Is a Childbirth Preparation Class for Me?

Is a Childbirth Preparation Class for Me?

Farrah Deselle, RN, MSN

The Mom’s Place at Catholic Medical Center

In today’s world of easy access to massive amounts of information, you may be wondering if you need to take a Childbirth preparation class.  Many moms and dads report that the class they took wasn’t really useful to them when it came time to actually have their baby.  Your time is precious and you want it to be well spent in preparing for birth and parenting.  So how do you know if you need a class or which one to take?

Here are some questions that may help you decide:

• Is the class giving you an opportunity to prepare for labor, birth and parenting beyond the information you can get from a book, online information or an app?
• Birth is a heartfelt experience, emotional experience, physical experience and cognitive experience.  Will the class help you prepare your body, mind and heart instead of just focusing on facts and information?
• Does the class give you the chance to learn about the experience of birth in our culture and at the hospital where you are delivering? Does the class encourage you to ask questions of your health care team and yourself to gain clarity about what is best for you and your baby?
• Will the class help you learn new ways to cope with making decisions and help you learn things about birth that you may be worried about or make you uncomfortable, or you may not agree with?  
• Will the class help you to reflect on how you feel about different aspects of birth, the beliefs you have about birth and if those beliefs still serve you?
• Will the class give you a chance to practice coping with the intensity of the experience physically and emotionally? Will it help you cope if you don’t use medication during the birthing experience or prior to the use of medication? 
• Will the class give your partner opportunities to learn new ways to cope with their own experience of birth and ways to support you through your experience?
• Will the class foster your relationship with your partner or support person and encourage strengthening that relationship?
• Will the class include preparation for the postpartum experience of the journey, visitors after birth, and changes to family relationships that occur after baby is born?

At The Mom’s Place, our classes are developed using the Birthing From Within model.  Our childbirth educators are nurses who work at The Mom’s Place and in our Special Care Nursery and have received training as Birthing From Within mentors.  If you want to learn more about our offerings, check out our website or email Farrah at fdeselle@cmc-nh.org.

Farrah Deselle is a Certified Birthing From Within mentor and coordinator of Childbirth and Parenting Preparation, Education and Support Programs at The Mom’s Place at CMC. She teaches many of the classes and works at The Mom’s Place as a lactation consultant. She has a Master’s of Science in Nursing: Health Systems Leadership.