nothing
There are several different ways to think about this portion of BRAIN. It can be the idea of doing nothing at all or doing nothing FOR NOW.
Questions you can ask:
“What will happen if we decide to do nothing?”
“What if we don’t do this? What will happen?”
“What does it look like if we wait, and revisit this option later?”
Everyone will evaluate the answers to their B.R.A.I.N. questions differently. As doulas, we can help walk you through this process, then support whatever conclusion you come to.
Did you use B.R.A.I.N. with any big decisions in labor or early parenting? Let us know in the comments.
