Childbirth Class Options

Sitting on the Birthing Ball

Today, our options for childbirth education are plentiful.  Below is a list of possible resources.  Before making a final decision, take the time to thoroughly research your choices.  Make sure your choice reflects your lifestyle and birth preferences.  Let your doula know what choice you have made.  Your doula might be willing to attend a class with you, if needed. 

Online - About.com offers a childbirth education class given by Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE.  There are six online classes.  It's all reading, with a few interactive things like polls and other links...
There are plenty of pictures, charts and graphs.  And it's free.

Givingbirthnaturally.com also offers a do-it-yourself approach to childbirth education.  For $50 (Paypal accepting) they will send you the following:

• The Core Curriculum
• Your Birthing Workbook
• The Language of Childbirth Vocabulary Pack
• 24/7 Access to StudyWomb™ (an Online Natural Child Birth Education Classroom)
• One-Click Email Support

The Lamaze Method - They have been around for 50 years.  This method is usually the one depicted in the movies.  It is the most popular, widely used technique in the world.  The Lamaze method focuses on breathing and relaxation techniques to ease the delivery process.  Visualization and massage are also used.  This method does not focus on pain relief, but on strategies for coping with labor. 

The Bradley Method - This method focuses on exercise, nutrition and deep breathing.  The Bradley Method teaches a way to give birth naturally to those women who are experiencing a complication free pregnancy. 
12-week course with an extensive curriculum.  Important to have a partner in order to be successful in this method. 

The Alexander Technique - "In this the Alexander Technique can be of enormous help: we can teach the woman how to cope with labour pain rather than wishing to eliminate it. Through inhibition and direction (these are both Alexander Technique teaching terms) we can stop our habitual reaction to pain. Instead of flexing, tensing and pulling our heads back and down (followed by other symptoms of panic attack) we can consciously and voluntary undo the involuntary muscle tension. We can learn to exercise conscious control over our posture and movement. This, in turn, gives us an indirect conscious way of affecting the hormonal balance."

Hypnobirthing - "HypnoBirthing® - The Mongan Method - is a unique method of relaxed, natural childbirth education, enhanced by self-hypnosis techniques. HypnoBirthing® provides the missing link that allows women to use their natural instincts to bring about a safer, easier, more comfortable birthing. Emphasis is placed on pregnancy and childbirth, as well as on pre-birth parenting and the consciousness of the pre-born baby. As a birthing method, HypnoBirthing® is as new as tomorrow and as old as ancient times. It is presented in a series of five, 2 1/2-hour classes."

Birthing From Within - This method focuses on lifestyle and family.  It embraces birth as a "rite of passage and not a medical event".  Their philosophy encourages creativity and individuality - "Parents deserve support for any birth option which might be right for them (whether it be drugs, cesarean, home birth, or bottle-feeding)." 

Birth Works - "Birth Works is a process...not a method. We believe that each woman will labor and birth in her own way. There is no one right way to give birth. Our childbirth classes honor each woman's wholeness and individuality and encourage integration of the mind, body, and spirit through the practice of human values."  They strive to empower and build confidence.