All Online Birthing Classes

Published by wintergreen on December 8, 2014December 8, 2014

Here are all these sorts of interchangeable terms: childbirth preparation, childbirth education, childbirth information (if you live in US and Canada). If you live in countries such as New Zealand, Australia or the UK the terms will be: antenatal education, ante-natal preparation or ante-natal information. So what do these phrases mean? Are they the same? And have you heard the phrase childbirth or ante-natal skills? Hum. Here are some questions for you in order to make sense of the confusion that has arisen using several phrases as though they are all the same.

Are childbirth classes available in your area? What are they?
Have you taken a childbirth class in the past? At The Birth did what you learn help?
Are you choosing a different approach to this birth? Why?
Would you be interested in a private antenatal online childbirth preparation class that would fit into your busy life?
Are you looking for the BEST childbirth education course even if there are classes in your area?
Are you using books, videos, and other resources to research different childbirth information sources? Or, are you looking at the different childbirth skills available?
Do you think the words: education, preparation, skills, and information are the same?

Here’s the reality

You can find CHILDBIRTH INFORMATION all over the Internet. In fact, there are hundreds of websites that repeat pretty much the same ‘information’. This means you, like so many of us, honestly believe that everything that needs to be known about childbirth is already out there and there’s nothing more.

Can you find CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION on the Internet? Sure. There are fewer websites that take information and then encourage you to think through all the pros and cons of the diverse bits of information. In other words, childbirth information actually leads to childbirth education. Information should stimulate you through a thinking process. That thinking process has become part of the ‘choices’ you make and articulate in your conventional Birth Plan.

Keep in mind the word ‘conventional’ when tagged to Birth Plan and we’ll come back to that in a moment.

CHILDBIRTH PREPARATION is different from gathering ‘information’ and ‘educating’ yourself about all the medical care that might be involved in your birth. When you prepare yourself for the birth of your baby, is more about learning and practicing specific skills. The phrase childbirth preparation rolls off the tongue better than childbirth skills. But, the word ‘skills’ is much more specific than ‘preparation’ and that’s important.

Do some research right now and search childbirth information, childbirth education and childbirth preparation. Then search childbirth skills. It’s interesting, to say the least.

CHILDBIRTH SKILLS on the Internet offers many fewer choices … yet birth and birth-coaching skills are infinitely more important than information, education or even preparation. Why? Because information goes out of your head. Your conventional Birth Plan may not unfold as you want and the time you took to educate yourself. And if the preparation doesn’t lead to using skills in your birth then you’re still at the mercy of the Unknown as your birth unfolds.

Online childbirth skills … what works best?

All expectant families are very busy nowadays. Like many pregnant families, you are seeking childbirth classes online so you can learn at your own pace, in your own time and at home.

Why does our New Zealand charitable Trust want you to know about Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Course? First, our course won the About.com Best Childbirth Resource in 2012. Our resource has been online since 2000 so we have a long history online that follows a longer history back to the 1970s.

Most important … Birthing Better skills were DEVELOPED by hundreds of families. That matters. Families like you cared enough about their own births to develop an in-depth and broad set of childbirth preparation skills that prepare your pregnant body to give birth and give you both birth and coaching skills for use in EVERY TYPE OF BIRTH.

Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation is set up in simple lessons. You can work through the resource in your own time and in your own way. You will learn WONDERFUL BIRTH and BIRTH COACHING SKILLS.

Learning great birth and birth coaching skills are so ESSENTIAL even if you live a very busy life. And here is where the word ‘conventional’ Birth Plan becomes important. The present trend in childbirth is based on the belief that pregnant women know what type of birth they want. Sure! We all want a safe birth, one that’s easy and we experience as positive. But we’re plagued by reality … there’s no way to know what your birth will be like. That puts us in a bind. We create a conventional Birth Plan about what we want and don’t want and hope that our birth unfolds to as we hope.

Consider this. Giving birth … no matter where you birth with whom or what happens to or around you … is always 100% an activity. Birth does happen but you (the birthing woman) ONLY does the birth over a specific and finite period of Time. YOU have to ‘do’ the birth! This is why your skills matter. Your partner/other absolutely must-have skills to help you do the activity better with the skills you have.

There are other childbirth skills such as Lamaze, The Bradley Method, Active Birth, and Hypnobirthing and Hypnobabies. They are all great methods. You might have or are using any of them. There are some huge differences between Birthing Better and all these other methods. But don’t worry they all work together. You do not have to choose one.

Birthing Better childbirth preparation is different

Here are the most important differences:

All other methods focus on achieving a ‘natural birth’. Birthing Better families wanted skills for whatever type of birth they had.
All other methods mostly focus on breathing and relaxation. Birthing Better skills focus on so many more areas of skills … see below.
All the other methods stress ‘don’t be afraid’ and ‘trust’ birth. Birthing Better families didn’t care one iota whether they trusted birth or were afraid. They just wanted skills to manage, cope, deal with, handle, work through, stay on top of and remain in control whether a woman was terrified or not and whether she trusted birth or not.

