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Social media sensation Jen Hamilton tapped her career expertise as a labor and delivery nurse to write her first book, Birth Vibes, which officially launches on May 5
The viral personality was inspired to pen the birth companion after realizing how ineffective standard birth planning can be, especially considering the way childbirth can change so quickly
Hamilton, 35, hopes her book can help expecting parents anticipate those changes and instead contemplate the types of “vibes” they want to characterize their delivery experience
Social media star Jen Hamilton knows better than anyone that labor and delivery seldom go exactly according to plan. In fact, after 14 years working as a registered nurse, she’s urging expecting parents to throw out the rulebook and rethink the birth planning process altogether.
Hamilton, 35, makes her authorial debut with Birth Vibes, the highly anticipated delivery room companion grounded in all that the viral sensation has witnessed, experienced and learned from her career as a labor nurse. The book — which launches on Tuesday, May 5 — offers a warm, personalized alternative to the more rigid concept of birth plans deemed unrealistic by the expert herself.
She tells PEOPLE she decided to write the book after realizing how much people tend to focus on mapping out their ideal delivery compared to how little emphasis they tend to put on all the other crucial factors that can impact the birth experience.
Jen Hamilton.
Credit: Jen Hamilton/Instagram
“You could have a birth that checks off every single checkbox on your birth plan but leave that experience feeling unheard, disrespected, not empowered or supported,” says Hamilton.
“On the flip-flop of that, you could have a birth that goes off the rails, goes wildly different than you thought,” she continues. “But if you have all these other things in place — like how you’re communicated with, who you bring with you, what they do for you, what your environment is like — if all of those things are personalized to you as a human being, you can leave that experience feeling fulfilled … You were informed, you were empowered, you were respected and you had an overall positive experience.”
Readers won’t learn exactly what to do during delivery. Instead, Hamilton hopes to help her audience figure out who they are in the context of giving birth, because contrary to popular assumption, it’s rather difficult to understand beforehand. She compares it to throwing a surprise party for someone you’ve never met before.
“You can plan a seafood boil for somebody and you’re going to do it outside, and then the day comes and that person has a newly diagnosed seafood allergy and it’s raining. Some things are different than you thought,” says Hamilton.
“Does it mean that we shove a plate of crab in front of them and make them get wet in the rain? No. It means that we use that information to guide our experience going forward. We use that information to our advantage,” she says.
Jen Hamilton’s book, ‘Birth Vibes.’
The party concept doesn’t just serve as an excellent metaphor for what Hamilton wants her debut book to achieve. It also served as inspiration for the title. Party planning may sometimes include drafting an agenda, but more often the host is thinking about the vibes— how they want guests to feel and what the overall experience will be.
“Birth plan, birth plan, birth plan is what you always hear on social media,” Hamilton observes. “When I would talk to my patients about their birth plan, I want to know what vibes do you want for your birth? What is the overarching theme that you want to feel? Do you want to feel excited? Do you want to feel comforted? Do you want to feel information-forward?”
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Birth Vibes offers lessons in self-advocacy and how to give oneself the grace to change plans. However, perhaps ironically, the less rigid approach can give the patient something far more likely to endure no matter what happens in the room.
“It’s easy to think of the things that you would like [to happen], but then as your birth unfolds, things can go differently. The vibes can stay the same though, even if things go different than you thought,” says Hamilton. “Taking the plan out of birth plan can allow you more freedom to be able to personalize your experience.”
Read the original article on People
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