Childbirth Classes

“It’s not women’s intellect that needs to be addressed – it’s their hearts and their sense of courage….Women need to be inspired, to believe in themselves, their babies, and the birth process…”

“Childbirth education ought to be an antidote to the messages so prevalent in our culture.

Today, young girls in the United States inherit a legacy of negative attitudes about childbirth. They grow up fearing, not understanding what it means to have a baby, and not seeing a model of what will make it easier for them. What separates most birthing women today from women in the past is the loss of familiarity with the birth process, the loss of community with other women, and the loss of traditional feminine wisdom….Remember this: birth is a process of nature that has evolved over tens of thousands of years. The knowledge of how to give birth without outside intervention lies deep within each woman. Childbirth is as natural as pregnancy or sexuality. Like those natural states, success depends on an acceptance of the process.
All that most women need in order to do this is the belief that birth works and will work for them. In an era of high-tech managed childbirth, this is no small thing to hold on to.”

“In one sense childbirth preparation is medical, involving physiological changes which are assisted when necessary; in another sense preparation is working through feelings and adjustments to a phase of life, a different image of the self, and a different social role.”

“Childbirth education must not be about something which simply happens to a woman, in which the question of how to cope with pain is paramount, but about a process of emotional awakening -an expression of herself.”

“Information is power. Not knowing about [these] things means that she is rendered powerless in childbirth. Without information, a woman is merely at the receiving end of whatever is done to her and whatever trivial choices they permit her to make.”