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Archive for the ‘birth classes’ Category

Talk Less, Learn More: Evolving as an Educator

Posted in birth, birth classes, birth education, childbirth educators, pregnancy, prenatal yoga, Resources, writing on March 9, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Since late 2006, I have written at the top of each of my teaching outlines: “Talk less, listen more.” This simple reminder has  fundamental importance and has completely revolutionized how I structure and guide my childbirth classes. During each series that I teach, I realize how listening to the women and giving them a space [...]

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Small Stone Birth Activism

Posted in Activism, birth classes, birth education, childbirth educators, doulas, maternity care, mothers on March 1, 2012 | 8 Comments »

As someone who feels deeply, passionately, and intensely about the need to transform the birth culture in the US, I have often experienced an immobilizing feeling of not doing enough. Of not helping enough. Of not being enough to affect the kind of social change I want to see happen in the world. As a mother [...]

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Affordable Fetal Model

Posted in babies, birth, birth classes, birth education, childbirth educators, doulas, Neat stuff, pregnancy, Resources on September 22, 2011 | 8 Comments »

Two things to know about me: 1. I love dolls. 2. I love bargains. For quite a while, I’ve wanted a realistic baby model to use in my birth classes. My ideal model could be used both for demonstrations of fetal positioning in the pelvis and also for demo’ing newborn care and possibly breastfeeding. Most [...]

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Active Birth in the Hospital

Posted in active birth, birth, birth classes, birth education, birth experiences, Birth Thoughts, childbirth educators, giving birth, mothers, natural birth, Resources, Tools on August 31, 2011 | 8 Comments »

The vast majority of my birth class clients are women desiring a natural birth in a hospital setting. My classes are based on active birth and include a lot of resources for using your body during labor and working with gravity to help birth your baby. Sometimes I feel like active birth and hospital birth [...]

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Celebrating 100,000 Hits! Mother Rising Book Giveaway

Posted in Activism, birth classes, childbirth educators, giveaways, mother blessing on May 19, 2011 | 18 Comments »

Giveaway is now closed. Shawna was the winner! Talk Birth has reached 100,000 hits and I’m having a giveaway to celebrate this milestone! When I initially began this website in 2007, it was exclusively for the purpose of providing information about my birth classes to the local community. I never intended for anyone other than [...]

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Six Healthy Birth Practices Handout

Posted in active birth, birth classes, birth education, childbirth educators, handouts, maternity care, normal birth, Resources, Tools on May 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Lamaze’s Six Healthy Birth Practices are one of my favorites resources when discussing birth plans in my classes. I find that some materials about birth planning on the internet are unnecessarily cumbersome (while simultaneously being very “cookie cutter”). As I tell my clients, the Six Healthy Birth Practices provide an absolutely phenomenal “basic” birth plan [...]

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Transformation Through Birth

Posted in birth, birth classes, birth experiences, Birth Thoughts, giving birth, mothers on February 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

One of my favorite birth books is Transformation Through Birth. Written in 1984 by Claudia Panuthos, who also wrote the excellent book Ended Beginnings (about miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, and healing all sorts of childbearing losses), it is one of the books I recommend as “going beyond” typical pregnancy/birth book material. I enjoy books that [...]

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Fathers, Fear, and Birth

Posted in active birth, birth, birth classes, birth education, birth experiences, Birth Thoughts, childbirth educators, fathers, giving birth, labor support, mothers, Resources, Tools on November 4, 2010 | 4 Comments »

“I told my dads that they were their partner’s lover and that their most important role at the birth was one they did everyday without classes, books or practice: Loving the mom. You could literally see the dads relax as this thought sunk in and took root.” ~ Lois Wilson, CPM I don’t use these [...]

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Centering for Birth

Posted in active birth, birth, birth classes, birth education, Birth Thoughts, childbirth educators, giving birth, handouts, natural birth, Neat stuff, Resources, Tools on October 28, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I have a strong commitment to active birth—the use of movements, position changes, and most of all laboring out of bed. As a result, in my classes I tend to emphasize movement-based coping strategies for labor. However, I have also come to realize that coping measures employing relaxation and breath awareness are extremely valuable. These [...]

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Pain with a Purpose?

Posted in birth, birth classes, birth education, birth experiences, Birth Thoughts, childbirth educators, giving birth, mothers, natural birth, normal birth on October 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »

“The desire to help is so great, even from well-meaning, beautiful midwives, that they use intervention. We want to help. But what’s missing in our culture is that there is pain with a purpose, and that helping is sometimes interfering.” –Augustine Colebrook, CPM (quoted in “Do-it-Yourself Birth” article in Mothering mag) I shared this quote [...]

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