I offer Childbirth Preparation classes in several different formats and at a few locations! If you have any questions, please contact me.
Experience a class that prepares you for the great unknown of birth. Learn skills and mindset tactics to take with you into new parenthood.
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These classes go beyond merely information based.
We also cover emotional and relationship-oriented topics.
Content is based on what each couple needs and seeks to learn.
Much time is spent uncovering what you know and need to know about yourself.
You’ll learn all the essentials of what to expect.
Stages of Labor, Your body in Labor, Hormones in Labor, Medical tools and interventions, Epidurals, Cesareans, postpartum adjustment, newborn care and procedures
25% of class is spent learning, practicing and embodying pain-coping practices.
The techniques taught are drawn from yoga, Qi-Gong, and the experience of eons of mothers.
They are proven effective over and over in feedback from previous students.
Parents practice these techniques together in class to really get a feel for how labor will magnify their personal dynamic.
Class is a “dress rehearsal” for working together for the hard work and partnership that labor requires.
This means knowing yourself (what’s driving you, what helps you, what do you trust),
knowing what you can expect from labor and birth (the goop, the sounds, the behaviors, the landmarks, the timing),
and knowing what to expect from our modern birthing culture (hospitals, midwives, nurses, doctors, tools, etc).
One of the hallmarks of Birthing From Within is the birth art.
This isn’t about making pretty pictures.
This is about accessing the subconscious, emotional mind that will be active in labor.
Potential topics include: the shift in identity toward parenthood, coping with the unexpected, the emotional map of labor.
Many couples find that this aspect of class is the most valuable.
Your partner is going through this, too.
Many classes slide past the partner’s experience as tangential to the birthing parent’s.
As it turns out, partners will experience birth from a different perspective, but a very important perspective.
All of our sessions will include the partner’s views and ways they can prepare to support and cope with their own experience.
This allows mothers to fully relax, knowing that their partner is prepared, at ease and feeling confidently capable.
While we address the factors that influence labor, we recognize that we ultimately can not control the outcome of labor.
Sometimes the unexpected happens, whether it’s a very fast or very long labor, an unexpected intervention or a multitude of other possible variables.
There are ways to communicate with professionals and ways of coping with unwished-for events – we will practice!
Techniques are a combination of FBI hostage negotiation skills, Zen Buddhism and Customer Service communication.
One of the most important tools you will take from this class is how to ride the changes from Couple to Family.
With careful, intentional planning and examination of cultural expectations, you will have a “game plan” for new parenthood.
Soulful preparation is also included in an exercise called “Welcoming Your Baby”.
Attendance in any class with Holly includes a pre-recorded, online course primarily focused on pain-coping and coping with medical support.
Couples can practice and review at home after class has ended, or use this resource for subsequent pregnancies!
The Objectives
understand birth on a primordial, physiological level.
What’s normal? What’s not?
understand modern birth and how to work with the system.
How will you navigate medical choices with presence and discernment?
understand yourself and your partner:
what strengths do you bring and how do you work together?
Since 2006, Holly has worked full time as a doula in the Chicago area. She has attended nearly 300 births in a variety of settings and situations and taught more than 1000 couples.
Her priority is helping new parents gain resilience and real-world skills to navigate the many ways birth can unfold. She brings depth, a broad context and a humourous approach.
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