As you prepare for your birth, you probably have a lot of questions… How will I know when I’m in labor? How will I know when to go to the hospital? How will I cope with contractions? How do I avoid unnecessary interventions? What should I expect if I need interventions or a cesarean? Looking for answers to these questions can seem daunting… There are a lot of opinions out there! While doulas, obstetricians, midwives, labor & delivery nurses, and other birth professionals may have a lot of different answers to these questions, there is one thing that all birth professionals agree on: a childbirth education class is essential for preparing for your birth!

Childbirth educators are trained to be able to provide you with answers to all of these questions and a bunch you’ve never even considered. While it’s important to know that birth is a physiological process that will unfold without much guidance in many cases, it’s also helpful to know what to expect, to know how to be ready for different birth scenarios, for your partner to gain confidence in how to help you, and for you to begin to understand how to navigate the system of a labor and delivery floor. Put simply: a childbirth education class is the basis of your ability to advocate for an empowering, positive birth experience!

Knowledge is power when it comes to birth preparation. If you know what is normal, you will know when interventions are warranted, versus when you just need more time to labor. If you know what to expect from different comfort measures and pain relief options, you will be able to make a plan for the ones that fit your needs best. Perhaps most importantly, if you learn about your options, you will know that you always have choices and feel more in control of your birth experience, even if things don’t go how you planned.

While doulas are fantastic informational resources, labor guides, and advocates, we work in partnership with you to prepare for the birth that YOU want. That means you need a foundation for knowing what that is! While we do our best to help you find that information in whatever way that is accessible to you, usually the best way to learn everything you need to know is through a local childbirth education class, preferably a class taught by a trained educator in an independent (non-hospital based) setting. Why? While there are some good hospital childbirth education classes out there, they are also sometimes bound by hospital policy. In the same way that hiring a doula gives you an independent advocate who only works for you in the birth space, an out of hospital childbirth education class is an independent source of information, not beholden to hospital policies and regulations. Also, like many doulas, childbirth educators have a unique view of understanding the local hospital birth cultures… meaning they can help give you the inside scoop on what to expect from your birth location, as well as whether or not that location is a good fit for the type of birth you are hoping to experience.

Childbirth education is awesome for many reasons, including meeting other pregnant folks, learning about what to expect in labor, and practicing labor positions, but at its core it’s more essential than that. It is the most important tool you can use to help you advocate for the birth you want and to help you and your partner have feel empowered for your birth and beyond. The childbirth education class that you take as you prepare for your birth may be the best investment you make to prepare for your birth. If you need options, reach out! I offer classes online currently and will be teaching in-person starting in late summer/early fall of this year.

“If you don’t know my options, you don’t have any.”

-Diana Korte and Roberta Scaer, authors of A Good Birth, A Safe Birth