Eight-Week Class Outline
BirthWorks classes are based on the philosophy that every woman is born with the
knowledge about how to give birth. Therefore, birth is instinctive and what is instinctive
doesn’t need to be taught. BirthWorks helps women to have more trust and faith in their
body knowledge that already knows how to give birth. This is a completely different
approach to prenatal education--an approach that is empowering and transforming in
nature. The classes are interactive and experiential, providing both an academic and an
emotional preparation for birth.
A unique aspect of BirthWorks childbirth education training is that of pelvic bodywork,
which helps women understand how the position of the pelvis either helps or hinders the
ability of the baby to move into optimal positions through the pelvis for birth. Pelvic
Bodywork is built into each of the classes. Activities that encourage creative thinking and
confidence building, films of birth, multi-sensory visualizations, music, and small group
work make our prenatal classes a fun place for in-depth learning about what really
matters in birth and for forming positive experiences.
The general order of topics covered in the eight-week series is listed below but the
presentation is flexible and responsive and may vary depending on the instructor and the
needs of her birthing class. In addition to the core topics below, other topics relevant to
birth are also included.
First Class: Feelings, Philosophies
The first class focuses on expression of feelings about birth and goes to the heart of
where fears and anxieties lie. This class lays the foundation for the course and explores
many of the emotional aspects of pregnancy and birth that are essential in preparation for
labor, birth, and parenting. BirthWorks philosophies and their application to birth are
discussed.
Second Class: Healthy Pregnancy, Optimal Birth
A healthy mother helps to ensure a healthy baby. The essentials of good nutrition are
explored through the principles of Common Sense Nutrition. Pelvic bodywork with breath
awareness, the value of exercise in pregnancy, choosing a birth team, the value of doulas
at birth, and finding a place to birth that feels safe are all explored. Human values and
their impact on birth to increase self-confidence and decrease fear are explored.
Third Class: Forces Driving Technology in Birth and What You Can Do
This class includes more pelvic bodywork, the risk/benefit ratio of medical procedures,
VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), indications for cesareans, economic, legal, and
financial incentives in birth, and informed consent. Participants are encouraged to accept
more responsibility and to take an active role in planning their births.
Fourth Class: Birth Physiology and Working with Labor Contractions
Every woman is born with the knowledge about how to give birth. Birth is instinctive.
This class includes discussion of the physical and behavioral aspects of hormones that are
produced to help a woman give birth. In addition more pelvic bodywork is demonstrated
and practiced and the risk/benefit ratio of obstetrical drugs is discussed. Nonpharmacologic ways of working with labor contractions, and comfort measures for birth
are explored.
Fifth Class: Your Amazing Body and Beliefs About Birth
This class continues with pelvic bodywork defining the four principles of optimal pelvic
positioning followed by analyzing the effectiveness of labor positions according to the
four principles of pelvic bodywork. Belief systems and their impact on birth are explored
and affirmations are developed to change those not conducive to positive birthing.
l
Sixth Class: Stages of Grieving, Healing Birth-Related Losses
In this class the stages of grieving are discussed and men and women are given the
opportunity to grieve a birth related loss This class is powerful and helps to facilitate
normal and natural birth by releasing trauma from previous births and life experiences.
Seventh Class: Labor and Birth, Mothers and Daughters
Our mothers bring us into the world and our relationships with them have an impact on
how we may give birth. In this class we explore mother/daughter relationships through
experiential exercises. In addition, an auditory simulation of labor is intertwined with
conscious birthing and labor terminology. A birth multisensory visualization lays down a
memory of normal birth that can be accessed during labor.
Eighth Class: After the Baby Comes, Primal Health
The immediate postpartum period is a time when a new mother can exhibit primal
behaviors that fulfill an innate fetal agenda. Mother/baby skin-to-skin contact is an
experience of sensory integration and suckling helps to develop the baby’s limbic brain.
The benefits of breastfeeding are presented and class participants learn the concept of
“behavior is place dependent,” a concept crucial to primal health and our health as adults.