Six-Week Childbirth Preparation Series
Our curriculum is based on the Six Lamaze Healthy Birth Practices. All these topics are also covered in our Two-Saturday and Four-Sunday course, but in a slightly different order.
Class 1: Let Labour Begin on its Own
- Outline of labour
- Hormones of labour and how labour begins / Artificial induction
- VIDEO: Understanding Birth
- How long labour takes
- How do I know that I am in labour?
- Strategies for early labour
- When to go to hospital
Class 2: Walk, Move Around, and Change Positions Throughout Labor
- How gravity and movement help with the progress of active labour
- Active labour
- Breathing techniques for active labour
- Positions to use during labour – Labour Lab
- Hands-on massage techniques for active labour
Class 3: Avoid Giving Birth on Your Back, and Follow Your Body’s Urges to Push
- Transition – Strategies and techniques for coping
- Second stage of labour – Pushing the baby out – Positions and breathing
- Third stage – How the placenta comes out
- VIDEO: A Birth Story
Class 4: Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary
- Informed consent – What questions to ask, why and when
- Pain medications
- VIDEO: Common Medical Interventions in Labour and Delivery
- Caesarean birth
Class 5: Bring a Loved One, Friend, or Doula for Continuous Support
- Birth Plan Card Game – how to plan for the birth you want
- Labour Role Play – practice comfort measures with your partner
- How your body changes after birth – physical and emotional changes
- Postpartum Strategies for the whole family
Class 6: Keep Parents and Baby Together – It’s Best for Parent, Baby, and Breastfeeding
- The Newborn – behaviour, needs
- Breastfeeding basics for the first weeks – Milk production, positioning, latching
- VIDEO: Baby-Led Latching
- Wrap-up – Scheduling of a reunion