Birth skills should NOT be reserved only for natural birth, painless labour or for those women who aren’t afraid. Every one of us should have brilliant birth and birth-coaching skills in order to birth our baby no matter the circumstances!

There are many other differences as well

No other childbirth method has been developed entirely by hundreds of families
You’ll learn a broad range of birth and coaching skills such as Teamwork, Communication, Right Touch, Staying in the Now, 5 Phases of Every Contraction, how to prepare ‘down there’ and more
You learn in the privacy of your own home from 24 weeks onward
The skills are equally effective for you, as a birthing woman and your partner, as a birth coach. Fathers and mothers equally created these skills.
You can either follow the order of lessons or skip around to fill in your specific questions and gaps.

Everyone is DIFFERENT

We each have a unique life. Our pregnancy is also unique. It’s easy to think that our differences make it impossible for us to share anything about pregnancy and birth. In other words, we share a commonality that we often don’t recognize. For example, 100% of pregnant women will give birth one way or another. Every pregnant woman is carrying her baby inside her uterus and not in her big toe. If a woman labors during birth, each has contractions. If a woman has a surgical birth, her baby delivers through her uterus and abdomen and not from her ear! Let’s get real … pregnancy and birth are MUCH MORE about our commonality than our individuality. We just don’t know that really so we focus on our unique self and circumstances.

Let’s consider some of our individuality.

If you’re a first-time mother-to-be you’ll have different questions and want different skills than your partner who has been at three previous births.
If you’re having a non-laboring Cesarean because you want or need one, you’re different from a woman who desperately wants a vaginal birth but has been pressured to have a non-laboring Caesarean.
If you had a great first birth, the terrible second one and now confused, you’ll want birth skills that help you stay in control no matter how this third birth unfolds.
If you’re a man who was totally traumatized at your last birth, you’re looking for skills that help you heal and feel ok with the coming birth.
If you plan a homebirth and end up with a hospital birth you’ll want skills to help you work with all the interventions.
Should we go on? Name your unique situation then spend time thinking about our shared commonality!

Each of us is different yet we share the EXACT same human body. Birthing Better childbirth skills focus on our commonality and how to prepare for our coming birth and how to manage and cope with the birth EXPERIENCE.

Childbirth skills must work well

Too many families take a childbirth education course and end up saying: ‘Everything went out the window when birth happened’. That tells us something SIGNIFICANT. Many people have used some of the other methods and found them wanting.

Birthing Better childbirth skills were developed by families. They developed birth and birth coaching skills that worked! In fact, Birthing Better families say after their birth: ‘We managed so well together’ or ‘Having skills made all the difference’ or ‘Birthing Better needs to be absolutely everywhere’.

What makes the difference? When you learn skills for a particular type of birth then you often feel at a loss when that isn’t the birth you have. Birthing Better skills are for ALL births. Birthing Better families just committed to using skills while they birthed their baby or while their baby was being born. This is hugely and significantly different. Birthing Better sees the birth of our child to be the most important aspect rather than the ‘type’ of birth.

No matter what type of birth you plan, want, hope for or ACTUALLY HAVE you want your baby’s birth experience to leave you with wonderful, empowered and positive memories. You play a huge part in how to get that POSITIVE, EMPOWERED BIRTH. If you lack skills you are just hoping you have a better birth. When you are skilled you will birth better. Those two words and their order tells it all. You might have a better birth without skills but you will birth better with skills.

We live in a very special time

We have the Internet.

That means you can get as many childbirth classes online as you wish and many for free. You can get as much online childbirth education and information as you want.

Birth and birth coaching skills are not as easy to find for free online. The whole Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation costs a fraction of all other childbirth classes and methods. Yet, you’ll get many more effective birth and birth coaching skills than any other resource because the skills were developed by families to fill in all their gaps.

Remember the REALITY. Only you do the birth no matter where you give birth, no matter with whom you give birth and no matter what happens to or around you. You have to make ‘choices’ and one choice will change the course of your birth experience.

If you choose not to become skilled you risk feeling shame, blame, guilt, disappointment, anger and confusion (and relief!) because you might feel overwhelmed and out of control.

If you CHOOSE to become SKILLED, you GUARANTEE wonderful birth memories of how you coped, managed, dealt with, worked through and handled your birth experience and how your partner truly helped you and was part of the birth experience.

Birthing Better skills were developed by moms and dads in the early 1970s in the US and used by many thousands globally in all types of birth. Birthing Better online birthing classes are housed in Common Knowledge Trust.