Bright and early at 8 am I made my way to the first day of my three day childbirth educator traning. We spent a while getting to know each other and everyone has a story to tell about how they became involved in the birth comunity. What is interesting is that of the 16 attendees, 4 of us were Orthodox Jews. We quickly connected and talked shop about communities and other things we have in common. It's a fun game called jewish geography we all like to play.
The teacher of this course, Teri Shilling, is a wonderful woman who has made it her mission to, and I quote, "stomp out boring childbirth ed". Check out her website- Passion for Birth. She comes equipped with lots of fun props and games to make the learning interactive and interesting.
Some of the things we covered today was, ways to keep your classes interesting, things to keep in mind about attention span and retention. We discussed that the goal of education is to affect a change, to give people new information that may or may not make them reevaluate certain assumptions they have. We spoke of the importance of confidence in childbirth (vs fear and tension).
We also covered the Six Healthy Birth Practices that are the key philosophy of Lamaze. They really deserve a post (or 2) of its own but in short, they are:
1) Let labor begin on its own
2) Walk, move around and change positions during Labor
3) Bring a loved one, friend or doula for continuous support
4) Avoid interventions that are not medically necessary
5) Avoid giving birth on your back and follow your body's urges to push
6) Keep mother and baby together - It's best for mother, baby and breastfeeding
For more information about these practices and other interesting tidbits check out Lamaze.
Stay tuned for updates on the workshop.
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